The Tao of Objects

This is an excellent book for anyone just starting out in programming, but as programmer who started out in the late 70's, I found it particularly useful to make the mind-shift towards object orientation. I regularly lend the book to colleagues needing to travel the same path, but intend to reclaim it soon so my 11yo can read it. It's written in a laid-back style reminiscent of "Zen and art of motor-cycle maintenance" and so is quite approachable. There are plenty of worked examples, with each presented in both C++ and Borland Pascal (the predecessor to Delphi). I thoroughly recommend this book.

I learned Object Oriented programing theory from this book when I was 17. I had been reading every book I could on C programming and this book made me realize what I could do with simple structures. Today, almost 7 years later, I'm still impressed with this book. It's a must own for OO programmers. I would recommend this book even to non-OO programmers; It has helped me make my C programming style much more modular and easy to document and understand. This book doesn't assume you know anything, so it's a good book for beginners, but since the theories and ideas explained are presented very broadly. While there are examples, they aren't immediately applicable. This book is more intent on teaching the ideas. You'll still need to learn a programming language to actually apply the knowledge.