Software Development Bookshelf

I was perusing the software development section of the Memphis library today and, guess what?  The selection was really bad.  Not too surprising, but I feel compelled to try to change that.  I strongly believe that software and web-based development are incredibly empowering areas of technology.  Anyone with the smarts and determination to build something can do so.  The game has changed such that you don't need a lot of money to get started anymore.  You just need the willpower to learn.

With this in mind, I conversed with the girls at the science desk and they enthusiastically agreed to take a list of suggestions for adding to the collection.  Below is what I put together.  I can't really tell you what my theme is, other than to say: if I was a beginning programmer, below is the bookshelf I would want made available to me.  None of them are beginner books, but that's not what I would want.  I would want a list of books that lay out the master craft I should aspire to.

I only selected a few choice language books.  Why?  I'm not sure, other than to say that I'm no longer interested in reading any books about Java and Visual Basic, nor is there a need (from what I've seen) for books about Java and Visual Basic at my public library.

Lastly, this list is not meant to be exhaustive (of course).  It feels like it strikes a nice balance between the breadth and depth of the subject at hand, while staying small enough to actually get added to the library's collection.  Furthermore, I deliberately left off a couple of titles that the library already owns (woefully few, though).

What do y'all think?  Please make additional suggestions (or flame mine) in the comments:

Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software (Addison-Wesley Professional Computing Series)

by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John M. Vlissides

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Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code (Addison-Wesley Object Technology Series)

by Martin Fowler, Kent Beck, John Brant, William Opdyke, Don Roberts

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The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition (2nd Edition) 

by Frederick P. Brooks

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The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master 

by Andrew Hunt, David Thomas

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Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams (Second Edition) 

by Tom DeMarco, Timothy Lister

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Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change (2nd Edition) (XP Series)

by Kent Beck, Cynthia Andres

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Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction (Paperback)

by Steve McConnell 

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Refactoring to Patterns (Addison-Wesley Signature Series) 

by Joshua Kerievsky

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Test Driven Development: By Example (Addison-Wesley Signature Series)

by Kent Beck

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User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development (Addison-Wesley Signature Series) 

by Mike Cohn

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Working Effectively with Legacy Code (Robert C. Martin Series)

by Michael Feathers (Author)

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Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship (Robert C. Martin Series)

by Robert C. Martin

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Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture (Addison-Wesley Signature Series)

by Martin Fowler

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The C++ Programming Language: Special Edition (3rd Edition)

by Bjarne Stroustrup

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The Ruby Programming Language

by David Flanagan, Yukihiro Matsumoto

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Agile Web Development with Rails, Third Edition

by Sam Ruby (Author), Dave Thomas, David Hansson

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Rails Recipes (Pragmatic Programmers)

by Chad Fowler

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Programming Python

by Mark Lutz

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Python Cookbook

by Alex Martelli, Anna Ravenscroft, David Ascher