How to Self‑Study Programming: Advice, Book Recommendations, and Learning Strategies

The author asks experienced programmers how to self‑study programming and invites readers to share their methods.

Drawing an analogy to learning to read using a dictionary, the author suggests treating programming problems like looking up entries in a reliable reference.

Key recommended books include Introduction to Algorithms , Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective , Computer Networking: A Top‑Down Approach , and especially Code Complete , which covers topics from architecture and design to testing, refactoring, and even programmer personality.

Code Complete contains 35 chapters covering the full software development lifecycle; the author finds it engaging, full of anecdotes, and recommends reading two hours daily to finish it in a month.

The author stresses that programming cannot be mastered solely by reading books; extensive practice, reading quality open‑source code (e.g., on GitHub), and active community participation are essential.

Additional advice for AI beginners points to resources for self‑learning machine learning, deep learning, and AI, and the author highlights the importance of reading, writing code, searching error messages, and asking knowledgeable peers.

A giveaway is announced: the two commenters with the most likes will receive a copy of *Code Complete* (English‑Chinese blind box).

Finally, the post promotes the #IDCF DevOps Hackathon, encouraging teams and individuals to join the 36‑hour event in Beijing.