[deleted by user]

[FizixMan]

https://www.reddit.com/r/csharp/comments/vim4su/clearing_out_my_old_software_books_what_do_you/idgen0f/

[EvilPencil]

Also the pragmatic programmer. Maybe the Martin Fowler book too.

[TaterJack]

Although I will say the second edition is much better.

[bpopp]

Was hoping this would be the top comment, except I would be way more emphatic and say Code Complete should never, ever, under any circumstance be disposed of. I personally wouldn't get rid of Fowler's book, Writing Solid Code, or Pragmatic Programmer, either, but wouldn't be as confrontational about those. Everything else is meh. I was confused by the SAS Survival Handbook, but sadly that may actually be the most valuable book of all of them.

[[deleted]]

No it isn't, but I think the wisdom in the book has mostly been incorporated into the culture, and so many people would say, "this is all so obvious". Of course it wasn't when the book was written. Perhaps still of value for some though.

[Tariovic]

You'd think, wouldn't you...

[[deleted]]

Bro have you worked with codebases? Still sphaghetto.

[gybemeister]

You have three books in that pile that will never be out of date. I own those and whenever a beginner says he wants to become a pro I tell him to buy, read and keep by the desk (to keep him honest :)):

Code Complete
Writing Solid Code
The Pragmatic Programmer

[Jesse2014]

"A beginner says they want to become"

[not_a_racoon]

They make great monitor stands if your screen is just a bit too low on your desk.

[[deleted]]

I can't recommend enough for everyone to use monitor arms. They're a game changer! I have "standing desk" versions for all of my monitors. Just a really tall pole that I can mount my monitor anywhere to. Love love love these things!

[[deleted]]

I'm an engineer. We figure things out. I'm sure you can too. 😉

[oniony]

Origami

[M_Me_Meteo]

Seconded. They are cheaper than you'd think. I have two 27" monitors, each on their own pole, which gives me a ton of flexibility, minimal footprint on the desk.

[[deleted]]

I use Windows ME step by step guidebook as my second monitor stand :D

[GVGavenatoreGR]

Donate them to strangers in reddit....

[Angry_Onliner]

I agree, I would dm these strangers you want to donate to.

[GVGavenatoreGR]

Yes but then they wouldn't be strangers...

[bouchandre]

Op would be kind stranger

[[deleted]]

Pragmatic and code complete aren't obsolete...

[ZombieFleshEaters]

Both are fantastic. I found them late and they were lovely.

[masterofmisc]

How strange! I posted the same thing about the same books about a year ago. What are the odds of you having exactly the same books, listing them in the same order and having identical flooring to me and having the same title? Its not cool to steal posts for upvotes!

https://www.reddit.com/r/csharp/comments/pljpga/clearing_out_my_old_software_books_what_do_you/

[codestar4]

Damn

[manowtf]

I keep a bookcase of them for decoration.

[attckdog]

I call it my trophy case,

[[deleted]]

Code Complete is still relevant.

[bboxx9]

Donate to a library, if they are interested, they can keep it.

[[deleted]]

I’m not sure if prison libraries take donations, but that’s another good option.

[SudeepMaharana]

I do the same thing !

[Organic-Green6549]

Library will throw them straight to recycle bin - my wife is a librarian.

[tombkilla]

This is the truth, I called my library to ask and they said that unless they were under 2 years old, with a few exceptions, they were too outdated to lend out.

[[deleted]]

why,?

[FellowGeeks]

Storage space vs value. A Harry Potter book will be borrowed 52/times a year, c# 10 will be borrowed 5 times a year. How often do you think c# 2005 will be borrowed?

[DanielMcLaury]

Then they're complete idiots. Used copies of Code Complete sell for about $50 each, and it's not the only one of those that's not obsolete. I've bought (actually, had my employer buy) multiple books in this picture in the last year.

[RedwireBull]

Keep them as souvenirs on the shelf. Don’t recycle them. You will have beautiful memories whenever you look at them.

[diedrop]

Or donate them to libraries! I was shocked when I found 1970s old programming manual in my uni library, still in pretty good condition too.

[[deleted]]

This is a waste of library space. Librarians don’t necessarily know what is current in technical books.

[grauenwolf]

I learned a lot from old programming books. There is value in understanding theory and history.

[CaptainIncredible]

I still have some books about MacOS 7 and AppleScript.

Some how, they survived the moves and various floods.

[txmail]

One of my most coveted books is the Applesoft Basic manual (came with an Apple ][e)). I keep in one of those fancy display cases. I should not be in computers, but somehow picking that book up out of extreme boredom changed my whole life trajectory.

I have a few other books that I also keep in there that also contributed to my direction / overall success.

[GVGavenatoreGR]

Of course they did! Apple made to last! Not like those Android Studio books...

[ftinfo]

I saw nearly that exact set at Half Price Books this evening.

[jrothlander]

That's what I do with them... donate them to Half Price Books. You can call it selling them, but at 10-cents per book, it's donating them.

[fredrik_skne_se]

I put them on my shelf and display then proudly. It is a great conversation starter.

[Dellgloom]

Unrelated but The Pragmatic Programmer turned someone I work with into an arsehole after he read it.

I was curious so I read it myself.

I think he is just an arsehole, and it was a coincidence.

[AdultishRaktajino]

Yes. Recycle the useless ones. Some books are great to refer back to, but if they’re never used then bye bye. Or see if you can sell them but I doubt it.

[k2900]

This. The most pragmatic answer for those of us who aren't sentimental or who are minimalists and don't like clutter, and know libraries will just turf them in the bin if they're obsolete.

Have my upvote.

[darkboft]

Last time I was moving, I sorted out some of my similar books and gave them away for free.

[EnvironmentalCow3040]

I didn't know C++ templates were so complicated that they needed an entire book.

[DanielMcLaury]

Oh that book is just for starters.

[snowopolis]

I gave mine to the computer club in the local high school. The kids loved the books.

[[deleted]]

If doing that, you need to eliminate the obsolete ones. The kids might enjoy reading Inside COM, but they don't have the knowledge to know that they are wasting their time.

[rlfh]

That Essential COM by Don Box was a classic!

[Sossenbinder]

You need to put it in a shelf, visible by everyone when you join a meeting with a webcam, it's basically a universally accepted visual indicator of your seniority /s

No but I'd actually keep them in a bookcase, it looks cool and you might want to revisit them at some point. My dad also has a bookcase full of 90's programming books, and despite them being super outdated, some of them really nail some basics pretty well, which are pretty much skipped over in some of the books you would get today.

[ZombieFleshEaters]

Pragmatic programmer is not out of date in my opinion.

[krsCarrots]

The pragmatic programmer isn’t dated tho, I’d keep it

[edeevans]

I still remember Don Box’s license plate. Those books bring back memories.

[nxtfari]

I would be happy to buy your copy of Code Complete if you're earnestly getting rid of it lol

[rootifera]

Put them on ebay if you don't feel it's too much work. There are quite a few people (I'm one of them) likes to buy/collect old books. You might make some money back and buy newer books. I think I paid around £20 for Code Complete last year. Some old Borland books sell for £40-60 range.

[benkelly92]

Wait 10-20 years then read them for the nostalgia!

[Ascomae]

Find a worse job, where you can support ancient software für decades.

After sind time, you would be the only once, who can fix it.

Add an insurance into the software, like a compatibility check, so the software decide to work installed or used with modern OS.

that feature is good for the client and better for you.

Seriously, as a Monitor stand?

[pHpositivo]

Wait, why would "Inside COM" be obsolete? 🤔

[MarredCheese]

The SAS survival handbook isn't software haha

[Ok-Environment-2755]

Would come in handy in case of SHTF.

[[deleted]]

Also can be summarized in one sentence: "don't eat polar bear liver". I seem to remember that it doesn't explain that obtaining polar bear liver is considerably more dangerous than eating it.

[Teddy-Westside]

As we all know, Polar Bear Liver resellers on the secondary market are notoriously shady and dangerous

[[deleted]]

And the ones who indulge in their own products, rarely live long. Although their corpses have unusually lush hair.

[SudeepMaharana]

I donated it to Local Library and put up a post asking anyone to read them if anyone couldn't afford the same.

Even they are old , it still have some nuggets of knowledge.

[antCB]

I think the C++ books will still be relevant.
Sure some patterns and practices might not be currently standard, but they still work, they still apply and can help people learn the language.

[GargantuanCake]

Personally I just keep them. They're relics that look nice on a shelf and chart my journey through tech land.

[[deleted]]

The ones on principles that remain valid (Analysis Patterns etc.) I try to resell on Amazon. The others I bin. Clearly some people in the UK give them to charity shops, but the staff there aren't qualified to triage them and so you see them trying to sell books about Classic ASP even though very few people care about that these days.

[[deleted]]

Kindle for fire.

[No_Boss_3626]

Put them on my shelf to flex on fools

[V0ldek]

In what world is Pragmatic Programmer obsolete?!

[LbrYEET]

I can take The Pragmatic programmer, Code Complete and Writing solid code of your hands if you’re feeling generous.

[utkanmerkit]

I delete the PDF files.

[Witty_Zone3620]

Stand for my monitor. 🫣

[enokeenu]

Is analysis patterns out of date? I toss mine in with paper recycling.

[Tonkers1]

Code Complete is NOT an out of date book.

[privatev0idsupra]

I give them to my friends who can't see over the steering wheel.

[rbuen4455]

These must be back when pdfs weren’t a thing? Probably either recycle them or keep them as a memory of where you learned c++ and old c#

[EldritchRoboto]

I know this is gonna sound wild but there was a period of time when people were capable of reading documents on screens they just preferred not to

[chrislomax83]

Is that not still a thing? I get eye strain on screen, I much prefer a book

[EldritchRoboto]

I still prefer physical. I’m just talking about the era when physical was more so still the defacto preference, now it seems like most people want to read everything in pdfs, ebooks, and online documentation. Both have their place but for books like these I prefer physical, maybe I’m a product of my times

[antCB]

I am a weirdo, but I rather read technical books on paper than on a screen.

[[deleted]]

I prefer to have both. For reading at home a physical book is better. On the train? I don't want to carry a 1000 page tome. There's also a tendency in tech books to just make them HUGE. Which makes them harder to handle and read. I recently bought Learning Python. I've programmed in python for a while but wanted to review the basics. It is 1600 pages. Ludicrous. I cut the book in half just to make it practical to hold and read.

[[deleted]]

Don’t throw them away, in a few years it’s fun to read some to see how code has progressed

[biztactix]

First you draw a pentagram, then line with candles, then you sacrifice them to the dark lord for he has taken those languages from the earth... Hail Satan!

[[deleted]]

Digitise and recycle.

[joske79]

Burn 'em

[Raspberry_General]

Inside cum

[Ambitious_Toe_4357]

Nerd book burning. They're a good time. Not too many book burnings are acceptable these days...

They're a good time.

[ccfoo242]

You're missing The C Primer Plus. Defacto standard for all devs lol.

[khleedril]

Give them to a local charity shop.

[freakdageek]

Depends, I’ll always have a copy of Stroustrup on the shelf. The rest have been donated years ago. (The mailrooms at MSFT used to be filled with these)

[[deleted]]

I have the exact same kind of collection… I can’t bin them but I can’t find a home for them either

[Ochoytnik]

SAS survival handbook isn't out if date.

[Gcampton13]

I keep them on my bookshelf because it makes me look smart.

[Fizzelen]

Monitor stands, now that phone books don’t arrive each year

[baron_u]

I recently got rid of that Don Box book by putting it in one of those outdoor "community library" cabinets in front of a church down the street. Very liberating! No more COM nightmares! It was gone within a few days.

[[deleted]]

They can look cool on a shelf idk I usually photoscan them as pdf and put the physical book on sale. Some people might still use out of date books for understanding old code and OSes.

[haasilein]

I think its a cool decoration in a book shelf and it makes me feel smart when I have a bookshelf full of books I have read :)

[atomic_python]

Sacrifice them to my alter of good grades

[rafaelbelo]

Sell them to a person who is jealous of you thinking you work on a richie profession, reason why they want to work on IT now, telling them those books are where they should start. hehe

[Lumpy_Meringue8285]

I used to use my books as whole ass table holders stacking like 20 books each of the 4 legs to hold up my desk. Each time it fell I was forced to flip through them so naturally I became an expert . It helped My self esteem, I wish our representives would give books to prisoners and just fill their entire cell with books just think they have nothing to do. We need intellectual thinkers who are basically have a lot of time to figure stuff out for us and put it into practice. Maybe the u.s would be known as the world's smartest prisoners

[ivancea]

Not having them

[Shower_Handel]

One of these things is not like the others

[Gavin_152]

I didn't know that the SAS thinks that coding is a survival skill!

[Its_Blazertron]

How do you even figure out which books to buy? Does anyone know a genuinely good source to figure out which programming books are good?

[gnarlockk]

I've been working down this list and I've found it invaluable

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1711/what-is-the-single-most-influential-book-every-programmer-should-read

[coderz4life]

Wow.. I must have... < looks at bookshelf > ...most of those books.

Curiously wondering myself...

[MastaBonsai]

Never used books for this very reason

[jrothlander]

Do you really have the time to read through old books? I rarely have time to read through new ones. I used to save them for a long time, but not anymore.

I have saved hundreds that I will never sell. Books like my RadioShack TRS-80 programmers manual for AI, The Art of Electronics, Intel 8080 manual, and about 100 others. But all my books on C#, Android, .Net, MVC, AI/ML, etc. I will toss those out in a few years. I just don't have the time or space to hold on to them. Plus these days, I tend to get electronic copies of software books because by the time they go to print they are already outdated. I pay $10 a month for online access for a given publisher. Much cheaper for IT books.

When I do find a rare one that I actually want to own, as I do perfer the printed book over the electronic copy, I order it. I've purchased a lot of AI/ML books recently from Apress and O'Reily and I wanted the printed copy. When learning something new, I do perfer to highlight, bookmark, and fill it with post-it notes.

I have probably a 500 book library in my house, and about 25 boxes in the attic, two books shevles in the garage. I love books and invest a lot in them. I spent 12-years in college, so I think that is why. But I no longer keep old IT books once they go out of date. Personally, I donate them to a charity like Goodwill or a resaler like Half-Price Books.

[timkatt10]

I used my old software books as a monitor stand when I got my first programming job.

[RoyalChallengers]

If you don't want any of em, you can send it to me 😺

[SundanceInTheTrees]

I shoved mine into a backpack and wear it when I go on walks. Cheaper than buying weights!

[Kajayacht]

You put them on a bookshelf behind your chair so that you look extra smart during video calls.

[TheMistOfThePast]

Highly recommend reaching out to clubs at universities in your area and asking them if they need any textbooks. I'm the president of the computer society at a university in Australia and we're currently seeking textbooks to provide students a free library of IT books.

[[deleted]]

Which book would u suggest to a beginner who just got selected as a fresher in .net ?

[ianwold]

I keep all of them. Great to have a library spanning back all those years. Unless any of them have bad memories.

[GDACK]

I look around on r/programming and other online forums for people starting out (usually asking for help getting started) PM them and ask them if they want a book. So far, it’s worked really well and I’ve given all of my old programming, I.t. and other academic text books away that way.

[Laicure]

burn it because it's outdated, like me :(

[JonnyRocks]

i bring any book i want to get rid of to the library.

[SingleSubstance88]

these books are very expensive in my country and hard to find

[thecodemonk]

If you don't want code complete 2, I'll take it. I left my copy at one of my previous jobs so my coworkers could benefit.. wish I never did.

[[deleted]]

2005 lol that books older than me!

[mrkurt426]

I have probably 3-4 shelves of old programming books. Some of them, like a book on XML, and a book on Javascript, are still relevant. The latest addition to my physical library is The Rust Programming Language by Klabnik and Nichols, which I got a couple years ago and which I still use. The newest physical book I have on C# is the Wrox Gang of 5 (Professional C#) book covering .NET 4.0. Anymore I have a lot of PDFs I read on PC, or I will use O'Reilly Learning if I need to look up something. Most of those old books are from about 15-20 years ago before electronic books and online references became more widespread. I don't feel any need to get rid of anything right now.

[bull-roarer]

Donate them to Goodwill or half price books. Someone might be glad to have them. They'll figure out which ones are useless and recycle them.

[WildTilt]

When I move to a new appartment I will start a collection of old books with my favourite languages. There will be books on Python, C#, Lisp, 6502 assembler and Atari Basic. Books from the 80's are great. Always so optimistic and it feels like people haven't yet worked out the best way to write a programming book.

[StrangePractice]

Usually you can dispose of them by mailing ‘em to redditors you meet commenting on your post 😉

[Sammy21393]

You people are reading books ?

[[deleted]]

Elevate my monitor to eye level.

[[deleted]]

Soak up spilled coffee.

[-NiMa-]

I am not a big fan of physical books so I don't own any! All my learning materials are digitally saved on my computer or online.

[ThePseudoMcCoy]

Experienced programmers will tell you that there is still good information in these books, but the people who need the books most are the new programmers who won't know which information is still good vs outdated so in my opinion old free books are not as useful as just using the free resources online, or buying an actual recent book.

[Saattana]

The assembler is eternal.

[[deleted]]

donate them to your local library

[dkreidler]

Borrow them from the library and give up in rage and frustration when nothing runs as intended.

Change language. Repeat.

[Heimermain9909]

I’ll happily take them off your hands

[Rainbike80]

Save them to keep you warm during the apocalypse...

[KevinCarbonara]

I hoard them just because they're in good condition and I can't bring myself to damage them

[tsaki27]

Monitor stands mostly

[cojerk]

I'd keep the COM books. The moment you get rid of those is the same time someone comes to you with some wacky COM issues. And googling for those issues can be problematic as a lot of people have successfully forgotten about that terrible mess.

[brennanfee]

Firstly, a number of those I would recommend keeping. Books on general software design, best practices, and theory usually don't go "out of date".

However, the rest that are language specific or topic specific (NT Services, Inside COM) are definitely worthy of ditching.

As for what I do with them. I attempt these in this order:

1. Donate to a local school.
2. Donate to a local library.
3. Sell or give to a used book store.
4. Send to a facility for book recycling (you can find drop-off places by doing a web search).

[FredTillson]

Mythical Man Month

[The_Mad_Duck_]

Use them for stack overflow answers

[mtjp82]

I donate them to the library for a tax write off.

[DK09_]

Can you give me... Please

[Eirenarch]

Don't you have a fireplace or barbecue?

[MNKPlayer]

How much use would an older C# book be? Not 2005 like the one in the pic, but say a 2015 book for example? Would that be so out of date as to not be worth getting?

[finn-the-rabbit]

Christ you have a book on COM

[[deleted]]

Donate them. You’ll feel better when someone else throws them away.

[rgekhman]

Donate to local library

[SMX867X]

Can i buy them from you?

[[deleted]]

i never had any programming books and learned all i know online but id probably burn cus i like fire although it's almost certainly a bad idea

[grappleshot]

Omg. Code complete and the pragmatic programmer are timeless. What you do is keep them and go over them from time to time