The Elements of Programming Style
The Elements of Programming Style by Brian Kernighan and P. J. Plaugerby Brian Kernighan and P. J. Plauger
Shares rank 100 of 115 programming books by recommenders
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.
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.
2 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 2
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 2 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Classic guide to clear code
“Just read "The Elements of Programming Style", for example.”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “How the Claude Code team does code review”
Other programming books people recommend
The four most recommended other programming books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crafting Interpretersby Robert Nystrom | 60 | 4 | 94% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Clean Codeby Robert C. Martin | 31 | 87 | 26% | 9 | — | — |
| The Pragmatic Programmerby Hunt and Thomas | 28 | 1 | 97% | 7 | — | Approved |
| How to Design Programsby Felleisen, Findler, Flatt and Krishnamurthi | 18 | 2 | 90% | 7 | — | Approved |
| The Elements of Programming Styleby Brian Kernighan and P. J. PlaugerThis page | 2 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
1 of the 2 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Just read "The Elements of Programming Style", for example.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.