Must read books for new developers

Yeah, yeah, the web is full of these lists. So one more shouldn't matter.

The important thing is not to read everything(which I have foolishly tried to do in the past), but to get essential knowledge that is useful now, and also lasts through the years. I've narrowed it down to sections of a book, to pick out what I think are the best parts of those books.

1. Code Complete 2, Steve McConnell - Part V, Code Improvements (pg. 463-609)

Covers code quality, testing methods, debugging method, refactoring, etc.

2. The Art of Designing Embedded Systems, Jack Ganssle - Chapter 2, Disciplined Development (pg. 5-34)

The 7 step plan to improve software quality.

3. Managing the Software Process, Watts Humphrey - Chapter 7, Software Configuration Management (pg.113-135)

The cornerstone of good collaboration, SCM.

4. The Pragmatic Programmer, Andrew Hunt/David Thomas

Bits of good advice throughout the book.

5. The Practice of Programming, Brian Kernighan/Rob Pike- Chapters 5,6,7,8,9

Debugging, Testing, Performance, Portability and Notation.