2024-11-07 Books by Brian Kernighan

Brian Kernighan has a talent for clear and instructive writing:

• Everything is explained, beginning from the basics, without any assumptions.
• You are still being treated with respect: as if you were a fellow engineer, just from an entirely different area.
• To become an expert, you simply have to read the words, page by page, cover to cover.
• Even experienced readers will take away something.

It is a uniquely exciting and pleasant reading experience.

My favorite books involving Brian Kernighan:

• “The UNIX Programming Environment” by Brian Kernighan and Rob Pike.
• “The C Programming Language” by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie.
• “The AWK Programming Language” by Alfred Aho, Brian Kernighan, and Peter Weinberger.

I remember reading the AWK book at home after my return from Oslo in 2021-12, and the UNIX book in the CS department’s library in late 2023. Good times.