Reviews for The first book of Josef

The average rating for The first book of Josef based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-10-12 00:00:00 Stephen Sodaro This is almost a must-read for computer scientists, computer engineers, software engineers, and anyone who will code for a living. Almost. I was very tempted to give this book a four, but the content is too good and not replicated in aggregate in any other source of which I'm aware. The problem is that the FORTRAN and PL/I examples are going to be virtually unreadable by a modern programmer. Many of the examples and their lessons were still very clear, but others were almost impossible to parse. By the end, I probably learned enough FORTRAN in PL/I that I could go back and "decompile" most of the example programs. Additionally, many of the problems the authors describe at length were solved in C or C++, and more are absent in higher-level languages, and therefore inaccessible to newer students and more novice programmers. If someone were to write a "third edition" in C or C++ and swap some of the antiquated FORTRAN issues for modern C-and-C-like-language issues or even object-oriented issues, it could serve as a valuable, accessible guide for the current generation. Despite these issues, I am inclined to give the book five stars, given my limited choices on a five-point scale. It is incredibly valuable, and will likely be one of the few I use for reference in the years to follow.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-04-19 00:00:00 Larry Meadows An old classic--clear, enjoyable, and full of good common sense, nearly all of which still applies (an example of what doesn't: "Avoid Fortran's arithmetic IF"). I wavered between three and four stars for this title; the use of what are now antiquated programming languages (PL/I and Fortran IV) marred my enjoyment a little bit, only because I had to stop and gasp at infelicities of syntax or catch my breath at the absence of features which are now considered mandatory for any serious programming language. Still, that's a minor defect, and not in any way the fault of the authors, but of my perverse decision to read this title thirty years after its publication. Most of the advice is still sound, and you will still see most of it violated by your colleagues. Were I generation older and reading this a generation ago, I would likely have found this a five-star title. It's held up pretty well given its field. Those seeking an updated version of this title should consult Kernighan and Pike's The Practice of Programming .