What was your first programming book?
The idea behind the question is, just to know from where you started learning (programming).. but not related to 'best/recommended/...etc programming books'.
Really? That's your FIRST programming book? Never read any other programming book before picking this up. I don't believe you.
apphacker
2009-05-07 06:26:34
Nope, I was recommended this when I asked for a general purpose all around programming theory book. Sure I've LOOKED at other programming books, but this is the first one that I fully read front to back.
John T
2009-05-07 06:44:02
I had a Tandy 1000 with a Intel 8088 CPU, 2 5.25" disk drives (no hard drive) and 128k of memory. The machine came with my first programming book, a book about GW BASIC. Oh how i miss that green monochromy goodness.
Phaedrus
2009-07-12 16:03:37
Wow. This and the book that came with the TRS-80 were my two first ones as well!
Chrisb
2009-07-12 18:02:53
+1
A:
Well, not as young as some, and not as old as others, but mine were BASIC books for the old VIC20 we had! Was jealous of all those C64 and Amiga owners!
The first real programming book was the C Programming Language, oh and the Sendmail Bible by Oreilly, took a while to figure out the talk like Modem Code!
Wayne
2009-05-07 05:03:46
I hope you spoke Russian, otherwise you made your life a lot more difficult than it needs to be. On second thoughts, forget I even spoke. You're either an Israeli that speaks Russian (Mossad?) or a Russian in Israel (ГРУ?). I'm hoping you're just well educated :-)That's interesting, I tried to put the Hebrew "המוסד למודיעין ולתפקידים מיוחדים" (Mossad) in and the data entry box intelligently handles right-to-left text. Good coding.
paxdiablo
2009-05-07 06:05:16
And there's my new word for the week (Aliyah) - I love it when I learn something new. And now, thanks to you and Wikipedia, I'll soon be deeply into investigating the 613 (!) commandments. When I was a youngster, Moses only bought down 10 from the mount (granted that was a protestant upbringing). +1 for educating me.
paxdiablo
2009-05-07 07:44:53
+1
A:
Don't know if you'd call it a programming book (but it did cover basic JavaSript) was Paul McFedrie's CIG to HTML 4 when I was 15 or so.
My first actual programming book was CIG to VB6. I think I was 16 or 17. Ahh, the old days.
alex
2009-05-07 05:38:59
A:
Dietel - C++ How to Program 5th Edition with Source Codes Cool Book for beginners... :D
Owen
2009-05-07 06:16:26
Seriously? Wow. Clinton Pierce should be commended for writing such a great and easy-to-understand book.
Charlie Somerville
2009-12-11 06:32:04
To have Perl make perfect sense means the book must be *very* good ;)
Matthew Iselin
2010-01-08 08:55:20
It was only basic perl, not super hard stuff, but I do remember that it was exceedingly good
Charlie Somerville
2010-01-09 11:15:23
A:
Teach Yourself JavaScript in 24 Hours by Michael Moncur... I never thought it would lead to all this - I just wanted to put a lame animation on an intranet like most people who decide to learn JavaScript!
Sohnee
2009-05-07 06:56:55
A:
Nathan Ridley
2009-05-07 07:00:26
A:
Some textbook about Watfor and Watfiv (i.e. Waterloo Fortran). But that just taught me syntax. What really flipped the bit was a Radio Shack book by Forrest Mims that explained how a computer actually worked.
royatl
2009-05-07 07:05:33
+2
A:
A cheap book about PHP (probably given away as a gift with some computer magazine) which I'll not name here.
That way I could learn how to program spaghetti PHP and work a summer at 3 €uro/hour for the guy that lent me the book.
A shame, but that was the beginning.
tunnuz
2009-05-07 10:23:06
A:
fretje
2009-06-10 08:05:44
A:
Perhaps this one:
Ohjelmoinnin perusteet Java-kielellä by Arto Wikla (unofficial translation: "Foundations of Programming using the Java language")
It's a textbook used at Helsinki University, and probably many other Finnish schools.
Unlike many in this field, I only really learnt to program at the university, in the introductory course taught by Mr. Wikla. He's a great lecturer too, and presented basic OO concepts so that they stuck.
(Please add the coffee related cover image if you can find it!)
Jonik
2009-06-10 08:54:17
A:
Looking at the other answers, I guess I'm showing my youth: The Complete C Reference.
Jarrett Meyer
2009-06-10 08:58:31
A:
I'll go for age... ICL 1900 Fortran, pub ~1970, followed a few weeks later by ICL 1900 Algol.
mas
2009-07-12 15:09:03
A:
blowdart
2009-07-12 15:14:54
A:
Philippe Leybaert
2009-07-12 15:25:47
A:
How to Program Your IBM PC: Advanced Basic Programming, by Carl Shipman
Can't find a picture of it - but it was in a red notebook-like binder.
I never really did any Basic programming - went on to C, so K&R's The C Programming Language (1st ed) was the first one I used - but that red book was the first one I read, and helped me get a feel for programming.
Anon
2009-07-12 15:58:25
A:
Fortran for Humans. I already knew how to program on RSTS Basic and thought I'd learn a new language (this was 1977). I was on a camping trip (with America Trails West) through BC to Alaska and we stopped at the University of Anchorage book store. While there I bought the book to read by the campfire (I am SUCH a geek).
I still have it in my office.
Larry Osterman
2009-07-12 16:04:04
A:
Curt Hagenlocher
2009-07-12 16:07:38
That was a great book. I loved the spiral. You didn't have to keep an elbow on the page. :-)
Nosredna
2009-07-12 18:00:56
Wow, just seeing the cover brings back memories. I had that book. It was my bible for years.
Ira Rainey
2010-01-08 09:26:18
A:
John Nolan
2009-07-12 17:58:44
A:
warren
2009-09-17 10:17:38
A:
Alex Barrett
2009-09-17 10:22:44
It was indeed. Although having now reread the question after 4 months, I realize my answer was a terrible contribution. :)
Alex Barrett
2010-01-08 13:40:56
A:
Kids to Kids on the Apple Computer by Billy Sanders and Sam Edge (1984), and I still have it on the bookshelf in my office.
Matthew Rankin
2010-01-04 14:10:43
That was your first programming book? Did you find it good? I'm mostly a C/C++ programmer, and after a lot of noise I decided to buy this one to take a closer look to Java (of course I can understand the syntax, but to write a program in good Java style I thought I would need to take a look at how it's done) so I bought this one. After a few hours, I just sold it to a second hand book store, but maybe as a first programming book it's good (certainly it wasn't any good for me).
machielo
2010-01-08 09:13:51
+1
A:
Sams Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days.
I was around 11 years old.
Robert Jones
2010-01-04 14:18:50
A:
Instant HTML, which I picked up because I was bored at my tech support job, and wanted to do and learn more....and then used it to create a Tech Support Intranet...Then i became webmaster, hostmaster, and eventually ended up in business with a former football player...to run a football news site.
crosenblum
2010-01-08 07:59:18
A:
An IBM Fortran manual. This was one of several reference manuals for an IBM computer which was not a PC, even though it was almost as powerful as the first PCs that came out 10 years later.
Windows programmer
2010-01-08 08:10:16
A:
Sprechen Sie Java? by Hanspeter Mössenböck
A German introductory book for Java.
Horst Gutmann
2010-01-08 08:28:58
A:
The ALGOL-60 manual for the PDP-10 (http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/pdp10/TOPS20/V4.0_Apr80/AA-0196C-TK_ALGOL_Pgmr_Apr77.pdf).
John Saunders
2010-01-08 08:49:24
A:
Jimmie Lin
2010-01-08 08:52:35
A:
That was back in 1980: The user's and reference manual for my ELTEC Eurocom-1: A single board computer using the Motorola 8602. Programming was done by manually translating assembler code into HEX and then typing it via a hex keyboard and 7-segment LED display.
Ber
2010-01-08 09:11:25
A:
The BASIC manual of my first computer, a Canon V-20 MSX. It was a very advanced book for its time (1985), it even dealed with concepts such as the garbage collection engine used by MSX BASIC to manage the string storage (we are speaking about a Z80 based computer!)
Konamiman
2010-01-08 09:17:42
A:
The chapter about the BASIC interpreter for my VTech learning computer. I don't know how old I was at that time... But that small BASIC interpreter was my first encounter with a programming language.
Malax
2010-01-08 09:18:07
+3
A:
Many dark nights huddled over a ZX Spectrum keyboard with this baby. Stuff of legends.
You can even download a copy: http://www.z80.info/zip/zaks_book.pdf
Ira Rainey
2010-01-08 09:31:52
A:
Lerne BASIC mit dem Commodore 116/16/Plus 4, which came bundled with my Commodore 16:
Fabian Steeg
2010-01-08 09:40:28
A:
I think it was the manual for Amiga BASIC. I didn't really know any English back then though...
Aleksi
2010-01-08 09:51:09
+2
A:
Internet. Sorry, I've never been much of a book-reader, unless the letters are behind a monitor.
cr0z3r
2010-01-11 00:25:45
Same here. Never finished reading ANY programming book front-to-back. I've always thought that programmers are notorious for not R'ing The F****** Manual. I guess this questions proves me wrong.
slebetman
2010-09-27 13:04:21
+1
A:
I can perfectly recall the first programming book i read till today - I took it from the public library about 12-14 years ago, had a name similiar to "The beginners guide to computer programming", and on the cover there was a picture of indiana jones with is whip in hand, and the huge rock chasing him from behind.
If someone knows this book, I would love to see a picture of the cover just for nostalgic memories... :)
gillyb
2010-02-13 11:12:43
+1
A:
This is the first book I bought; as a reference for what I've learned in school. Is worth his money, explaining everything in detail with a lot of examples.
thomasvdb
2010-02-13 11:24:13
A:
CSS: The Definitive Guide, by Eric Meyer, in 2002.
It’s not strictly programming, of course, but it’s ultimately to blame for me trying to make a living making software.
Strictly programming would be JavaScript, The Definitive Guide by David Flanagan, a little later that same year.
Paul D. Waite
2010-02-13 11:26:39
It's a little rude to hotlink to my website without asking. Have edited the answer to fix up the image URL
Day
2010-09-27 12:30:14
A:
JDelage
2010-04-01 15:17:01
A:
"Das Atari Profibuch", first book I bought around 1987. It is the best reference on programming for 8 Bit Atari computers in german language. I started 1982 on the ZX-81, but first borrowed all needed books from the library.
elsni
2010-09-27 12:40:08
A:
The first "real world" one was "Using C" by Mark and Lee Atkinson. Many years before that, various introductory texts, mostly on BASIC and Pascal.
Jas
2010-09-27 12:42:49