From: Jay Levitt <jay+news@...>
Date: 2007-09-28T02:30:04+09:00
Subject: Re: Confession: I never learned CS

On Thu, 27 Sep 2007 23:57:08 +0900, Ilmari Heikkinen wrote:

> On 9/27/07, Jay Levitt <jay+news@jay.fm> wrote:
> 
>> So - any recommended reading?  What books will help me change the way I
>> think about data?

Wow! Thanks for the many great recommendations, folks.  Some comments:

* GoF: Yes, I have this one, and it's a classic; I've actually read both of
the Alexander books cover-to-cover while I was building a house.  But I
also find that many of the GoF patterns are either unnecessary or greatly
simplified in Ruby.  I know there's at least one project to codify the Ruby
equivalents, and I look forward to more work in that area.

* C programming books: I guess I didn't mention that I've got over a dozen
C and C++ books; I was following along on paper, I just never did much work
in those languages, and the books didn't really "change my thinking".
Great recommendation for someone who's truly jumped straight into Ruby,
though.

* Intro to Algorithms: I know it's the classic work, but I also see a huge
number of complaints on Amazon about the lack of provided solutions and
followup information; seems like it's intended more for a classroom setting
than as a self-study guide.  I also admit a bias against older books;
technology writing has greatly improved as the field's expanded, and I find
it difficult to go back and read something like Date or K&R today.  (Well,
Date was always tough.)  Now, if Scott Meyers (Effective C++/STL) ever
wrote an algorithms book, *that* would be a best seller.  Any thoughts?

* Data Structures and Algorithms (Preiss): I'm a little turned off by the
hard-to-read pixelated LaTex GIFs, the lack of a print version or even the
right to download it, the lack of a solutions manual, the web-0.5 FSF-style
page navigation, and the fact that the first "Ruby" code I saw defines its
own "abstract_method" declaration, which makes me think that the Ruby
"version" is more like a Babelfish translation of the Java version.  (My
web site: Now in Senegalese!)  OK, so I'm more than a little turned off.
Probably bears reading anyway, though.

* SICP, Programming Language Pragmatics (Scott), Purely Functional Data
Structures (Okasaki), Concepts, Techniques and Models (Van Roy, Haridi):
These look like must-reads!

-- 
Jay Levitt                |
Boston, MA                | My character doesn't like it when they
Faster: jay at jay dot fm | cry or shout or hit.
http://www.jay.fm         | - Kristoffer