# The Psychology of Computer Programming by Gerald Weinberg

5 Hacker News commenters recommended The Psychology of Computer Programming by Gerald Weinberg and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** A classic 1970s book on the human side of software development, recommended as a historical read that still puts people at the center of programming work.

## Why people recommend it

- Puts people at the center (1 comments): "aimed to put humans at the center of software development" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48990590))
- Classic, still worth reading (2 comments): "Reading The Psychology of Computer Programming from the 70s was such an interesting read for me from a historical perspective" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49504069)) "One of the best pieces of work in this genre" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48987598))
- Insight on code review and feedback (1 comments): "one of the things that I liked in this book (and for the most part, missed in actual employment) was the confidence you get when you can run your code by other folks" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50328307))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Mythical Man-Month by Fred Brooks](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mythical-man-month.md): 56 recommend
- [Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann](https://hackerapproved.com/p/designing-data-intensive-applications.md): 37 recommend
- [A Philosophy of Software Design by John Ousterhout](https://hackerapproved.com/p/a-philosophy-of-software-design.md): 28 recommend
- [Code Complete by Steve McConnell](https://hackerapproved.com/p/code-complete.md): 14 recommend
- [The Architecture of Open Source Applications by Amy Brown and Greg Wilson](https://hackerapproved.com/p/architecture-of-open-source-applications.md): 13 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0932633420?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780932633422) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Psychology of Computer Programming by Gerald Weinberg", https://hackerapproved.com/p/psychology-of-computer-programming/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).