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Andrew
Hunt and David Thomas
This is a great book for programmers who have learned the
mechanics of programming, maybe in college, but don't quite
feel secure deciding what to do. It's like the difference
between drafting and architecture. What you learned in that
class in college was drafting, and you can draw beautifully,
but if you still feel like you wouldn't quite know where to
begin if someone told you to write a P2P music-swapping network
all by yourself, this is the book for you.
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Donald A. Norman
Donald Norman's classic The Design of Everyday Things (also
published under the name "The Psychology of Everyday
Things") is one of the best books on "UI design",
even though it talks more about doors and and refrigerators
than computers. This was a groundbreaking work for its theory
of affordances which remains one of the most influential ideas
in good design of everyday objects.
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Steve Krug
Don't Make Me Think is an excellent and entertaining book
on UI design for the web. Finally, a book that tries to understand
the principles of good UI design, not just the mundane rules
(like "don't change the colors of links"). Steve
Krug's primary thesis is that the less you make people think,
the easier your site will be to use. "What a waste it
is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very
wasteful. How true that is."
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Robert B. Cialdini
Another book worth reading and re-reading is Robert B. Cialdini's
classic Influence. When charitable organizations send you a
request for a donation, they almost always include a "gift"
in the envelope. Sticky labels with your address on them. Or
a couple of blank greeting cards. The reason they're giving
you the gift is because of the social principle of reciprocity;
now you will feel obliged to give something back. You've probably
heard the expression "hurry, supplies are limited!"
so many times in television advertisements that it hardly registers
any more. But it's there because of the principle of scarcity;
your natural assumption that something that is scarce is worth
more money. These tricks, among others, are used by salespeople,
marketers, and advertisers to influence people to behave in
a certain way. Cialdini's excellent book discusses the psychological
theories behind the science and practice of influencing the
behavior of other people. Read it before they do! |
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Steve C. McConnell
The encyclopedia of good programming
practice, Code Complete focuses on individual craftsmanship
-- all the things that add up to what we instinctively call
"writing clean code." This is the kind of book that
has 50 pages just talking about code layout and whitespace.
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