HN Books @HNBooksMonth

This is the book that was used when I was an undergrad.

http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Theory-Computation-Michae...

It is also used for the graduate course.

I highly recommend Sipser's "Introduction to the Theory of Computation" if you want to learn more. Here's a link to the edition I had in college (around 2002): http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Theory-Computation-Michae...

It's used at MIT (http://math.mit.edu/~sipser/18404/), the U of MN (where I used it), and—I'm sure—most other schools.

You can buy the newest edition, but you'll spend an extra $150 for not much gain.

⬐ roel_v

Off topic for this thread, but still of interest I think: when buying text books not for college (i.e., when exercise order and page numbering don't matter), I've saved hundreds over the last years buying international editions through e.g. Abebooks. Like, the book mentioned in the parent is 6$ (!) with free shipping (!!!) from India: http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=sipser&sts=... .

These are usually either used or new international/Indian editions. The quality is not as good as the 'real' versions (very thin paper, binding not very solid) but the savings are substantial. I bought a book a few weeks ago that I couldn't find for less than 120 euros here in Europe, and it cost me ~20 euros including shipping from India.

If you're OK learning on your own, you might try buying a book before committing to the cost of tuition, also. If you really mean "theoretical CS" I don't think you can go wrong with Sipser. The latest edition[1] is expensive, but a used copy of the second edition [2] isn't TOO bad, considering the cost of another few years of education.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Theory-Computation-Michae...

[2] http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Theory-Computation-Michae...

⬐ oftenwrong

I second Sipser's book. Probably the best textbook I used in university. You can find international editions for a very low price.

⬐ pessimizer

International Editions:

http://used.addall.com/SuperRare/submitRare.cgi?author=sipse...

There's really not a whole lot abstracted about it. It is really hard and impractical for actually accomplishing anything, but it's also pretty easy to see how it maps to a Turing machine if you know what the actual definition of a Turing machine is.

That kind of thing I learned in a class: a textbook on computational theory is probably what you want, and as far as I know there are only a couple of those. I used this one: http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Theory-Computation-Michae...

Try to work with books which have exercises - such as "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs" (http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html), "Introduction to Theory of Computation" (http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Theory-Computation-Michae...) or "How To Design Programs" (http://www.htdp.org/).

Keyword here is _work_.