Software Classics

		Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools, Alfred V. Aho, Ravi Sethi, and Jeffrey D. Ullman. Addison-Wesley, 1986. The infamous "dragon book." There are plenty of things it doesn't cover, but it provides a theory-based look at the basics of scanning, parsing, semantics, and code generation. (Reviewed Nov., '02)
		Programming Pearls, Jon Bentley. Addison-Wesley, 1999 (2/e). More Programming Pearls, Jon Bentley. Addison-Wesley, 1988. These truly are pearls: great lessons in programming in the small. (Reviewed Nov., '02)
		The Mythical Man-Month, Fred Brooks. Addison-Wesley, 1995 (2/e). "Adding people to a late project makes it later." This and other observations about software and software teams. If you've never read it, you owe it to yourself to find out what our field knew 25 years ago. (Reviewed Nov., '02)
		Structured Programming O.-J. Dahl, E. W. Dijkstra, and C.A.R. Hoare. Academic Press, 1972. Dijkstra explains structured programming (with an eye to proofs), Hoare explains data structures, and Dahl and Hoare explain something called "objects." Note the publication year. (Reviewed Nov., '02)
		Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams, Tom deMarco and Timothy Lister. Dorset House, 1999 (2/e). Ways to make teams productive. (Reviewed Nov., '02)
		Design Patterns, Erich Gamma et al. Addison-Wesley, 1995. A catalog of 23 patterns used in object-oriented design. It's a little new to be called a classic, but I'll go out on a limb for this one. (Reviewed Nov., '02)
		Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, Douglas R. Hofstadter. Basic Books, 1999 (20th anniversary edition). An exploration of music, math, and art, and how they intertwine with computers. (Reviewed Nov., '02)
		The Art of Computer Programming, Donald E. Knuth. Addison-Wesley, 1998 (boxed set edition). I wish I were enough of a mathematician to understand it all, but time studying these books has always been worthwhile. I'm hoping for volumes 4 and 5:) (Reviewed Nov., '02)
		A Software Tools Sampler, Webb Miller. Prentice Hall, 1987. Unix and its tools are still important, even if the modern GUI mostly ignores their abilities. This book provides algorithms and C code for file updating, comparison, searching, and editing. It's probably not the most modern guide to any of these, yet I find myself going back to it every two or three years. (Reviewed June, '05)
		The Art of Software Testing, Glenford Myers. Wiley, 1979. Dated? Yes, but I still like it. (Reviewed Nov., '02)

I link to Amazon.com as part of their associate program, but don't forget to check half.com and others, especially if you don't mind a used book.