Programming References

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I've seen several posts in newsgroups asking for reference books. Here's a list of some of my favorite reference books and magazine articles.

Computer Programming

Table of Contents:

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• Algorithms
• C++
• File Formats
• Web
• Java
• Perl
• Miscellaneous
• Multimedia
• Windows

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Algorithms

This is a list of some of the algorithms books I've found useful when programming.

• Practical Algorithms For Programmers, by Andrew Binstock and John Rex, ISBN 0-201-63208-X. This is one of the only books I've found that shows you practical implementations of useful algorithms. If you're more interested in practical applications than theory, this book is for you. Some theory is covered too and in a very easy to understand manner.
• Dr. Dobb's Journal, Algorithms issue, #246, April 1996. This magazine issue includes an article by Andrew Binstock called Hashing Rehashed. The article contains a fix to some hashing code used in both Practical Algorithms For Programmers and Compiler Design in C.
• Computer Algorithms: String Pattern Matching Strategies, edited by Jun-ichi Aoe, ISBN 0-8186-5462-7. If you're interested in pattern matching, this book contains several papers on the topic. It includes descriptions of Boyer Moore and other useful string searching techniques. Was available from the IEEE Computer Society Online Catalog.
• Computer Algorithms: Key Search Strategies, edited by Jun-ichi Aoe, ISBN 0-8186-9123-9. Contains new and classic papers on trees and hashing. It includes a copy of the definitive article on B-Trees. Was available from the IEEE Computer Society Online Catalog.

C++

If you want to learn C++, these are the books to read. Also, if you want a good reference for STL, check out the Rogue Wave reference materials on the Standard C++ Library (available at various sites on the web).

• The C++ Programming Language, 2nd Edition, by Bjarne Stroustrup, ISBN 0-201-53992-6. I learned C++ with this one. It's been replaced by a third edition, but there's still some good information in here that isn't covered in the later edition.
• The Design and Evolution of C++, by Bjarne Stroustrup, ISBN 0-201-54330-3. This book is useful if you need to know anything about programming language design in general and C++ in particular. It covered some of the later additions to C++ not mentioned in The C++ Programming Language, 2nd edition.
• The C++ Programming Language, 3rd Edition, by Bjarne Stroustrup, ISBN 0-201-88954-4. This book covers many of the new C++ language features including STL. If you're just learning or want to keep up with the latest C++ language additions, this is the book to look for.

File Formats

I'm always collecting books on various file formats. There's some good online references such as Wotsits. However, if you're interested in a printed copy of information on various graphics file formats, Steve Rimmer has written some wonderful books to explain not only common formats, but how to write code to view them. I've listed a few of them.

• Bitmapped Graphics by Steve Rimmer
• More Bitmapped Graphics by Steve Rimmer

Web

A lot of the best information on web sites and programming for them is online. See my Resource Page for Web Designers for some of them. Once in a while, you want a text reference in book form. Here are a few good ones.

• Javascript: The Definitive Guide, by David Flanagan, ISBN 0596101996. My favorite Javascript reference book. I use this when I want to look up information about the Javascript API or when I want to know what works portably or not across different types of browsers.
• Web Developer.com Guide to Building Intelligent Web Sites with Javascript, by Nigel Ford, ISBN 0-471-24274-8. I've looked at several books while attempting to learn Javascript. I've tried a CBT and even bought other books. This is the best book I've located for learning Javascript to date. It explains how to work with Javascript and make use of it on web pages. It's written clearly for a programmer with experience who wants to know how to start writing code as soon as possible in Javascript and provides several practical examples.

Java

Here are the books and articles I found most useful when learning and working with Java. The first two should be enough to get programmers new to Java up and running.

• Java in a Nutshell, second edition, by David Flanagan, ISBN 1-56592-262-X. This book makes a very handy reference. Not only does it give an overview of Java classes and methods, you can also look up classes by knowing the name of a method or the object returned by a method. It has helpful examples of how to make your own components and how AWT events work. It doesn't go into the details of what each method does. You need to look this up in the API documentation or another book. However, it does list all the methods and makes a useful quick reference book.
• Core Java, by Gary Cornell and Cay S. Horstmann, ISBN 0-13-565755-5. This book makes a good introduction to the Java language, especially if you already program. It has lots of useful examples. It shows how to write your own layout manager, how to create an application that is also an applet, and provides several helpful classes such as those for formatting and reading in strings. If you just need a reference for the Java API look elsewhere, but if you want to learn the ins and outs of programming, this is a very good starting point.
• Developing Professional Java Applets, by K.C. Hopson and Stephen E. Ingram, ISBN 1-57521-083-5. This book gives several practical applet examples including a spreadsheet and online catalog. The part I liked best was the explanation on how to read, write and display other graphics file formats such as the Windows BMP format.
• Java Report, July/August 1996, Volume 1, Number 3. This magazine issue has an informative article on how layout managers work.

Perl

I have at least three books on Perl in my personal library, including some of the more popular ones, but don't find them great for reference or learning. There are some very nice tutorials on the web for learning Perl that are much more self explanatory.

• Perl Tutorial
  A very good overall tutorial for learning Perl. Great for beginners.
• Perl CGI tutorial
  A tutorial that covers Perl CGI related issues. It gives examples of useful Perl CGI code for web sites and explains how to write your own.

Miscellaneous

• Repetitive Strain Injury, ISBN 0-471-59533-0, has useful material on preventing or minimizing repetitive strain injuries. I can't stress enough how important this type of information is to programmers.
• Compiler Design in C, by Allen I. Holub, ISBN 0-13-155045-4. If you're trying to make sense of Compilers - Principles, Techniques and Tools by Aho, Sethi and Ullman or if you're taking a class on compilers, this is the book to see. It explains and gives code for compiler creation in a straight forward, easier to understand format.
• The Mythical Man-Month, ISBN 0201835959, is a classical software engineering reference with information and anecdotes to learn from for any type of creative or business endeavour.

Multimedia

For books on multimedia programming, I've worked with and found the following useful. Also listed are some magazine articles with hard to find examples for coding sounds. Check the CppDesign mailing list for more information on free C/C++ multimedia libraries.

• Multimedia Programming For Windows, by Stever Rimmer, ISBN 0-8306-4539-X. This has some good examples of how to get sound players and graphics viewers coded and working under Windows.
• Visual C++ Multimedia Adventure Set, by Peter Aitken and Scott Jarol, ISBN 1-883577-19-5. This book explains the creation of an example hypertext program under Windows that can show pictures and text and can play sounds. Although the authors don't cover such problems as what to do about memory leaks in C++ until much too late in the book, there are a few good examples of multimedia programming under Windows in it.
• Game Developer, Volume 1, Number 1, Premier 1994. This magazine issue has a wonderful article on programming sound cards in DOS. It explains how to create a C program that works with the old OPL2/OPL3 chips. It also provides a list of further references.
• Windows/DOS Developer's Journal, September 1994, Volume 5, Number 9. There are APIs in Windows to play WAV and MIDI files. However, if you want to play a particular note without using any files, that's a different story. This magazine has the only information I've seen on how to play particular notes in memory (without using any files). It uses the sndPlaySound function and provides code to create the WAV file in memory for a particular note. See pages 39-50 for how to do it.

Windows

If you're trying to learn Windows programming, these are the books that got me started.

• Windows Programmer's Guide to Microsoft Foundation Class Library, by Namir Clement Shammas ISBN 0-672-30067-2. This is one of the only two books I know of that explains how to use MFC without a code generator or class wizards. The good news is, it shows you everything you need to know to get a program up and running without class wizards. The bad news is, it's out-of-date and doesn't have anything on the very latest features of MFC. However, it does provide enough information to get a nice MDI application working. It also explains MFC basics much better than other MFC books I've seen.
• Microsoft Foundation Class Primer, by Jim Conger ISBN 1-878739-31-X. This is the second of the two books that explains how to use MFC without a code generator or class wizards. The same comments as for Windows Programmer's Guide to Microsoft Foundation Class Library apply. I found this book covers some things that Windows Programmer's Guide to Microsoft Foundation Class Library doesn't. However, I found Windows Programmer's Guide to Microsoft Foundation Class Library easier to read.
• Windows++, by Paul Dilascia ISBN 0-201-60891-X. This is a great book. Paul Dilascia is an excellent writer. If you ever wanted to know how class libraries (such as MFC or OWL) work, this will explain it to you in detail. This book creates a C++ class library on top of Windows called Windows++. You can also learn some interesting tips about straight Windows programming while you're reading it. If you're using an Open Source compiler such as mingw or OpenWatcom a book like this can be extremely helpful.
  • Code from the book is available at http://www.dilascia.com/wpp.htm
• Microsoft Systems Journal, July 1995. I've enjoyed all of Paul DiLascia's articles, but this issue has a wonderful explanation about message routing using MFC.

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