Become a better programmer. That’s what the book promises in its Foreward and that’s what it delivers. Inside you’ll find tips for everything from creating modular programs (Orthogonality) to estimating the timeline of a project, and the authors present this information in a way that’s language-neutral and easy to digest. This book is an absolutely-must-read for any programmer, novice or experienced.

The must-read book to introduce and teach you the fundamental concepts, principles, and methodologies behind advanced information architecture. There aren’t any code examples here, this is all about organization and communication through elegant structure and eloquent style.

If you know how to code in any language (JavaScript, .NET, VBScript, Java, C/C++) but want to get up to speed quickly with PHP then you need this book. One read through and you’ll be taken through the steps of beginning PHP coder to advanced PHP programmer in an amazingly short time. You can then refer back to this book for (almost) cut-and-paste code for commonly used libraries.

This book is invaluable for both designers and developers alike. Those who deal with graphic imagery would do well to learn how their designs are actually used (or not used) when implemented in web sites. Those who deal with such implementation must be aware of the consequences of their code on a site’s usability, and this book shows you what your goals should be and why.

The most beneficial thing I got out of this book (so far) is the attitude and philosophy of accessibility. It preaches diversity, social maturity, and free access to knowledge. While the book can get very textbook-like at times, the author does his best to engage readers with multiple levels of depth in his writing. I believe this book is worth reading to glimpse his style alone.

Regular expressions are the swiss army knife no programmer should be without. I’ve already become proficient with intermediate level regular expressions in many flavors by reading less than a third of this book, because that’s how clearly the author explains everything. If you do anything with text on computers (even using a text editor!) then you’re going to find this book exceptionally helpful.

The no-nonsense, no-jargon guide for laypeople and project managers which guides you through the process of designing (not implementing) your organization’s relational database model. If you don’t know what a relational database is but someone told you that you need one, this is the book you should read to learn how to make it.

Chock-full of important information for web developers and IT directors in charge of web design teams! Starts with the psychology of usability and tells you why speed is important, then shows you how to make fast web sites. This book is for the advanced web specialist, not the graphic designer.

Learn CSS by using it with help directly from one of the masters! If you are comfortable working with source code and want to get your hands dirty with some real-life CSS, then buy this book and work through the projects as Eric guides you. Once you’ve worked through the projects in this book, you’ll feel ten times more confident that you, too, can create beautiful web designs with a little CSS know-how. (Not recommended, though still useful, for a point-and-click designer.)

The indespensible sequel to his first book, this one serves as an advanced tutorial teaching you complex CSS such as CSS-Positioning by using real-world examples that you will surely face in the not-to0-distant future. Learn how to make CSS-driven drop-down menus, completely table-free web design layouts and more, all while looking over Eric’s shoulder as he shows you what to do! Also a great reference book for tips and tricks to avoid common pitfalls.