Programming on Purpose

What Hacker News says

1. rramadassApr 2026
   People should check out P.J. Plauger's books, specifically;

   1) The Standard C Library - One of the best books to learn about industrial-strength C programming implementation techniques.

   2) The C++ Standard Template Library - Similar to above but for C++ STL.

   Both the above were licensed through his company Dinkumware. I had an opportunity to license, study and use them for a project and found the experience quite rewarding. It is not as complicated and relatively easier to understand than GNU libc and libstdc++. Of course i have both the books which explain the implementation.

   3) His other set of interesting books are the 3-vol Programming on Purpose; a series of essays on various topics. The 1st is on Software Design, the 2nd is on Software People and the 3rd is on Software Technology. They also contain lots of nuggets of wisdom which are still relevant today. My favourite is the one on software design - https://archive.org/details/programmingonpur0000plau

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2. 95014_refugeeNov 2022
   First: congratulations, you've done the hard part (accepting there's a challenge that you need to overcome). Seriously, you probably feel like you're at the bottom of a very deep hole, but that acceptance gives you the opportunity to start climbing. Also, 16 years is not "greybeard" territory. At all. You have plenty of time.

   Second: you're looking at a journey of continuing self-discovery. There is no "one technique fits all". Don't judge yourself for not reacting well to any particular thing; use it as a way to better understand yourself - your current strengths, your biases, your blind spots, etc. Was the thing annoyingly obvious? Did you feel like the presenter was patronising you? Did it all go 'way over your head because you couldn't work out the basic premise?

   Going wide, especially while you are trying to find yourself, may help you find a thread, or a style, or a philosophy that resonates with (or delightfully challenges) you.

   With that said, I am a big, big fan of Plauger's 'Programming on Purpose' books. Nothing is perfect, but he does a remarkably good job of laying out basic principles - building blocks - that can help you go from programming intuitively ("cowboy style") to making software in a deliberate and intentional way. Because the books are collections of magazine columns, they're easily digestible in small pieces - good for reading on transit, over a cup of coffee, etc.

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3. scrupleNov 2021
   I think these meet the criteria...

   P. J. Plauger's "Programming on Purpose" series of essays.

   Purely Functional Data Structures by Chris Okasaki.

   I would put both of these alongside Bentley's "Programming Pearls" books which I saw mentioned in another comment.

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4. gashawJan 2020
   Programming on Purpose - Essays on Software Design, by P.J Plauger
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5. rramadassJan 2020
   This is a thread after my own heart! I love finding out and reading old, less well-known and thought provoking books on a variety of subject matters. I have come to the conclusion that "popular" almost always equals "lowest common denominator" and "fad of the month" particularly given today's media hype cycles. Moreover one has to guard against having ones mental models bounded within a box. By actively seeking out lesser known and out of the way viewpoints one truly grows. Some books from my collection which i have not seen mentioned here (in no particular order or categorization);

   * The Natural History of Nonsense by Bergan Evans

   * Programming on Purpose, Essays on Software Design by P. J. Plauger

   * Management: A Political Activity by Ted Stephenson

   * The Energy of Life: The Science of What Makes Our Minds and Bodies Work by Guy Brown

   * Patterns for Time-Triggered Embedded Systems: Building Reliable Applications with the 8051 Family of Microcontrollers by Michael Pont.

   * UNIX Systems for Modern Architectures: Symmetric Multiprocessing and Caching for Kernel Programmers by Curt Schimmel.

   * Maxims and Reflections (Ricordi) by Francesco Guicciardini

   There are a bunch more i have to root around for :-)

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6. cafardAug 2015
   My first job in tech was one where the founder of the company thought highly of the programmers because he knew he couldn't program, and thought little of the rest of us. This was good incentive to learn programming, but otherwise annoying. One of P.J. Plauger's "Programming on Purpose" books has a very good essay on the importance of tech support.
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