Programming Books for Beginners

            This is my very first post for this blog. So, I thought why not put my best foot forward and start on a helpful note.

Because I am almost at the end of my college years, I get asked a lot about preferable books that would be good for beginner in computer languages. So, here is a list of books that beginners can follow or refer to create a strong foundation in a language.

1. C Language Programming

Think of C language programming and you think of the name "Balagurusamy", because that's where I began reading his series of books. Dr. E. Balagurusamy, author of the book "Programming in ANSI C", has written several programming language books and is a former member of Union Public Service Commission of India. Yes, Dennis Ritchie was the one who came up with the language in the first place. But when you go through a book written by Dr. Balagurusamy, you actually understand the basics of the language.

            Yet, I have to admit, I personally find his examples a bit too complicated for a bginner. So when you are done learning the basics, dive in head first into Yashavant P. Kanetkar’s book “Let us C”. It makes you understand programming through actual programs and exercises. It challenges you and makes learning fun. So, while the former has a theoretical approach, the latter has a very practical approach for teaching C.

                                

2. Object Oriented Programming with C++

For OOPS with C++ as well, you can go for the books by the very same authors, i.e. Dr. E. Balagurusamy and Yashavant P. Kanetkar. I won’t bore you with the details of it as I have already described how good they have been with C Programming, which they continue to be with C++.

                            

3. JAVA / Advanced JAVA

For JAVA you have a lot of options, Dr. Balagurusamy has a book good here too. But, for what could well be known as a manual for programming with JAVA, you should DEFINITLY refer “The Complete Reference – JAVA 2” by Herbert Schildt. The author has done a wonderful job of clearing concepts through examples. You can go through these basic example and expand on them to make your own beautifully working codes.

                       

                

One can also refer the JAVA Black book series. It covers every aspects of JAVA language. The best proof of it being helpful is that computer engineering students as well as pros swear by it. It is after all, a very good choice for those who wish to develop JAVA applications.

Another interesting book worth mentioning for JAVA is “Head First Java” by Kathy Sierra.

4. Web Programming

Web programming is one of my favorites. Why shouldn’t it be? It’s easy, it’s fun and it lets your creativity soar at a beginner’s level. The best book I know for getting the hang of web programming languages is “Programming the World Wide Web” by Robert w Sebesta. The book is conveniently divided into XHTML, XML, CSS and JavaScript including Java servlets, ASP.NET using C#, Ajax, JSP, Perl, PHP, Ruby, and Ruby on Rails. It helps build a strong foundation for advanced web programming.

            For reference you can go for Jon Duckett’s “Beginning Web Programming with HTML, XHTML, and CSS”. It reviews HTML and also introduces XHTML and CSS.

                               

Oh! And if any of the programming pros who have come across this feel I have felt out on any of the books they had referred during their days as a beginner, please, do share it with us.

Happy Coding!