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Ask HN: Best Book(s) to Learn CS Degree Take-aways?
I'm mainly self-taught as a programmer. There are a variety of topics in a CS degree that I would like to study, like Big O and Sorting, Data structures, NP-Complete problems, Information Theory, etc.
I can teach myself most anything, if I'm working from a well-written, accessible, text. So I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a book, or small set of books, that will bootstrap the "important takeaways" from a CS degree?
- geekam 16y ago"Introduction to Algorithms" (http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Algorithms-Second-Thomas-Cormen/dp/0262032937 http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Algorithms-Second-Thomas-...) "The Art of Computer Programming" (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_6_31?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+art+of+computer+programming&x=0&y=0&sprefix=the+art+of+computer+programming http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_6_31?url=search-alias...) ....to begin with. Then there are theoretical computer science books. I like the Computability, Complexity, and Languages, Second Edition: Fundamentals of Theoretical Computer Science (Computer Science and Scientific Computing) http://www.amazon.com/Computability-Complexity-Languages-Second-Fundamentals/dp/0122063821/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1304433849&sr=1-2 http://www.amazon.com/Computability-Complexity-Languages-Sec...
- snikolov 16y agoBoth solid choices. Having used CLRS (the Intro the Algorithms book), I would say it's a fantastic reference, but I found some of the presentation rather terse. It is nothing that a motivated reader can't power through, but some people have also suggested Kleinberg and Tardos's algorithms book for better pedagogical development http://www.amazon.com/Algorithm-Design-Jon-Kleinberg/dp/0321295358 http://www.amazon.com/Algorithm-Design-Jon-Kleinberg/dp/0321...