The Pragmatic Programmer

I liked this book, but if I had to suggest just one book for someone to read to become a better programmer I'd choose Clean Code instead. There are a lot of good tips in here, but there's also a lot of outdated information (I should have checked that I had the 2nd edition). Some of the stuff they recommend is no longer applicable because tools exist for that task.

In general though, a lot of the advice is timeless and useful, even if the perspective seems to be from a consulting standpoint and not as a member of a team working on software that's continuously being updated. Again, maybe a difference in the times (everything now is continuously shipped SaaS products).

I think a lot of the ideas in this book were probably revolutionary at the time this book was published, but are common knowledge now (or common sense). Still, its good to get reminders and I did find myself highlighting a number of passages as I went along.

A great book presenting the best practices of what it takes to be a great developer. I'm reading the book while already knowing quite a bit of the topics discussed, but the book still managed to surprise with little bits of additional insight or perspective. I find the way the things are discussed to be very accessible and fun to read. Every developer looking to learn about best practices (and not just to blindly follow them, but understand the principles behind them) should read this book (among others).