# The Elements of Programming Style by Brian Kernighan and P. J. Plauger

2 Hacker News commenters recommended The Elements of Programming Style by Brian Kernighan and P. J. Plauger and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended as a classic guide to writing clear, well-styled code, with a commenter pointing to it as a reference for code review and coding standards.

## Why people recommend it

- Classic guide to clear code (1 comments): "Just read "The Elements of Programming Style", for example." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50123713))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Crafting Interpreters by Robert Nystrom](https://hackerapproved.com/p/crafting-interpreters.md): 60 recommend
- [Clean Code by Robert C. Martin](https://hackerapproved.com/p/clean-code.md): 31 recommend
- [The Pragmatic Programmer by Hunt and Thomas](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pragmatic-programmer.md): 28 recommend
- [How to Design Programs by Felleisen, Findler, Flatt and Krishnamurthi](https://hackerapproved.com/p/how-to-design-programs.md): 18 recommend
- [Mastering Emacs by Mickey Petersen](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mastering-emacs.md): 17 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0070342075?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780070342071) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Elements of Programming Style by Brian Kernighan and P. J. Plauger", https://hackerapproved.com/p/elements-of-programming-style/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).