Recommended books for programming students

This blog post lists the best books I can recommend to students who want to learn how to program. Please note that programming is more about doing than reading, see Message to the students for a more general picture.
Basics not tied to a specific programming language:

• Absolute beginners should follow the Message to the students guide first, and finish some online courses about programming.
• Rivest et al.: Introduction to Algorithms, 3rd edition.
• Henry S. Warren, Jr: Hacker's Delight, 2nd edition. Chapter 2 (one of the best chapters) is available for download for free.
• Donald E. Knuth: The Art of Computer Programming, Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3.
• Brian W. Kernighan and Rob Pike: The Unix Programming Environment, 1984.
• Steve McConnell: Code Complete, 2nd edition.

Basics for some important programming languages and technologies::

• Python: Mark Lutz: Programming Python, 4th edition.
• C: Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritche: C Programming Language, 2nd edition (1988).
• C++: Bruce Eckel: Thinking in C++, 2001, Volume 1, Volume 2, also free to read online.
• Java: Bruce Eckel: Thinking in Java, 4th edition (2006), very old editions also free to read online.
• Haskell: Miran Lipovača: Learn you a Haskell for Greater Good, also free to read online.
• JavaScript and dynamic HTML (DOM, AJAX): (No specific book recommendation here, better learn it in the bottom of Codecademy.)
• Tobi Oetiker: The Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX2e, free to read online, updated continuously.
• Scott Chacon: Pro Git, also free to read online.
• Brian W. Fitzpatrick et al.: Version Control with Subversion, also free to read online.

Gems specific to programming languages and technologies beyond the basics:

• C++: Scott Meyers: Effective C++, 3rd edition.
• Java: Joshua Bloch: Effective Java, 2nd edition.
• Java: Joshua Bloch and Neal Gafter: Java Puzzlers, 2005.