What programming books do you keep returning to?

Question

Possible Duplicate:
What are some of your oldest programming books that you still use?

I was just listening to the SO podcast number 69 and Jeff and Joel finished up talking about "Code Complete" by Steve McConnell (sanitised Amazon link). Joel suggested that someone with ten years' experience who read the book would:

• agree with 50% of the material,
• disagree with 25% of the material, and
• find something new in 25% of the material.

I always find that when I reread a chapter or two of Code Complete I am reminded of the correct way to do some things after occasionally slipping into bad habits. It might be something to do with variable naming, or program layout, or other such things, but I'm always finding something.

Anyone else have such books that keep you on the "straight and narrow"?

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Edit:

I'm asking this because we haven't covered books that remain applicable. Books that you can return to again and again and still get something out of them.

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Edit:

Didn't see the same question rephrased as oldest programming books. Good call!

Answer 1

i would recommend : Code Craft (amazon link)

Answer 2

Kernighan and Richie: C - the programming language.

And "The Pragmatic Programmer - From Journeyman to Master".

Answer 3

Framework Design Guidelines: Conventions, Idioms, and Patterns for Reusable .NET Libraries (2nd Edition) by Krzysztof Cwalina and Brad Abrams (Hardcover - Nov 1, 2008)

Most of my technical knowledge comes from bing/Google searches, Visual Studio intellisense and MSDN library. However, I like this book because it keeps me reminded of good practices and they are in one place.

Answer 4

_why's Poignant Guide to Ruby since as an aspiring Rubyist this serves both as a creative inspiration as well as a quick overview of Ruby.

Answer 5

I keep opening my POEAA all the time.