For as long as coding has been around, there have been books written to teach it. They may have been overshadowed in recent times by online coding training, but books are still just as effective as ever. There’s a good variety of books to choose from, too.
Below are reviews of some popular coding book series. Hopefully, you should be able to decide which book is the right one for you.
Jump to a book series:
O’Reilly Coding Books
O’Reilly is one of the leading publishers of coding books. It’s known for the various animals that grace the covers of many of its books. It’s also a fact that multiple coding language creators have written an O’Reilly book on their language.
Most of O’Reilly’s books tend to be definitive guides to a certain coding language. Here are some examples:
- Head First Java
- JavaScript: The Definitive Guide
- JavaScript: The Good Parts
- The Ruby Programming Language
- Think Python
- Learning Android
- iPhone App Development: The Missing Manual
Other O’Reilly books mash up multiple technologies into the one package, such as Learning PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, and CSS. This book walks you through how to roll the four languages together into real, functioning social networking site.
So if you’re feeling overwhelmed with the sheer volume of coding books out there and you don’t know what to choose, you can’t go wrong with an O’Reilly book.
Visit the O’Reilly Bookstore on Amazon…
Dummies Coding Books
Dummies books are great for learning coding. Beginning Programming All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies, by Wallace Wang, is one of the many books in the Dummies series.
Of all the Dummies coding books, it’s the one you should pick if any of the following apply to you…
- you don’t know which language or form of coding to start with
- you plan to learn multiple languages or forms of coding
- you want a general, non-language-specific introduction to coding.
In fact, the 720 page book is actually 7 mini-books in one:
- Getting Started
- Programming Basics
- Data Structures
- Algorithms
- Web Programming
- Programming Language Syntax
- Applications
As you read through the 7 mini-books, you’ll be introduced to a diverse range of coding languages – from PHP to Pascal. There’s no preliminary knowledge required – it’s a Dummies book after all! The final chapter of the book is particularly interesting, because it gives you a glimpse into some applications of coding, including database management, bioinformatics, computer security and artificial intelligence.
Beginning Programming All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies is available in paperback and Kindle editions.
Click here to buy from Amazon…
Treehouse Book Series
It’s no secret that the technology training website Treehouse is highly recommended by Code Conquest. However, Treehouse also publishes a book series, with the following titles currently available:
The Treehouse Book Series is authored by experts and professionals in their fields, and focused on delivering practical skills. There’s no need to have a Treehouse subscription, although it doesn’t hurt.
More Coding Books
You can find out about more books relevant to a certain coding language over at Code Conquest’s training recommendations section. Here are the links.
- Java Training
- C++ Training
- iOS Training
- Android Training
- Ruby Training
- Python Training
- JavaScript Training
- PHP Training
- HTML and CSS Training
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers.
