by Brian Kernighan, Rob Pike

isbn: 020161586X
subject: Nonfiction, Computing
finished: 5/31/1999

This book, like Writing Solid Code and More Programming Pearls, addresses some of the pragmatic aspects of programming that are typically left out of college computer science courses. Unfortunately, it is mostly about programming in the small. While it can be challenging and rewarding to make a small- or medium-sized program concise, elegant, portable, and efficient, this sort of programming doesn't solve the problems that currently face the computing industry. On the other hand, I suppose that a case could be made that you shouldn't be writing large programs until you're really good at writing small ones. Anyway, I thought this was an entertaining and thought-provoking book, but not required reading.