Many programming books are “recipe” style books. I suppose they appeal to us “Novices” on the Dreyfus model of skill acquisition: Just gimme the recipe, and no one gets hurt. Or maybe they appeal to that other short-sighted fellow with a hankering for fish:
“Please sir, can I have a fish? I’m really hungry… I’ve got a family you see, and um, bills, and rent, a mortgage on my phone, and the Evernote subscription is killing me…”
Well, Code Complete(affiliate link) is not that book. Author Steve McConnell catches the fish, deftly removes the hook, and after dangling it in tantalizingly front of your face for a few seconds, throws it back in the water.
“You want a fish? Go and get it.”
Then, when your face resembles a flabbergasted house cat who’s just been deprived of its favorite squeaky toy, he puts a hand on your shoulder and leads a stunned you over to a plush red armchair that he just happened to bring down to the river, an armchair hand-embroidered with the words, “Codito ergo sum.”