The Nature of Code
The Nature of Code by Daniel Shiffmanby Daniel Shiffman
Shares rank 30 of 115 programming books by recommenders
Recommended as a hands-on, simulation-based introduction to modeling natural systems in code, with a useful list of related reading.
Recommended as a hands-on, simulation-based introduction to modeling natural systems in code, with a useful list of related reading.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, 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
Great for creative simulations
“the book Nature Of Code is great for exploring this topic by creating simulations”
Comment from 9 Apr 2026 in “Ask HN: Any Interesting Niche Hobbies?” “I can extremely highly recommend Daniel Shiffman's Nature of Code”
Comment from 16 Jun 2026 in “Getting Creative with Perlin Noise Fields” Fun to work through
“this fun book I worked through years ago”
Comment from 1 Nov 2026 in “Simple circuits can create complex behaviors” “Nature of Code is such a great book !”
Comment from 14 Sep 2026 in “EuroBirdPortal – Live bird movements across Europe”
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 Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas | 28 | 1 | 97% | 7 | — | Approved |
| How to Design Programsby Matthias Felleisen and Robert Bruce Findler and Matthew Flatt and Shriram Krishnamurthi | 18 | 2 | 90% | 7 | — | Approved |
| The Nature of Codeby Daniel ShiffmanThis page | 6 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
5 of the 6 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“this fun book I worked through years ago”
“Nature of Code is such a great book !”
“another favorite, Nature of Code, which has a great list of related books”
“I can extremely highly recommend Daniel Shiffman's Nature of Code”
“the book Nature Of Code is great for exploring this topic by creating simulations”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.