Seminal Necessary and Sufficient Canonical Books

Question

While pondering my reference library.

Some books served to comprehensively define a previously invisible topic, and are still so dominant in their subject that they can serve as canonical. Three I can think of are K & R's White Book, Refactoring by Martin Fowler, and Design Patterns by the Gang of Four. What other books fall into the category of being generally considered necessary and sufficient for a major subject?

EDIT:

Try to avoid generally "good books" - which ones served to first define a subject, and still serve as an undisputed authority?

Answer 1

For regular expressions, Friedl's Mastering Regular Expressions is the definitive resource.

For web usability, it's Don't Make Me Think.

Answer 2

The Pragmatic Programmer by Andrew Hunt & David Thomas

Answer 3

Code Complete by Steve McConnel

This is a great reference for software craftsmanship. I usually take a peek when I'm not sure how to choose between several viable options to write the same code.

Answer 4

Richard Stevens, Unix Network Programming

Answer 5

I think The The Mythical Man-Month satisfies your criteria. If there was a book before it that talked authoritatively about the human side of software engineering I can't remember it. Most of it is still relevant today.

Answer 6

Knuth's Art of Computer Programming comes to mind. Still the authority on algorithms after all these years.

Answer 7

wow, surprised nobody said Peopleware.