Books Every Software Engineer Must Read in 2024

The page uses the Lindy effect to argue that technologies and ideas with longer use are likelier to last, then applies that idea to software development. It says frameworks come and go, while fundamentals such as algorithms, clean code, design patterns, architecture, testing, distributed systems, and SQL stay useful across tools and languages. It then recommends a long list of books grouped around those areas, plus a few titles on leadership, teamwork, motivation, focus, and habits.

Reading notes

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• The Lindy effect is used to support the idea that developers should learn things that do not change.
• Frameworks like React, Angular, Spring, and Web Forms are presented as short-lived compared with fundamentals.
• Learning fundamentals is said to help developers understand principles shared across frameworks and languages.
• Strong fundamentals are described as useful for flexibility, adaptation, and solving performance or bottleneck problems.
• The list includes books on pragmatic development, software engineering, code quality, design patterns, refactoring, algorithms, SQL, testing, architecture, distributed systems, DevOps, machine learning, teamwork, motivation, management, focus, habits, and personal effectiveness.
• Several books are described as still valid even though they were written many years ago.
• The page advises readers to choose books based on their current career, life situation, and goals.