How the Book Is Organized

This book is written as a collection of short topics. Each topic is self-contained, and addresses a particular theme. You’ll find numerous cross references, which help put each topic in context. Feel free to read the topics in any order—this isn’t a book you need to read front-to-back.

Occasionally you’ll come across a box labeled Tip nn (such as Tip 1, ​Care About Your Craft​). As well as emphasizing points in the text, we feel the tips have a life of their own—we live by them daily. You’ll find a summary of all the tips on a pull-out card inside the back cover.

We’ve included exercises and challenges where appropriate. Exercises normally have relatively straightforward answers, while the challenges are more open-ended. To give you an idea of our thinking, we’ve included our answers to the exercises in an appendix, but very few have a single correct solution. The challenges might form the basis of group discussions or essay work in advanced programming courses.

There’s also a short bibliography listing the books and articles we explicitly reference.