wanted book recommendation for Object Oriented Programming

[Christian Tanzer]

Laura Creighton <lac at cd.chalmers.se> wrote:

> Lucky Us, we get 5 undergraduate computer-science/engineering student 
> interns here this summer.  (That will keep us on our toes.) Each of them 
> now gets a copy of 
> 
>     Design Patterns
>     Design Patterns SmallTalk Companion
>     The Practice of Programming
>     The Python Standard Library (Fredrik Lundh's book is out)

I'd recommend The Pragmatic Programmer by Hunt and Thomas over
The Practice of Programming if I had to choose one (both are good
IMO, but the former is better).
 
> of their very own to keep.  (And if Beazley's Essential Reference for
> 2.0 ever gets out of the publishers they will get that as well.)
> But I have found a hole.  I need a book every bit as excellent
> (and terse) as the rest of my list that teaches Object Oriented
> Programming to somebody who has never studied it.

I recommend Object-Oriented Software Construction by Bertrand Meyer
(disclaimer: I read the first edition long ago and don't actually know
the second edition. But it is the best introduction to OO I know of).

I'd also strongly recommend Beck's Extreme Programming Explained. I
think Beck's ideas are more important than the Design Patterns
(although I'd also include those in the list of books they get).

OTOH, I consider Booch's books on OO analysis and design to be
overrated [again, I read only the first edition but at least looked at
the second edition] -- lots of diagrams but little content. And the
applications section is just a bad joke.

-- 
Christian Tanzer                                         tanzer at swing.co.at
Glasauergasse 32                                       Tel: +43 1 876 62 36
A-1130 Vienna, Austria                                 Fax: +43 1 877 66 92