33 Best Materials to Learn Software Development in 2020
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There are a lot of great learning materials out there. This article is aimed to help developers in the search to find the best learning materials and resources to make everyday developing experience better. 33 learning materials are listed below.
1. Clean Code
Clean Code by Robert C. Martin (Uncle Bob) is one of the best books for software developers, it is a must-read book. Clean Code like its name says it is focused on how to write clean and good code it is focused on important things in software development like naming, functions, formatting, comments and error handling. It is an evergreen book and every programmer must have it.
2. Introduction to Algorithms
Introduction to Algorithms, 3rd Edition by Thomas H. Cormen, Charles E. Leiserson, Ronald L. Rivest, and Clifford Stein, is another great book, this book has been widely used as the textbook for algorithms courses at many universities. For software and web developers without Computer Science degree learning algorithms can be one of the most beneficial topics in solving problems, even if you have a CS degree it is a great book to have it under your belt.
3. The Art of Computer Programming
The Art of Computer Programming by Donald Knuth with its four volumes is one of the greatest books about Computer Science ever written. Bill Gates once said, “If you think you’re a really good programmer… read Art of Computer Programming… You should definitely send me a resume if you can read the whole thing.” I still have not read this book but it is high on my priority list.
4. HackerRank
HackerRank is a website that is focused on learning and competitive programming challenges that can be solved in a variety of programming languages (including Java, C++, PHP, Python, SQL, JavaScript, etc). HackerRank offers programmers to submits a solution to a programming challenge, their submission is given a score on the accuracy of their output. Programmers are then ranked on the HackerRank leaderboard and earn badges based on their results to drive competition among coders. HackerRank is free for coders to use.
5. Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software
Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, and John Vlissides, also known as The Gang of Four is one of the greatest books about object-oriented design theory and practice with a very high influence in the field of software development. The book is divided into two parts in the first part it is exploring the capabilities and pitfalls of object-oriented programming and in the second part describing 23 classic software design patterns. The Gang of Four is a must-read book, especially for Object-Oriented Programming.
6. Traversy Media
Traversy Media by Brad Traversy is a YouTube channel mostly focused on web development. The Video courses are great, very good and professionally explained and in-deep, the courses are especially good for beginners. The video course materials by Traversy Media are mostly free.
7. Academind
Another great YouTube channel for learning web development is Academind. There are a lot of available tutorials and courses that are very good explained. Some of the tutorials are free on the YouTube channel and some of them you can find it on Udemy.
8. The C Programming Language
The C Programming Language by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie sometimes termed K&R, after its authors' initials, which also designed and implemented the C language, as well as co-designing the Unix operating system. This book is regarded by many to be the authoritative reference on C programming language and with it, you will learn C programming language and also you will see how to program on the lower level which is very important for every software developer.
9. FreeCodeCamp
FreeCodeCamp is a learning web platform and online community that focuses to make learning web development accessible to anyone. It has tutorials from HTML, CSS to JavaScript where students progress to project assignments that they must complete either alone or in pairs. There is also a Free Code Camp YouTube channel which is also free like the whole platform.
10. Udacity
Udacity is another learning platform but it offers courses from web development, android development to machine learning. The video courses are great very good explained, especially the part with the android development I have done them when I started learning software development and they are great you cannot find better video lectures on how to learn android and they are also supported by Google. Udacity has a nanodegree that is paid but most of the lectures you can get it for free too.
11. Thinking in Java
Thinking in Java by Bruce Eckel is one of the best books to get into Object-Oriented Programming and you will learn the Java programming language too. Object-Oriented Programming is still one of the most important topics that every programmer should know about. I have written a special review for this book if you want to learn more.
12. You Don't Know Js
You Don't Know Js by Kyle Simpson is not just one book, there are five books and they are one of the best way to learn JavaScript, you will read o topics like Scope, Closures, Objects, Classes, Types, Grammar, Sync, Async, ES6 and beyond. You can find all of the books on the links below on Amazon for how it is recommended to start reading them.
- You Don't Know JS: Scope & Closures
- You Don't Know JS: this & Object Prototypes
- You Don't Know JS: Types & Grammar
- You Don't Know JS: Async & Performance
- You Don't Know JS: ES6 & Beyond
13. CSS Tricks
CSS-Tricks is a blog where you can find great learning materials about front-end development and especially CSS. The posts are very good explained with examples of code snippets. It is one of the top blogs out there.
14. MIT OpenCourseWare
MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) is one of the best courses for learning software development out there, they are great especially if you don't have a Computer Science degree. There are video courses from Introduction to Computer Science and Programming, Introduction to Algorithms, etc. The best think about MIT OCW is that it is free and available for everyone.
15. Syntax.FM
Syntax.FM is a podcast for web developers hosted by Wes Bos and Scott Tolinski, here you can find great episodes that will make you a better programmer. You can listen to it on iTunes, Overcast, Google Podcast, etc, and you will find all of the episodes on the Syntax FM website.
16. The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master
The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas is a book about software engineering where does not present a systematic theory, but rather a collection of tips to improve the development process pragmatically. The Pragmatic Programmer is a very influential book in the field of programming and it is used as a textbook in a lot of university courses.
17. Cracking the Coding Interview: 150 Programming Questions and Solutions
Cracking the Coding Interview by Gayle Laakmann McDowell gives you the interview preparation that you will need it to get the best software developer jobs. This is a deeply technical book and focuses on the software engineering skills to ace your interview.
18. DerekBanas
Another great YouTube channel by Darek Banas, that is producing very good videos to learn to code, although it is a bit fast-paced for my taste if you like fast-paced videos it can be very useful for you.
19. TheNewBoston
The New Boston Youtube channel is one of my favorites for beginner learning materials, although it is not updated a couple of years it still offers great video courses that can help a lot of entry-level programmers.
20. Head First Design Patterns
Head First Design Patterns by Eric Freeman, Kathy Sierra, Bert Bates, Elisabeth Robson is another book about design patterns in programming, reading this book will make design patterns much easier to understand. Head First book series is written especially yo target entry-level programmers.
21. JavaScript: the Good Parts
Another great JavaScript book the JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford is essential if you want to learn JavaScript programming language If I rank this book I will say You Don't Know Js is a bit better because the JavaScript evolves very fast and You Don't Know Js is more updated.
22. David Walsh Blog
David Walsh Blog is a popular coding blog that focuses on modern libraries, programming tutorials, and shortcuts for programming. David Walsh with his guest writers are providing daily posts to help programmers to learn how to code quicker and more efficiently
23. StackOverflow
StackOverflow is a question and answer web platform where developers help each other to solve problems. StackOverflow is maybe one of the best places where you can learn programming and at the same time, you can help other programmers but solving problems.
24. GitHub
Another giant in the coding world like the StackOverflow is the Github. Github is primary version control systems but you can find a lot of examples of code from which you can learn a lot, you cannot be a good programmer if you cannot read code written by others.
25. The Crazy Programmer
TheCrazyProgrammer is another nice blog in the programming world where you will find guides, tutorials, and examples on coding topics.
26. Soft Skills: The Software Developer’s Life Manual
Soft Skills: The Software Developer’s Life Manual by John Z. Sonmez is a unique guide book, offering great techniques and practices for a more satisfying life as a professional programmer. It has a wide range of important "soft" topics, from career and productivity to personal finance and even fitness and relationships. It's a different book that is not targeting programming itself but it is a very useful book.
27. The Go Programming Language
The Go Programming Language by Alan A. A. Donovan, Brian W. Kernighan is a book about the new kid in the town Golang programming language. The language which was completely designed by Google and is growing at a very fast pace, with great demand in the job market.
28. Head First Java
One more great book, if you want to learn Java programming language, is Head First Java by Kathy Sierra, Bert Bates, especially if Java is the first language you want to learn, this book is right for you. It has a great beginner-friendly writing style with very good coding examples and exercises. Highly recommended for entry-level Java programmers.
29. Coursera
Coursera is an educational learning platform that offers massive open online courses (MOOCs). Coursera is great for programmers who want to achieve goals from career advancement to skills development. Coursera offers a couple of learning programs from courses, specializations, professional certificates, master-track certificate and degrees.
30. Udemy
Udemy is maybe the most famous educational learning platform which offers various video learning materials of different programming languages and frameworks. It has very high-quality video tutorials which you can get it at very cheap prices.
31. Clean Architecture
Clean Architecture by Uncle Bob is one more great book that every programmer must-read. It will improve dramatically the way you structure and design your code, to achieve high levels of maintainability and correctness in your work.
32. The Rust Programming Language
The Rust Programming Language by Steve Klabnik is the official book on Rust, an open-source, community-developed systems programming language that runs blazingly fast, prevents segfaults, and guarantees thread safety. This book is a go-to guide written by members of the Rust team.
33. Programming Elixir: Functional |> Concurrent |> Pragmatic |> Fun
Programming Elixir: Functional |> Concurrent |> Pragmatic |> Fun by Dave Thomas will take you to another level, with this book not that you will learn the Elixir programming language but you will enter in the world of functional programming languages and will shape the way you think, making problem-solving much easier.
Bonus Spot. CodeSpot
And lastly the CodeSpot blog, here at the CodeSpot blog you will find news, examples, tutorials and other material to learn to code. As CodeSpot starter in September 2019, it is still a very young blog but we still try to publish great content every day to help developers in solving problems.
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