Code Complete (Steve McConnell)
Steven McConnell wrote the best book on software construction I ever read – Code Complete. Of course, there are great books on design patterns, software architecture, programming languages and practices, software development processes but this one is special.
Generally, it describes how to write good, reliable, easy to maintain code and how to do it efficiently. But from another perspective, it describes what other programmers value in you as their team member. While reading I often caught myself on a thought: “My god! I’m doing it the same!”, and I was very happy that I came to those ideas by myself and already applied many good practices in my work. Nevertheless, Code Complete contained many stuff that were (at that time) like a revelation to me.
I won’t go into details describing the principles covered in Code Complete, because this is not what is intended by this post. I will only tell that this book can be the first real step into a professional career of software developer.