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Ask HN: Older textbooks/papers you consider classics still worth studying today?

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Re: Ask HN: Older textbooks/papers you consider classics still worth studying today?

#61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry about that. I shall try to do better.

For those who are reading this, let me stress that it is not that Prof. Hefferon's proof of Cayley-Hamilton theorem is bad (it is actually better than some really horrible proofs that appear in some well-received textbooks), but that Albert's treatment is superb --- it is far better than the treatments of the theorem in most modern textbooks, including Prof. Hefferon's. Also, I was certainly not commenting on the ove…

Oh, forgive me, no offense taken. I should have put a smiley. I read your post with interest and shall check out the book.

(As you no doubt know, different books have different audiences. Before I wrote my Linear book, when I looked at the available textbooks I thought that there were low-level computational books that suited people with weak backgrounds, and high-level beautiful books that show the power of big, exciting, ideas. I had a room with students who were not ready for high. I wrote the book hoping that it could form part of an undergraduate program that deliberately worked at bringing students along to where they would be ready for such things. Naturally, with that mindset I read your post as meaning that the audience for the book you described is just different. Anyway, thanks again for the pointer.)

Re: Ask HN: Older textbooks/papers you consider classics still worth studying today?

#62

General Chemistry by Linus Pauling. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Philosophy).

Several reviewers at Amazon said that General Chemistry is unsuitable for beginners or self-learners. Is that true?

Re: Ask HN: Older textbooks/papers you consider classics still worth studying today?

#64

If you haven’t read all of the Turing award papers yet, I highly recommend forming a study group if you can and working from the beginning.

Where can I find a list of those papers? I just spent a minute trying to find something using Google but didn't manage to find anything

Re: Ask HN: Older textbooks/papers you consider classics still worth studying today?

#65
post #15

K&R C is still an excellent resource for learning. C may not be the flashiest new thing, but it's still a very useful skill to have.

Yes, it’s a spectacular introduction not just to C but to programming in general.

Re: Ask HN: Older textbooks/papers you consider classics still worth studying today?

#66

If you haven’t read all of the Turing award papers yet, I highly recommend forming a study group if you can and working from the beginning.

Where can I find a list of those papers? I just spent a minute trying to find something using Google but didn't manage to find anything

This book has the first 20. I have read through the first 5 or so and highly recommend it. https://www.amazon.com/ACM-Turing-Award-Lectures-1966-1985/d...

Re: Ask HN: Older textbooks/papers you consider classics still worth studying today?

#69

If you haven’t read all of the Turing award papers yet, I highly recommend forming a study group if you can and working from the beginning.

Where can I find a list of those papers? I just spent a minute trying to find something using Google but didn't manage to find anything

https://amturing.acm.org/alphabetical.cfm links to a page for each awardee, with a link to their lecture.
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