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Ask HN: I'm looking for a good book on the fundamentals of CS

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Re: Ask HN: I'm looking for a good book on the fundamentals of CS

#11

Post by tomxor »

Interested in what gets suggested here...

There are a lot of "CS Course Online" type suggestions posted on HN, which are great - but for those of us with full time jobs and lives it's just a non-starter to approach that quantity of material.

I'm also more of a hands on learner which is how I got to where I am - but at the same time I can appreciate and happily absorb a well written, thoughtful book... In other words, I only have time for high quality, and high information density.

My meta suggestion in answer to the author: Not to downplay the utility in general CS knowledge and fundamentals, but you already sound like you are driven and have a direction - I recommend you ride that wave and buy books or seek out material that's more specific and relevant to what you are doing right now. You will soak it up so easily when you have something right in front of you to apply it to or think about - it's an opportunity, you will work on different things throughout your working life and this opportunity may pass. Personally, I have found CS fundamentals work their way to the surface through research into these more domain specific things - although I still recognise I could have much better awareness if I tackled it head on as you are suggesting.

Re: Ask HN: I'm looking for a good book on the fundamentals of CS

#12

Post by throwawaygh »

Based on the description you give, you probably want a Data Structures/Algorithms intro.

The canonical Algorithms textbook is Introduction to Algorithms by Cormen et al. The MIT OpenCourseware course on Algorithms -- which includes videos and assignments -- follows along with that book: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-compu...

Note: In your case, I'll recommend against SICP as a first resource, which is mentioned in some other comments. It's more of an introduction to functional programming. From your description, I'm not sure you need an intro to programming. And functional programming in particular is not really on the critical path of knowledge you'll need to muck about in VR land. It's not irrelevant, but it's not the critical path. An algorithms course probably is indispensable for that endeavor, though.

By all means, read SICP if you'd like. It's a great resource. But if you're trying to get from "I can program" to "hardcore hacking on VR stuff", step 1 is probably a decent algorithms course taught in the imperative style.

Re: Ask HN: I'm looking for a good book on the fundamentals of CS

#13

Post by isabellat »

Bottom up cs is a great resource. https://www.bottomupcs.com/ It might feel very low level at first but once you understand these fundamental building blocks of computers you will be really well equipped to build upon this knowledge and learn higher level concepts. I also think the Rust Programming book (https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/) is a great resource for general programming knowledge. Some sections e.g. on the borrow checker and lifetimes aren’t 100% applicable to general programming knowledge but I still recommend it. It is more of a 201 level book instead of 101 though.

Re: Ask HN: I'm looking for a good book on the fundamentals of CS

#14

Post by srcreigh »

yakubin wrote: post #10

I'm currently going through TAOCP [1]. So far, seems pretty good (although I found one mistake in an exercise). Also, I can never recommend Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective [1] enough. (Also features a rare mistakes in an exercise or two, but that's detail.) And for network protocols, Comer's Internetworking with TCP/IP [3] was just great (you only need volume 1). I've read Stevens' books on socket and IP…

God bless you. I tried reading the AOCP books and it's hard... and I have a degree in CS

Re: Ask HN: I'm looking for a good book on the fundamentals of CS

#16

Post by mikkergp »

ogsalmanxx wrote: post #7

Textbooks are the old way to learn, but sometimes old is gold. Use videos for faster learning though. It’s pretty much learning on cruise mode.

I find the opposite, I can pace myself with books, take notes in the margins, interact with the harder concepts, cruise through the easier ones. Answer the questions at the end of the book in-line, it feels much more interactive. Since I can physically visualize all the sections/chapters it's easier to skip around. Video is so linear and passive; I have to go at the pace of the video and it's harder move alinearly. Also I have much more stamina for reading than listening to audio, the words start to blur together after a while.

Re: Ask HN: I'm looking for a good book on the fundamentals of CS

#18

Post by dayvid »

For formal resources:

You might like the Princeton Algorithms Coursera course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/algorithms-part1

SICP is an amazing book, but I HIGHLY recommend you follow along with a lecture video as the textbook was designed to go along with lectures for electrical engineering computer science students. Brian Harvey's lectures are fantastic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4leZ1Ca4f0g&list=PLhMnuBfGeC...

And maybe some math? All of this is kind of abstract to start out with. It might be useful to combine this with youtube videos on your project, because you may be discouraged with doing a lot of abstract work and not concrete work on your project.

Also, freecodecamp and youtube in general is an excellent resource if you're stuck on any particular part of CS. Freecodecamp has compiled a lot of the best videos across the internet on particular concepts and you can get a deep dive into a topic if you're ever stuck. Nowadays, if you're stuck, often viewing someone else's explanation can get you unstuck fairly quick.

Re: Ask HN: I'm looking for a good book on the fundamentals of CS

#19

Post by jhanschoo »

throwawaygh wrote: post #12

Based on the description you give, you probably want a Data Structures/Algorithms intro. The canonical Algorithms textbook is Introduction to Algorithms by Cormen et al. The MIT OpenCourseware course on Algorithms -- which includes videos and assignments -- follows along with that book: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-compu... Note: In your case, I'll recommend against SICP as a first resource,…

Note that a 4th edition of this book (frequently referred to as CLRS) is coming out sometime early next year.

Re: Ask HN: I'm looking for a good book on the fundamentals of CS

#20

Post by 0x7E3 »

Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, by Abelson, Sussman, and Sussman.

Also known as "The Wizard Book" or "SICP".

The full text is legally available online[1], but I found it worthwhile to buy a copy.

There are at least two really good sets of video lectures to go with it if you are so inclined. Personally I enjoyed the ones from Berkeley.

[1]: https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/sicp/index.html

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