People are always asking me to recommend books to learn programing. While I can understand many languages I mostly hack around. I hardly ever write a program from scratch unless it is a bash shell script and some people would consider that hacking around by itself =P.
Anyway one book series that I have always picked up a ton from is the Wicked Cool series. I own them all.
Wicked Cool Shell Scripts by Dave Taylor (Elite Retreat Alumni) was the first book in the series I picked up. I got it in 2004 and its still one of my most referenced books. There are great examples on user management, web scraping, and just tons of stuff. This book is for anyone who has a decent understanding with command line access UNIX machines. Its perfect for MacOSX users who want to learn how to harness some of the power outside of the GUI.
Wicked Cool Perl Scripts is another great reference in the series. Perl is such an amazingly powerful language and for me was pretty easy to pickup. Perl is a great cross between shell scripting and PHP. It has all the hack and slash of a shell scripting language but a lot of the same syntax as PHP. This book has a ton of great “cookbook” style scripts that really help you think of some evil cool little scripts. Some of the stuff Dave has whipped up on perl has really boggled my mind. Another great book in the series.
Wicked Cool PHP Scripts is by far my favorite in the series. I absolutely love PHP as both a command line and web programming language and being it is such a forgiving language its really perfect for me. This book is perfect for the web programmer looking for some new ideas. It covers everything from advanced email stuff to file handling to security and even more. Each chapter also has a “what can go wrong” to tip you off to possible security issues or debugging. Its very well written and has a ton of very useful example code.
So if you are like me and learn by diving in and altering others code a bit these are the books for you.
About the author...
Jeremy Schoemaker – who has written 2415 posts on ShoeMoney.com.
Hi I am Jeremy Schoemaker and ShoeMoney.com is my blog. 99% of the post here are done by me but you will see others occasionally make guest posts. This blog is fun to write but for my day job I run several online companies.
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Nice selection, I find it easier to read from a book than from the screen and there’s something nice about having something you can physically hold – although I don’t think people buy computing books much anymore as there is so much info available on the Internet.
I also agree with having the book in hand. I like to follow along and do some “dismemberment” of code to learn more. That’s mostly how I learned xhtml, css. Notepad is my friend!
Over the years I have gotten used to reading books on the computer. Almost to the point that having a hardcover sometimes gets uncomfortable. It helps to have duel screens. If I only have one screen available at the time then its way less effective.
book is a good source of reference, but won’t it be better if it is in multimedia format? Lynda.com’s tutorial appears to be simpler. I’ve given up on books long time ago, youtube is now my favorite source of referencing .
They look wicked cool, but seriously I Would get a coding book but I haven’t read a book in so long. I prefer just surfing around and finding resources then reading an entire book. But that’s just me.
Never miss a chance with affiliate marketing, eh?
I’m an experienced programmer in many languages, and here’s my take:
1. Learn by dissecting code, working with it, trying simple tutorials online, and searching for solutions to common problems you run into. If you absolutely need a book to get started, fine. But after a while they will sit on your shelf, never opened.
2. Join a programming forum.
3. Don’t code that much. Use open-source scripts and applications to build the framework for any project, and take it from there.
3.
The books looks nice
any good for CSS ? for starters ?
I recommend the HeadFirst series of books, they have a HeadFirst HTML & CSS book that is simply awesome.
I think “The Idiot’s Guide To…” ones are more my level.
Hmm – Wicked Cool Java actually does look interesting. Frankly, I wasn’t expecting much. I’m also one of those “old school” people who needs a real book on the desk instead of an e-book.
Wickeedddddddddddddddddddddd! Books
I think this book will be very useful for me. However, I know that the deal will have a long time.
probably would take a look at those books.. in school only basic php and perl and java is discussed so it doesnt make sense to me…
It’s much easier to mark up a book than it is keep notes about something you read online.
Yep, that’s what I love about books. Plus you have something physical to bring around with you, to the park, on the bus, etc…
The deal will have a long time? What’s that mean?
i agree… reading books imho makes people more focused rather than on the net where there are a lot of distractions./..
I loved books then I got a computer and havn`t really read a whole book in the past 20 years. Getting back in to the habit now, keeps the brain alive.
My flavour is REBOL.com, best “unknown” script language ever by Carl Sassenrath of Amiga fame.
“send shoe@shoemoney $100″ actual code there much more readable that perl and I believe there are a few books around.
I’ve got my eyes on the wicked cool PHP book – it looks like it could help quite a bit!
I suppose a book is there to save time – it filters out the unnecessary info you may find if you read 100 different articles on it and there aren’t conflicting ideas (normally) in books as it is written by one person/several people who agree on things.
But then again there is so much information out there.
I pretty much agree with all that. What do you think about giving credit (to the creator) with OS scripts?
gotta check out that php book great post shoe
Same here. I have a few PHP books, but I’ll take a look at this “Wicked Cool” one.
I on the other hand like to copy/paste, see what it does, change it around (fix compile errors) and see what that does. then i apply what i need of the code. books are great though for those that like them.
What books do that google does not… If you are just searching the web for what you want to learn, you are missing out on other things you should probably be learning from a book. You don’t know how much scraping can help you. You don’t know what chapter 11 can do for you. Just searching google will not give you ideas that the book will.
No wicked cool Python? I used to be a shell scripting evangelist, there was simply no easier way to get things done then to use the vast utility library that is available on any *nix box. One windows you can always use cygwin. That was before I decided to try Python. Ten times easier to get things done and much more powerful. Python FTW.
Im going to pickup the wicked cool php book. I have not seen these before, but I find this types of mini reference or straight to the point books are a great resource to have handy. I am still learning a lot of this stuff so I appreciate any nifty little books like this.
…but I’m a Microsoft boy! Whoa is me..
Books are so much easier on the eyes too.
Also, it’s akward leaving a computer in the bathroom. That’s where 80% of America does their reading.
the php and perl book tickles my tastebuds major ! thanks for the links
Thanks for the tip… I am learning PHP and have been for a few months, and was looking for the next resource to check out… I think I will give the PHP book a try!
i find oreily books the best
I just read ebooks for free.
Good book advices. I really like them too. I didnt own the PHP one now, but i bought it direct in the bookstore i was in, when i saw your Post on my iPhone. Its really great stuff in there. Thanks Jeremy.
Could you create something like AuctionAds if you read all these books Jeremy?
Just guessing, but think he might mean that even with reading the books, it will take a long time to become proficient in those languages. I could be wrong though.
Yes books like these always help much good. Like said always you know, you learn while you learn more! Man this will be greats to read in when they are here by delivery! I am excited for this!
Are you going to get a commission when we buy those books?
why would any affiliator will tell ?
I enjoyed “advanced php programming” myself, or any book that will delve a little in how to structure your php app (mvc architechture, etc)
i find that programming books tend to be very dry, this one acutally looks interesting.
Sounds very interesting. I’m adding this to my wish list and hope to check it out soon!
one because the site is about makey money online (to an extent).
check the url… should be obvious on the link…
By reading this series of books everyone find a better starting point to enabling your intellectual problem solving physique to gain meaningful contact with real world.
The book means to stimulate one’s own imagination and reinforce one’s understanding of how to do the business at hand
was looking for some late summer reads!
was looking for some late summer reads. thx $shoe.
Sounds like a great series of books. I took one programming class a while ago – but forgot everything. Now, I just hack code – and keep fixing until it works.
I prefer books by Oreilly, love them.
Great book advise but being a non technical person , I d rather oursource this stuff
this is actually my favorite thing about shoe. he started as a programmer and still codes ugly stuff, like the comment contest. bottom line, is he thinks of an idea and builds it with his mind and his fingertips.. and thats a great feeling, especially when you can earn a living that way.
I may just have to check these books out.
Jeremy, Thank you for the post. I was looking for something to study on .PHP, and this looks very promising. Do you know of any videos, kind of a basic overview of .PHP?
Respectfully, Nicholas http://www.donotreadthisblogunless.blogspot.com
Yeah, I was about to say that
When reading a book, you can highlight bits, fold corners of interesting parts and mark out other bits with post-it notes.
Also if the code’s in a book, you have to type out the code example making you more likely to remember it.
Great publisher. I recently picked up Object Oriented PHP from the same publisher and found it very helpful and easy to understand.
I fully agree with you…It’s a nightmare to me to read a book on computer. I get distracted very quickly
you gotta be serious…you’re on a make money online blog.
you’re like me…sometimes I spend hours to find the solution to my problem, when an experienced programmer could solve the same problem in matters of minutes…that’s me I guess
this is the only disadvantage with programming related books. You can’t copy/paste the code from the book to your editor and then play with it.
w3schools tutorials helped me a lot when I started to learn css…check those tutorials out
Never saw this series before, then again I tend to usually go the brick and morter store to get books.
Didn’t realize that Dave Taylor was Elite Retreat Alumni.
Thanks – never heard about these books before.
Sounds great.. like others, haven’t heard of these in the past.
I hate learning from books. Or at least I thought I did, but I tried recently and it’s my favourite way now.
Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland and then he awesome CSS Mastery by Andy Budd. Both great books!
O’Reilly Rules! Especially Safari where you can get just about any book you’d ever want.
Looked into this a bit more, went ahead and purchased the wicked cool php script book!
What if I want to write shell scripts for Ubuntu? Guess I’ll have to get myself some Wicked Cool Python.
Good set of book recommendations. You should make books you use/read/listen to a regular topic.
That’s right. My English is not very good, sorry. -)
Theory and practice must exist together.
I used to put post-it notes into my books – one of them ended up looking like a sunflower
I use “The Progmatic Programmers” series to learn my programing. It’s actually my first time hearing of this series you have featured in this post, I will definitely check it out
That is right.
A people can not read all books in the world,so there are many wicked books born every day.
Great recommendations! I’m brand new to coding but have to learn a lot for my grad assistantship- so these will definitely come in handy. Thanks!!
Aren’t there any free E-Books on the net – surely there are
Do you still doing coding activity by your self? or you already have a team to do that?
it’s so hard to find good programming books.
there is not one on my shelf without any mistakes -.-
this is the only disadvantage with programming related books. You can’t copy/paste the code from the book to your editor and then play with it.
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Would like to see this book.