The Practice of Programming

{{Infobox book

| name = The Practice of Programming

| image = File:The_Practice_of_Programming.jpg

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| author = Brian W. Kernighan and Rob Pike

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| language = English

| subject = Computer programming

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| publisher = Addison–Wesley

| pub_date = 1999

| isbn = 0-201-61586-X

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}}

The Practice of Programming ({{ISBN|0-201-61586-X}}) by Brian W. Kernighan and Rob Pike is a 1999 book about computer programming and software engineering, published by Addison-Wesley.{{cite book |title=TPOP @ Informit |date=4 February 1999 |publisher=Addison-Wesley Professional. Part of the Addison-Wesley Professional Computing Series series. |isbn=978-0-201-61586-9 |url=http://www.informit.com/store/practice-of-programming-9780201615869 |access-date=6 December 2013}}

According to the preface, the book is about "topics like testing, debugging, portability, performance, design alternatives, and style", which, according to the authors, "are not usually the focus of computer science or programming courses".{{cite web |title=From the Preface |url=http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/tpop/preface.html |website=Bell Labs: Brian Kernighan's Home Page |access-date=2020-02-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991115083551/http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/tpop/preface.html |archive-date=15 November 1999 |url-status=dead}} It treats these topics in case studies, featuring implementations in several programming languages (mostly C, but also C++, AWK, Perl, Tcl and Java).

The Practice of Programming has been translated into twelve languages. Eric S. Raymond, in The Art of Unix Programming, calls it "recommended reading for all C programmers (indeed for all programmers in any language)".{{cite book |title=The Art of Unix Programming |first=Eric S. |last=Raymond |year=2003 |url=http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/pr01s01.html |publisher=Addison-Wesley}} A 2008 review on LWN.net found that TPOP "has aged well due to its focus on general principles" and that "beginners will benefit most but experienced developers will appreciate [...] the later chapters".{{cite web |website=LWN.net |title=Kernel Hacker's Bookshelf: The Practice of Programming |year=2008 |first=Valerie |last=Henson |url=https://lwn.net/Articles/293037/}}