Mon, 21 Sep 2009 23:50:55 +0200, Lutger thusly wrote: > One is Programming > language pragmatics, because I wanted to have more background on > language design (out of interest, trying to follow the discussions > here...). The other is Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture > because my employer was kind enough to organize a course on design > patterns. Now the Fowler one isn't exactly CS while PLP is. Which one do > you think weights more in a professional context?
Both. Design patterns are useless if e.g. the best sorting algorithm you know is the bubble sort. It is not worth the effort to always come up with new algorithms from scratch. For instance sorting is one domain where optimal solutions to many common problems are already known. Another one is parsing. To be honest, your question was a bit unfair. The programming language pragmatics book is a introductory level book on its domain (far from the state of the art PL books), the second one is an advanced level book written by one of the most appreciated veterans on the industry.