HN Books @HNBooksMonth

If someone is interested in Functional Programming, here are the books which I highly suggest everyone to read:

https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-functional-programming-P...

https://www.amazon.com/Structure-Interpretation-Computer-Pro...

https://www.amazon.com/Programming-Haskell-Graham-Hutton/dp/...

⬐ sevensor

Surprised this is the only mention of SICP. Although I don't know that I would have been able to handle it earlier in life. Perhaps it's different with accompanying lectures, but for self study it's quite a workout. I think it's worth trying, worth putting aside for later if you're not ready, and worth ultimately returning to. I'd be amazed if the undergraduates it was aimed at were able to appreciate it in full.

Histograms are useful int the case of items with a strong love/hate split.

The canonical example is the SICP ratings on Amazon: 3.5 average; 177 ratings, 96 five stars, 53 one stars.

http://www.amazon.com/Structure-Interpretation-Computer-Prog...

⬐ Xcelerate

Had to go look up that book. It's actually available free from MIT: http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html

⬐ pygy_

The videos of the lectures but the book authors (Gerald Sussman and Hal Abelson) are also available for free.

Pick the MPEG1 versions. They are much heavier than the MPEG4 versions, but the text on the projected computer screen is at readable. IIRC, the MPEG4 are re-encoded versions of the MPEG1, which themselves were ripped from VHS.

http://archive.org/details/mit_ocw_sicp

Here's the slightly modified answer I just posted there (even though it's an old question):

Back when he was still doing podcasts Joel Spolsky answered the similar question, which was partly "Does a good programmer without a CS degree really have a chance to get a job at Fogcreek?[1]" (It's near the end of the page.)

He says that for a good self-taught programmer who began with a high-level language, say PHP or Java, who comes at programming from a practical perspective, there are a few important parts of the CS curriculum the person may have missed out on, and goes on to list some books that would help fill in those gaps.

Off the top of his head he named these books in about this order:

- Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs[2] (also free online[3])

- C Programming Language[4]

- The Unix Programming Environment[5]

- Introduction to Algorithms[6]

He said that those books covered the aspects of the CS curriculum his company needs in a good programmer, e.g. being able to create algorithms for an uncommon data structure.

Those books all have the added advantage of having exercises, and all being a very pleasant read. SICP is an introduction to many of the big ideas in CS: data structures, streams, recursion, interpretation, compilation, register machines, etc., and their implementation in Scheme (a kind of Lisp). It's a great place to start. The next two focus on implementation details like pointers and memory allocation. They are compact, powerful books. The last, Introduction to Algorithms, seems misleadingly titled, as it is fairly comprehensive and used in both undergraduate and graduate courses. If you work your way through the entire book, chapeau!

[1]: https://stackoverflow.fogbugz.com/default.asp?W29060

[2]: http://www.amazon.com/Structure-Interpretation-Computer-Prog...

[3]: http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/

[4]: http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Language-2nd-Brian-Kernigh...

[5]: http://www.amazon.com/Unix-Programming-Environment-Prentice-...

[6]: http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Algorithms-Third-Thomas-C...

On the other hand, the value of the reviews on these sites goes down the older they get.

On Amazon it seems like the opposite is true. Because of their meta-review process, where users can flag reviews as helpful or not, it seems like old and classic reviews tend to float to the top, while recent ones have a significant hurdle to overcome before they make it to the front page. See for example here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0262011530

(Admittedly, users can also be fickle and support other kinds of reviews for different reasons, cf. http://www.amazon.com/Tuscan-Whole-Milk-Gallon-128/dp/B00032...)

⬐ executive

Yes, but Amazon's reviews are for products.. not hotels. Hotels get older and crappier thus newer reviews are more valuable.

⬐ panacea

Two words: bed bugs

⬐ andre3k1

I would necessarily say that hotels crappier as they age, but the service from hotels is elastic.

The same hotel visited 2 different times could prove very different. The same book purchased twice, on the other hand, will read the same.

Aren't there some good books that show an overview of what programming is all about? For example, those at

http://olympiads.win.tue.nl/ioi/study/books.html

include a few quite accessible books (and several more that are very hard).

How about guidance into C via The Art and Science of C: A Library Based Introduction to Computer Science by Eric S. Roberts

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Science-Library-Introduction-Compu...

or guidance into LISP with the famous Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP) textbook?

http://www.amazon.com/Structure-Interpretation-Computer-Prog...

Just for fun, I clicked on the link and looked for SICP. Amazon gave me a price of $115.44. If you look at the bottom, you'll see a link for the same book, only Amazon is selling it for $69.34!

What is the difference between the two? The links are:

$115.44 : http://www.amazon.com/Structure-Interpretation-Computer-Prog...

$69.34 : http://www.amazon.com/Structure-Interpretation-Computer-Prog...

Aside from price, the only difference that I can make out is that the cover for the more expensive version is a lighter shade of blue. What it looks like is that Amazon is charging a lot more if you buy SICP as a textbook rather than as a regular book.

⬐ stse

Different editions and publishers, McGraw-Hill vs The MIT Press.

⬐ rglovejoy

No, they're both the same book: both are second edition, with the same number of pages. Each page even has the same reviews (note reviews by Peter Norvig and pg). The only differences are the price and the ISBNs.

⬐ stse

I didn't mean edition as in revision. It might be the exact same book, the barcode might be different or whatever. Amazon lists them the same way if you do a regular search.

⬐ hga

Indeed, as you note the ISBNs are different. The market is officially divided between the two publishers, one has US, the other the rest of the world.

As a side note it's all online and under a Create Commons license....

⬐ waterlesscloud

I looked at the "computer science" section from the left menu, and the top of the list was The Great Gatsby.

That must be for the future financial engineers?

⬐ trin_

thats expensive ... i paid 30€ for my version ... new

⬐ throw_away

they are by two different publishers (one is mcgraw-hill, the other by mit press).

IIRC, there were shortened versions of the books published as well---as some schools didn't cover all the material (cal didn't cover chapter 5), but both of these match the pagecount of my full 5 chapter copy. I think that it's just a difference of publisher.

Quite possibly a terrible example (+ hasty generalization, etc.), but here goes:

http://www.amazon.com/Structure-Interpretation-Computer-Prog...

I always look at the 1-star reviews first - they're often the most insightful:

http://www.amazon.com/review/product/0262011530/ref=dp_top_c...

The only pro for this book is the wealth of information. The main con is that all of this wealth is presented in a haphazard way. I couldn't understand most of it. This text would be OK as an occasional reference, but nothing more. It is definitely overrated.

Just as an example, data directed programming, the way it is presented in the book, is counterintuitive. Operator overloading in C++ makes much more sense, even if its syntax is a little tougher than Scheme's.

And finally, what's with the jokes? When they mentioned Microshaft, I realized that the authors are just two immature jerks. Don't get this book.

⬐ jballanc

It's very easy to write a gushing/glowing review of a product without exhibiting any first-hand knowledge of said product. It's much harder to write a negative review if you've never used the thing. So, yeah, I always look for the coherent 1/2-star reviews to get a real idea of what I'm purchasing.

⬐ dfranke

Sometimes it's particularly fun to read clueless 1-star reviews of classic books. ISTR there was a 1-star review of Newton's Principia complaining that he bought to help him with his high school physics course and it was way too confusing.