I stumbled on this gem a while back.
https://www.personal.kent.edu/~rmuhamma/Algorithms/algorithm...
Ask HN: I'm looking for a good book on the fundamentals of CS
71–80 of 190 posts
Re: Ask HN: I'm looking for a good book on the fundamentals of CS
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
God bless you. I tried reading the AOCP books and it's hard ... and I have a degree in CS
I found them extremely accessible, and I was a high-school dropout. (Admittedly a very late dropout, but a dropout nonetheless.) That was back when volume 4 didn't even exist as listicles yet. And, let's face it, the sheer size (and cost) of the thing, even then, was a bit intimidating, but there's nothing in it that can't be followed with a bit of algebra and the barest hint of what the kids these days call "pre-cal…
Concrete Mathematics, which isn't the easiest but also not the hardest math textbook, developed out of a course teaching the math from Chapter 1 of TAOCP. For people who find the first chapter, in particular, intimidating because of the math portions, it may be a good option to study before resuming TAOCP rather than just dropping TAOCP.
Re: Ask HN: I'm looking for a good book on the fundamentals of CS
#73I had a good relantionship with Segdewick's books, before being turned off by Cormen a few times. They are less math focused, and overall have a beginner friendliness to them. They won't take you by the hand an explain things like you are 5, but nevertheless they are more easy to digest. Also as a non-popular opinion in this current age, I recommend you to learn how to implement your algorithms in C, rather than an e…
This was the book I used. It is more accessible yet interestingly some comments seem to characterize it as "beginner friendly" in a way that suggests it is less canonical. Make no mistake, if you learn the material in Sedgewick well you'd be light years ahead of 99% of your peers. It likewise provides depth and foundations for things like leetcode, thus far the majority of leetcode problems I've done were toy versions of things covered in the book.
On a more personal / subjective PoV, IMHO its just a much better book than the majority of the others. Its not as basic as Grokking Algorithms nor as interview focused as Cracking the coding interview. I would suggest the latter if you just want to be good at programming interviews.
Re: Ask HN: I'm looking for a good book on the fundamentals of CS
#74I liked "Algorithms Unlocked" by Cormen (https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/algorithms-unlocked). It's the same author that co-wrote "Introduction to Algorithms" (or CLRS) that's referenced in a few other comments, but this one focuses on the what and why of algorithms and pulls samples from a few areas of interest.
It's not too long (~200 pages), so might be worth checking out before diving into one of the more comprehensive textbooks.
If you're interested in 3D programming, I found "3D Math Primer for Graphics and Game Development" to be the most accessible for the math fundamentals. I just discovered it's now available freely online as well: https://gamemath.com/.
Re: Ask HN: I'm looking for a good book on the fundamentals of CS
#75This book [0] uses Java. The content of the edition using Python is the same IIRC. The first one used Swift and is a tad older.
[0] https://www.manning.com/books/classic-computer-science-probl...
Re: Ask HN: I'm looking for a good book on the fundamentals of CS
#76I had a good relantionship with Segdewick's books, before being turned off by Cormen a few times. They are less math focused, and overall have a beginner friendliness to them. They won't take you by the hand an explain things like you are 5, but nevertheless they are more easy to digest. Also as a non-popular opinion in this current age, I recommend you to learn how to implement your algorithms in C, rather than an e…
I've actually implemented a few algorithms and containers in C, I agree with your advice on that front! Were you referring to [Computer Science: An Interdisciplinary Approach]( https://www.pearson.com/us/higher-education/program/Sedgewic... )?
He's more likely talking about "Algorithms": https://books.google.hr/books?vid=ISBN9780321573513&redir_es...
Re: Ask HN: I'm looking for a good book on the fundamentals of CS
#77There are some good mainstream recommendations in the thread already. For something less obvious: Given your background, you may find SICP (https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/sicp/index.html) works well for you.
If you work your way through the exercises, and read the footnotes, you'll end up with a pretty solid base. You don't have to do the work in scheme, but that in itself is a good learning exercise.
Re: Ask HN: I'm looking for a good book on the fundamentals of CS
#78”Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software” by Charles Petzold. It will take you on a journey from a lightbulb to assembly language. It’s extremely well written and I wish there were more books like it.
Literally the perfect place to start.
Re: Ask HN: I'm looking for a good book on the fundamentals of CS
#79I had a good relantionship with Segdewick's books, before being turned off by Cormen a few times. They are less math focused, and overall have a beginner friendliness to them. They won't take you by the hand an explain things like you are 5, but nevertheless they are more easy to digest. Also as a non-popular opinion in this current age, I recommend you to learn how to implement your algorithms in C, rather than an e…
CS50 from Harvard on https://edx.org used to teach Computer Science using C and still might do so.
I've actually gone through CS50x, but I felt that was only a base introduction compared to a regular old CS curriculum
Re: Ask HN: I'm looking for a good book on the fundamentals of CS
#80There are some good mainstream recommendations in the thread already. For something less obvious: Given your background, you may find SICP ( https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/sicp/index.html ) works well for you. If you work your way through the exercises, and read the footnotes, you'll end up with a pretty solid base. You don't have to do the work in scheme, but that in itself is a good learning exercise.
If anyone wants to work through SICP, but is having trouble getting MIT Scheme for their computer, or wants something closer to a Fisher-Price student IDE, :) there's an add-on for DrRacket: