A graduation gift for a programmer
A graduation gift for a computer science student should outlast the laptop the first employer issues. Give the first program they were shown, drawn as bars on a mug.
The first program, on the first desk
The employer will hand over a machine. Relatives will hand over money and advice. A graduation gift for a programmer can be the thing neither of those is: the program that made the work look like work, turned into an object for the desk they do not have yet.
Hello, world is that object for almost everyone. Brian Kernighan wrote the program. The 1978 C book made it famous. The bars are the program, not a reproduction of the book page, and a lawyer cleared the listing. Two lines, a brace, a string. On a mug it reads as a start, which is what a computer science graduation gift is allowed to be.
A second piece, if they already have a language
Some graduates are past the first program and slightly insulted by a reminder of it. If they aimed at Python and will say so without being asked, give Zen of Python. Tim Peters, PEP 20, the file this.py. The PSF notice stays on the page. The joke of the piece is that the language hides its own principles behind a scramble. That is a better gift for someone who already has opinions.
If they talk about how the web started, give CERN web server. The public-domain grant is 30 April 1993, and it covers the server, the line-mode browser, and libwww. It does not cover the words of the first public page. Those are a different piece, and a graduation is the wrong moment for a footnote about what was not given away. Keep the list this short. A new graduate does not need sixteen options in the card.
Mug now, the rest of the catalog later
Buy the mug. It is the object that sits on a first desk and does not look like swag from a career fair. The white tee works if you know they dress that way. Redbubble ships to the EU and the US. Shirt size is their problem, on the shop page, which is a mercy.
A gift for a new software engineer who has already started the job is a different errand. They have a stack now. Gifts for developers starts from that stack. Graduation is still allowed to be the beginning.
Parents can buy Hello, world without knowing the language. A classmate who knows the language can buy the Zen. A computer science graduation gift from a family should not require anyone to explain a hash function over cake. Hello, world explains itself: a program, a string, a start. Say Kernighan's name if you remember it. Skip the lecture. The piece page has the credit, and the note that the book page is not what you bought.
What arrives is ceramic or cloth with bars on it. No paragraph is printed on the object, which is a kindness at a party full of people who do not read C. The person who does read C will open the page later, and the page is where the two lines are named.