Life & fun · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to The Self-Taught Programmer

The Definitive Guide to Programming Professionally

Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. The Self-Taught Programmer launched in 2017; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

1. 1
   The Self-Taught Programmer▲4

   The Definitive Guide to Programming Professionally

   2017 · its alternatives →

2. 2
   The Imposter's Handbook▲80

   Essential Skills and Concepts For The Self-taught Programmer

   2016 · its alternatives →

3. 3
   The Art of Computer Programming▲91

   "The Bible" of all fundamental algorithms for programming

   2015 · its alternatives →

4. 4JB
   JavaScript books, free online▲222

   2016 · exploringjs.com · its alternatives →

5. 5
   How I Learned to Code▲65

   Lessons From Teaching Myself Web Development

   2017 · its alternatives →

6. 6AJ
   A JavaScript Handbook▲239

   2018 · jshandbook.com · its alternatives →

7. 7EI
   Easy intro book to Clojure and immutability▲148

   2019 · getprogrammingwithclojure.com · its alternatives →

8. 8
   The Programmer’s Odyssey▲64

   A riveting history of programming

   2017 · its alternatives →

9. 9
   Learn Enough Dev Environment to Be Dangerous▲68

   A tutorial introduction to computer development environments

   2017 · its alternatives →

10. 10FS
    Full Stack Lisp – A book in progress about writing Common Lisp apps▲338

    2016 · fullstacklisp.com · its alternatives →

11. 11JA
    JavaScript Application Design book▲66

    2015 · amazon.com · its alternatives →

12. 12TJ
    The JavaScript Way, a new book for learning modern JS▲39

    2017 · github.com · its alternatives →

13. 13IW
    I wrote a technical history book on Lisp▲252

    The book page links to a blog post that explains how I got about it (and has a link to sample content), but the TL&DR is that I could not find a lot of books that were on "our" history _and_ were larded with technical details. So I set about writing one, and some five years later I'm happy to share the result. I think it's one of the few "computer history" books that has tons of code, but correct me if I'm wrong (I wrote this both to tell a story and to learn :-)). My favorite languages are Smalltalk and Lisp, but as an Emacs user, I've been using the latter for much longer and for my…

    Feb 2026 · berksoft.ca · its alternatives →

14. 14
    The Mythical Man-Month▲84

    Essays on software engineering

    2015 · its alternatives →

15. 15MI
    My Interactive ClojureScript book▲134

    2017 · langintro.com · its alternatives →

16. 16
    Wolfram Language▲86

    Knowledge-based programming

    2014 · its alternatives →

17. 17MR
    Most recommended programming books of all time▲6

    2020 · dev.to · its alternatives →

18. 18AM
    A modernized and annotated code companion to Paul Graham's “On Lisp”▲93

    2015 · github.com · its alternatives →

19. 19FP
    Functional Programming Strategies, the book I'm working on▲5

    Jul 2026 · functionalprogrammingstrategies.com · its alternatives →

20. 20
    Algorithms to Live By▲70

    The computer science of human decisions

    2016 · its alternatives →

21. 21
    Python Crash Course▲5

    A Hands-On, Project-Based Introduction to Programming

    2017 · its alternatives →

22. 22V1
    v0.1 of my book "Why programmers work at night"▲111

    2012 · leanpub.com · its alternatives →

23. 23
    Scrum▲85

    A breathtakingly brief and agile introduction

    2016 · its alternatives →

24. 24IM
    I'm writing a leanpub book about Common Lisp web programming▲107

    2013 · lispwebtales.ppenev.com · its alternatives →

Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →