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Programming & Coding Books | Should I Buy?

Should you buy programming books in this day and age? What about online learning. What is a must read when you get a programming book?

Will you even learn anything?
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Books in general are “worth” it if you do absorb the information and the contents of the book is actually good.

Yes, for many programming concepts, almost everything is in the web.

However, books force you to learn concepts you might otherwise overlook while learning through the web.

In fact, with a good book, you get a strong foundation on a particular subject in which most videos/websites do not have.

That stated, I personally don’t see the need for purchasing books in programming. Unless you are truly going over the book, there are many good e-books for free in the interweb. Add onto the fact that most programming books are horribly written, I am a bit skeptical of the need to take risks.

BUT… if the book is truly well written, then yes, I would recommend buying books for programming. Having a physical copy is immensely helpful when it comes to learning.

With all that written, do note that online resources are in no way inferior to that of good books. In fact, I would argue the opposite. Online resources tend to have more information available than a book simply cause of its vastness. MIT Opencourseware, etc. are just examples of online resources being top notch in quality. However, I do believe people tend to give up faster with online resources than with hard copies. So, if you are serious about learning a concept, I do agree that investing in a book could be a great choice.

Google is a great place to find how to “do” something. However, Google is not a great place to learn what you would not “learn” if you don’t know what to search for. Books give you firm grounds on details you would otherwise skip out.

Yes, you can learn just as much through following lecture series like MIT Opencourseware. Yes, you can be rigorous in your studies and read through a pdf. Yes, you can. Yes, you can. However, in most cases, those don’t happen. We as humans are lazy. With the Interweb, there is no real motivation in one’s learning to scrutinize over trivial details. However, with books, you are forced to read through chapters you might not know to have existed.

Also, books tend to have good practices and small projects. When I try coming up with ‘projects’ out of thin air to learn concepts, I tend to get lost rather quickly. In fact, I would not know how to even start with ‘what to program’ without some kind of guide like a book.