Daily Reading for Continuous Education
All professions require a certain amount of continuing education to stay on top of the field. Software, more than any other. It the profession where knowledge has the shortest expiration date. It is also the profession with the fastest growing (and changing) body of knowledge.
Enough with the commentary. Everybody knows this already.
Paul's Reading List
Here is the stuff I read regularly to (attempt) to keep up.
- DZone.com, this is a recent add on for me. I discovered it after noticing (in my logs) that one of my pages was referenced here. Think of it like slashdot or digg for developers.
- IBM developerWorks, an oldie but goodie. Fresh content every Tuesday. This site generally gives quick intros and mini-tutorials on new technology as it comes to light. It is a good way to have an understanding (by using) technology as new things pop-up.
Some other things to read are various developer blogs. The ones I recommend are:
- Martin Fowler's Bliki, his cross between a blog and a wiki.
- The blog of the pragmatic programmer, is there anything else to say?
- The Blog of Andy Hunt, the other ;-) pragmatic programmer.
- Object Mentor Blog, where else can you find Uncle Bob? If you haven't started the craftsman series, you are truly missing out (p.s. you have to find the link on the page - evil javascript links).
- The No Fluff Just Stuff Blogs, be sure to check out the podcasts and videos on the site as well.
Don't kill your day by only reading and not coding. Just set aside a little bit of time each day to stay on top of things. If you hit a slow period at work, maintain your skills with some programming exercises. Read a little, code a little. Use what you learn, and most of all, Have Fun.
