About the book
Paul Graham gathers essays on programming, startups and the programmers and software designers who call themselves hackers, the people increasingly building the world. One essay shares the book's title, and others take on why nerds are unpopular, how wealth is made, and heresy and free speech. Graham writes about beauty in software design, the open-source movement and internet startups, and several pieces, among them Programming Languages Explained and The Hundred-Year Language, deal with programming languages. Other essays include A Plan for Spam and Design and Research. The cover reproduces Pieter Bruegel's painting The Tower of Babel.
Blogger co-creator Evan Williams singled out the essays Mind the Gap and How to Make Wealth for explaining widely misunderstood economic principles, and Wired editor Chris Anderson praised the chapter on why nerds are unpopular. Ruby creator Yukihiro Matsumoto called Graham one of today's heroes of programming.
We hope you love the books people recommend! Just so you know, The CEO Library may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page.
This book has 5 recommendations
Evan Williams (Co-creator/Blogger)
I want everybody I know to read "How to Make Wealth" and "Mind the Gap" (chapters 6 and 7), which brilliantly articulate the most commonly, and frustratingly, misunderstood core economic principles of everyday life.
Rob Malda (Creator & Director/Slashdot)
Paul Graham's Hackers & Painters is one diverse book, but it doesn't matter if you're learning why nerds get beat up in high school, or the subtleties of language design and acceptance. Paul approaches each of his subjects with an entertaining insight that will make you smile and think. Highly recommended to anyone.
Yukihiro Matsumoto (Creator/Ruby)
Since programmers create programs out of nothing, imagination is our only limitation. Thus, in the world of programming, the hero is the one who has great vision. Paul Graham is one of our contemporary heroes. He has the ability to embrace the vision, and to express it plainly. His works are my favorites, especially the ones describing language design. He explains secrets of programming, languages, and human nature that can only be learned from the hacker experience. This book shows you his great vision, and tells you the truth about the nature of hacking.
Bob Frankston (Co-founder/Software Arts)
A wonderful book and required reading. Paul helps others understand why I chose the name 'Software Arts' for the company Dan Bricklin and I started. Those who don't understand the language of software cannot consider themselves literate.
Chris Anderson (Editor-in-Chief/Wired)
A delightful ping-pong around the brain of a really smart guy. The chapter that answers the key question of our age-- why are nerds unpopular?-- is worth the price of admission alone.
Get this book on Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple Books
See more books recommended by
Evan Williams, Rob Malda, Yukihiro Matsumoto, Bob Frankston, Chris Anderson