Customer Reviews

Programming Pearls (ACM Press)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's great to see they've come out with an update to this book. The essays in this book are easy to read and touch on many valuable things, such as tuning and optimization of algorithms, using mini languages to provide robust tools, doing back-of-the-envelope calculations, and much more. I have recommended this book to several beginning programmers that I know as an excellent introduction to thinking effectively about the challenges of software engineering.

This slender volume is one of the all-time classics for programmers. Each chapter is an essay from Bentley's wide-ranging programming column dealing with an algorithm, an engineering principle or some more general technique of reasoning. Beginners and experienced professionals alike will be delighted. This is one of the few books for serious programmers which can also be read with pleasure by the non-expert, even by the non-programmer. You'll find the techniques of thinking explained in this book popping up again and again whether you are coding or reading the newspaper. I have owned and loaned I don't know how many copies; nobody ever returns it.

There are not many books on advanced computer programming that you actually want to read. Usually, the subject is so dry and full of theory that you have to force yourself. This book is the exception. Bentley's easy-to-read style makes this book a pleasure to read. His theoretical analysis is impeccable, but he presents complex topics in a chatty format that makes you remember the joy you felt the first time you wrote a program, and lets you know he still feels that way

I consider this book a classic. Written in 1986, Bentley engages in some of the best deconstruction and explanation of programming problems that I have ever seen. While it is true that the constraints he discusses are in the distant past, his methods of finding solutions will forever remain part of the programmer's toolbox.
Programmers who have been raised on larger memory units and faster processors tend to ignore concepts such as frugal memory usage and efficient code. When I was a commercial coder, some of the newbies were encountering a bug they could not find. The memory bounds were being exceeded and they simply could not comprehend that they were running out of memory. Forced to fit the data within bounds, it took a great deal of effort to teach them some of the "old-style" techniques of memory management and program efficiency. To prepare for my explanations, I went back and consulted this book to brush up on some of the ideas.
The topics covered are: finding efficient algorithms by solving general problems rather than specific instances, how to verify the correctness of programs, using "back of the envelope calculations" to quickly verify the effectiveness of code, how to squeeze space and some examples of programs. Bentley also refers to the book ,"How To Solve It" by George Polya, a book that should be required reading for all developing programmers.
Bentley is a very good explanatory writer and I can understand why he has received awards for excellence in teaching. Until we develop intelligent robots that will write code for us, the ideas in this book will continue to be useful.

This book goes into what is overlooked and should be taught in "computer science" classes. Instead of focusing on conspiracy-driven "good programming practices" with trite and bloated algorithms, this book focuses on efficient, simple, and creative solutions to problems. This emphasizes on creating solutions that work well on COMPUTERS (albeit dated computers) and not abstract turing machines with no disk or memory limitations! Programming Pearls is easy to read, with lots of little excersizes to get your brain thinking for FUN and PROFIT. This book truly has SLACK.

Great book for those who are interested in the thought that goes behind the problem solving skills that are used by great programmers. Does not matter which language or progamming method you use, this book can teach you something. If all programmers read this book, we would have much better software in this world

I have programmed for 20 years, and there are references in this book older than that. However, this touches on the principles and that can make you think more about how you code and the impact it will have on performance. The writing style of the book can be confusing at times, and that is probably why I would not give this 5 stars. It seems like these were supposed to have been articles in some Computer periodical and put together as a book. If you are looking for a book on programming as a craft this would be a book to own.