I own dozens and have read dozens more of what my wife calls "those stupid books" (programming books) over the last 20 years. Just when it comes to books covering various aspects of my first (programming) love alone (Borland/Inprise/CodeGear/Embarcadero (etc.?) Delphi), I have upwards of a dozen, dating from the mid-1990s to the mid-200s. One of the best was "Delphi Component Design" by Danny Thorpe, and I even wrote one myself, but I have "moved on" from Delphi and will not list any of those here, as I consider Delphi sort of a lost cause and have embraced the "Microsoft stack" (for the most part - you'll see some Android books in the list, too) which seems to be getting better and better all the time.
Click on the book's image to go to its Amazon page, where you can read reviews by several people; that way you don't get just my opinion. Obviously, in each case I recommend the book, provided you are working in -- or at least interested in -- the category (the first category applies to all programmers, of course).
General (Globally applicable concepts/Best Practices, Etc.)
Code Complete 2 by Steve McConnell
The Pragmatic Programmer by Andrew Hunt & David Thomas
The Psychology of Computer Programming by Gerald Weinberg
ANALYSIS & DESIGN
Head First Object-Oriented Analysis and Design by Brett D. McLaughlin, Gary Pollice, and Dave West
DELPHI
Coding in Delphi by Nick Hodges
Delphi XE2 Foundations by Chris Rolliston
Delphi in a Nutshell by Ray Lischner
The Tomes of Delphi: Developer's Guide to Troubleshooting by B. Clay Shannon
JavaScript/jQuery
JavaScript & jQuery: The Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland
Murach's JavaScript and jQuery by Zak Ruvalcaba and Mike Murach
HTML
HTML5 24-Hour Trainer by Joseph W. Lowery and Mark Fletcher
CSS
CSS3: The Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland
ANDROID
Beginning Android Tablet Application Development by Wei-Meng Lee
Programming Android by Zigurd Mednieks, Laird Dornin, G. Blake Meike, and Masumi Nakamura
Android Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach by Dave Smith and Jeff Friesen
ASP.NET / WEB PAGES
Beginning ASP.NET Web Pages with WebMatrix by Mike Brind and Imar Spaanjaars
Building ASP.NET Web Pages with Microsoft WebMatrix by Steve Lydford
C#
C# 5.0 In a Nutshell: The Definitive Reference by Joseph Albahari & Ben Albahari
C# in Depth by Jon Skeet
WINDOWS 8 DEVELOPMENT
Windows 8 Apps with XAML and C# Unleashed by Adam Nathan
Programming Windows 8 Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript by Kraig Brockschmidt
CONCLUSION & CAVEAT
These are my favorite programming books (so far); I have many others on my amazon "wish list," of which some may eventually make it to this list. Among those on my "short list" are:
- Pro ASP.NET Web API: HTTP Web Services in ASP.NET by Tugberk Ugurlu
- Mastering Web Application Development with AngularJS by Pawel Kozlowski
- Agile Principles, Patterns, and Practices in C# by Micah Martin
- Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship by Robert C. Martin
I am in the process of morphing from a software developer into a portrayer of Mark Twain. My monologue (or one-man play, entitled "The Adventures of Mark Twain: As Told By Himself" and set in 1896) features Twain giving an overview of his life up till then. The performance includes the relating of interesting experiences and humorous anecdotes from Twain's boyhood and youth, his time as a riverboat pilot, his wild and woolly adventures in the Territory of Nevada and California, and experiences as a writer and world traveler, including recollections of meetings with many of the famous and powerful of the 19th century - royalty, business magnates, fellow authors, as well as intimate glimpses into his home life (his parents, siblings, wife, and children).
Peripatetic and picaresque, I have lived in eight states; specifically, besides my native California (where I was born and where I now again reside) in chronological order: New York, Montana, Alaska, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Idaho, and Missouri.
I am also a writer of both fiction (for which I use a nom de plume, "Blackbird Crow Raven", as a nod to my Native American heritage - I am "½ Cowboy, ½ Indian") and nonfiction, including a two-volume social and cultural history of the U.S. which covers important events from 1620-2006: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/blackbirdcraven
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