

Ask HN: How do you read your programming books? - shuaib

If you are like me, you don&#x27;t like to carry around a lot of physical books. For the past few years, I have been doing most of my readings off of iPad. But it isn&#x27;t very easy on the eye, and at least I can&#x27;t keep on reading off of it for long periods of time without getting eye strain. I hear that even though Kindle and its versions are good for non-tech books, it isn&#x27;t ideal for tech books. Is that so?<p>My question to you is: What medium do you find best for heavy tech&#x2F;programming reads?
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valarauca1
Generally I prefer to read from a book. While they are bulky, heavy, not as
_fashionable_ as an E-Reader, I like books. I spent a lot of my childhood in
the library, I like their smell, texture, the feeling of turning pages.

Also I've never understood the 'carry around' problem. But then I don't do my
reading in public, or outside my home. I have a comfortable chair, or my bed.

:.:.:

If I have to read something related to my programming work (I.E.: Reference
Material, papers, manuals), second monitor and it better be in a simple text
or pdf format.

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grn
I'm using Kindle (+ Readability) + printouts. I really like books but they
have two disadvantages: they are a little bit more expensive (but that's not
the rule) and, what's more important, they occupy space on a shelf. I have a
small collection of about 60 books and have no more space available.

When I find an interesting article that I'd like to read I add it to
Readability. If the article requires more mental effort to understand, or when
I want to have a deeper understanding of the presented topic, I print it on A4
paper, one-sided. The back side of each sheet is for my notes. Because I'm not
trying to formulate the Fermat Last Theorem the margins are too narrow. ;-)

I think that Kindle is a good choice for tech books, but you may have trouble
reading code or complicated diagrams. It all depends on the type of books you
intend to read.

I recommend a mixed approach: Kindle + printouts + books. Discover your own
preferences for medium for reading about a particular subject.

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taternuts
I prefer to read them as PDF's on my computer monitor. Most of the times, I
will either follow along or write simple code snippets to reinforce things and
I find it annoying to keep bouncing from hardcopy/tablet to the computer so
often. I never really get any eye strain, though I do have horrible vision for
what it is worth.

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michaelchum
I prefer the classical paperback, which you can easily highlight/write notes.
However, I just carry a programming book to learn low-level details during my
daily commute. Most of my learning is done during practice referring to online
resources.

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asaddhamani
Since learning programming isn't only about reading, but more about execution,
I find it better to just read them on the computer I am using at that moment.
A Kindle is fine, I don't see why it wouldn't be acceptable for tech books.

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infinii
I don't read technical books back to back which makes using a Kindle
difficult. It's hard to jump sections or utilize the ToC/Index effectively on
a Kindle.

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segmondy
good ol regular kindle. email it to my kindle in pdf format. not the best
format, but works for most books.

