Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What are the bibles of Computer Science?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 57 posts

Re: Ask HN: What are the bibles of Computer Science?

#32

Post by agumonkey »

ng12 wrote: post #8

SICP. In addition to being an incredibly illuminating read on programming fundamentals it was also the foundation of a religion on 4chan's old programming board.

I think it was already the root of the Church of Lambda Knights before that ;)

Re: Ask HN: What are the bibles of Computer Science?

#33

Post by agumonkey »

randcraw wrote: post #25

These books are all venerable CS standards (AKA bibles) that teach principles well, though probably not the most up-to-date: "Compilers, Principles, Techniques and Tools", by Aho, Ullman, Sethi, Lam "Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach", by Russell, Norvig "Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach", by Patterson, Hennessy "Computer Networks", by Tannenbaum "Operating System Concepts", by Silberschatz

Aho's compiler was intimidating, but it's one of my favorite experience of the last 5 years. Not approachable, but every neuron you give is rewarded twice.

Re: Ask HN: What are the bibles of Computer Science?

#34

Post by agumonkey »

mrlyc wrote: post #20

The Psychology of Computer Programming by Gerald Weinberg. It considers programming as a human activity and introduces the concept of egoless programming.

Interesting, did he coin the egoless term ? does the book speak about "state of flow" or similar ?

Re: Ask HN: What are the bibles of Computer Science?

#36

Post by convolvatron »

Lisp in Small Pieces (Cambridge University Press, 1996 ISBN 0-521-56247-3; paperback edition (December 4, 2003) ISBN 0-521-54566-8; translated by Kathleen Callaway) is a book by Christian Queinnec on Lisp, Scheme and other related dialects, their interpretation, semantics, and compilation and contains code for 11 interpreters and 2 compilers.

Re: Ask HN: What are the bibles of Computer Science?

#38

Post by credit_guy »

johan_larson wrote: post #30
ng12 wrote: post #8

SICP. In addition to being an incredibly illuminating read on programming fundamentals it was also the foundation of a religion on 4chan's old programming board.

Would you elaborate?

Not OP, but SICP stands for "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs". It is available online; it is generally regarded as one of the great CS books. As for religion, I have no idea what that means.

Re: Ask HN: What are the bibles of Computer Science?

#39

Post by belovedeagle »

cr0sh wrote: post #15
baddox wrote: post #11

While not a reference book or software engineering book like the rest of the suggestions, I'll throw in Godel, Escher, Bach. It's pretty difficult to explain, but if you're deeply interested in computer science and want a challenging and mind-expanding read, it's an easy recommendation.

The author's (Douglas R. Hofstadter) other two books (which kinda form a trilogy) are also great companions: The Mind's I: Fantasies And Reflections On Self & Soul I Am a Strange Loop ...and yes, they are all very challenging reads. On the "computer science" perspective, they are definitely worth reading if you are at all interested in machine learning, artificial intelligence, artificial (and actual) neural networks…

Calling The Mind's I "Hofstadter's" is a bit misleading; he's its co-anthologist. Nevertheless, a great read; it introduced me to Borges which is praise enough.
Post reply on HN