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More Programming Pearls by Jon Bentley Recommended

ISBN: 0-201-11889-0       Publisher: Addison-Wesley       Pages: 207pp       Price: £16-95

Categories:   advanced c

Reviewed by Francis Glassborow in C Vu 8-4 (May 1996)

I have eventually got tired of people sending me extracts from 'More Programming Pearls' and felt it was about time this classic volume was on my shelf next to the Jon Bentley's 'Programming Pearls' so I unashamedly took advantage of being your editor and asked for a review copy.

The book contains 15 columns that, with a couple of exceptions, are revised versions of the author's 'Programming Pearls' columns from issues of 'Communications of the ACM' published in the mid 1980s. Don't even dream that material written ten years ago is irrelevant in the context of the mid-late 1990s. If you have any pretensions to being a serious programmer you will have well thumbed copies of both this book and its companion somewhere in your work space. (Note that I am not a serious programmer as I do not make my living from programming:)
The material covered in this book is produced by an expert working programmer who has distilled his experience so that others can benefit. Jon also provides set of problems for you to try. There is an appendix that covers his answers to some of these.

The book is divided into four sections: Programming Techniques, Tricks of the Trade, I/O fit for Humans and Algorithms. Let me finish by quoting the first paragraph of the introduction to part 1.

I don't have the patience to save the best for last. These four columns deal with the best part of the programmer's job: those blissful hours you spend at the keyboard, staring at a computer screen.

Definitely words from a real programmer.