4 ms·

10 Books that will Substitute A Computer Science Degree (debate?)

13 points by bdfh42 18y ago

qhoxie 18y ago
That title makes a lofty claim and does not really deliver. The books they chose are not flawed, but in terms of ordering them and limiting them to 10, some is left to be desired. Here are some I would add: Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software Introduction to Algorithms
- bdfh42 18y ago
  +1 for your second suggestion
- rsheridan6 18y ago
  Too bad we don't live in a culture with base 12 numbers.
Tichy 18y ago
Nah come on, in the years it takes to get a CS degree, hopefully you'll touch on more subjects than these. You'll also do several projects. Also Godel, Escher, Bach is really more a popular science book, isn't it? Enjoyable read that it was (when I was a teenager), I think it is actually more confusing than actually helpful in understanding the underlying concepts.
michael_dorfman 18y ago
Strange list. Some great stuff on there, but if I were going to attempt to substitute for an undergrad CS degree, I'd definitely have SICP on a list ahead of APL, for example. Of course, the whole topic is quite silly; if you really wanted to substitute for a CS degree, the easiest way to do it would be to examine (for example) the MIT course catalog, put together the appropriate course plan, and then order the textbooks used by those courses. And, with the video lectures and lecture notes showing up on OCW, you would actually be approximating (in a loose sense) the experience, provided one actually does the coursework and exams.
sown 18y ago
10 Books + a lot of practical experience. :)
dazzawazza 18y ago
... and here are my 10 Lego sets that will substitute an Engineering Degree! Degrees are not just about the literal content. They are three/four/five/ years of intense experience in a play pen where highly skilled people correct your every move and thoughts guiding you toward a greater understanding.
- raganwald 18y ago
  I agree with your sentiment, however I note that the element of "intense experience in a play pen where highly skilled people correct your every move and thoughts guiding you toward a greater understanding" is very, very institution, department, and professor-dependent.
  - vecter 18y ago
    In my experience, it's more peer-dependent. In practice, I barely interact professors, TAs, or "the department". All of my [school] learning has been through grinding through psets, projects, or intellectual discussions with friends.
    - raganwald 18y ago
      Fair enough. But I think we're in violent agreement on this: A degree problem can be a lot more than what's between the covers of the books, but that is not always the case.
known 18y ago
My first love http://isbn.nu/9780070260016 http://isbn.nu/9780070260016
vecter 18y ago
They're missing discrete math, probability, linear algebra, networks, security, distributed systems, user interface design, interacting with other computer scientists, and the labor of intensive problem sets and projects. And, oh yeah, any practical experience building anything whatsoever.
- bbb 18y ago
  And not to mention shared-memory parallelism. Multicore anyone? Ever heard of it? Going the 10-books-will-do-route will also make sure that you won't get exposed to specialized fields such as embedded and real-time systems, machine learning, computational geometry, bio informatics, etc. A degree is also about knowing that certain fields exist; you don't necessarily need to have studied everything. You can read up on them when you need specialized knowledge, but if you've never heard of some obscure field because your "ten books" didn't mention it, then you are screwed. At a good university you will be exposed to a much wider variety of topics than any (reasonably sized) set of books will do.

13 points by bdfh42 18y ago

That title makes a lofty claim and does not really deliver. The books they chose are not flawed, but in terms of ordering them and limiting them to 10, some is left to be desired. Here are some I would add: Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software Introduction to Algorithms

bdfh42 18y ago
+1 for your second suggestion
rsheridan6 18y ago
Too bad we don't live in a culture with base 12 numbers.

Tichy 18y ago

Nah come on, in the years it takes to get a CS degree, hopefully you'll touch on more subjects than these. You'll also do several projects. Also Godel, Escher, Bach is really more a popular science book, isn't it? Enjoyable read that it was (when I was a teenager), I think it is actually more confusing than actually helpful in understanding the underlying concepts.

michael_dorfman 18y ago

Strange list. Some great stuff on there, but if I were going to attempt to substitute for an undergrad CS degree, I'd definitely have SICP on a list ahead of APL, for example. Of course, the whole topic is quite silly; if you really wanted to substitute for a CS degree, the easiest way to do it would be to examine (for example) the MIT course catalog, put together the appropriate course plan, and then order the textbooks used by those courses. And, with the video lectures and lecture notes showing up on OCW, you would actually be approximating (in a loose sense) the experience, provided one actually does the coursework and exams.

sown 18y ago

10 Books + a lot of practical experience. :)

dazzawazza 18y ago

... and here are my 10 Lego sets that will substitute an Engineering Degree! Degrees are not just about the literal content. They are three/four/five/ years of intense experience in a play pen where highly skilled people correct your every move and thoughts guiding you toward a greater understanding.

raganwald 18y ago
I agree with your sentiment, however I note that the element of "intense experience in a play pen where highly skilled people correct your every move and thoughts guiding you toward a greater understanding" is very, very institution, department, and professor-dependent.
- vecter 18y ago
  In my experience, it's more peer-dependent. In practice, I barely interact professors, TAs, or "the department". All of my [school] learning has been through grinding through psets, projects, or intellectual discussions with friends.
  - raganwald 18y ago
    Fair enough. But I think we're in violent agreement on this: A degree problem can be a lot more than what's between the covers of the books, but that is not always the case.

known 18y ago

My first love http://isbn.nu/9780070260016 http://isbn.nu/9780070260016

vecter 18y ago

They're missing discrete math, probability, linear algebra, networks, security, distributed systems, user interface design, interacting with other computer scientists, and the labor of intensive problem sets and projects. And, oh yeah, any practical experience building anything whatsoever.

bbb 18y ago
And not to mention shared-memory parallelism. Multicore anyone? Ever heard of it? Going the 10-books-will-do-route will also make sure that you won't get exposed to specialized fields such as embedded and real-time systems, machine learning, computational geometry, bio informatics, etc. A degree is also about knowing that certain fields exist; you don't necessarily need to have studied everything. You can read up on them when you need specialized knowledge, but if you've never heard of some obscure field because your "ten books" didn't mention it, then you are screwed. At a good university you will be exposed to a much wider variety of topics than any (reasonably sized) set of books will do.