ebook, computer science

[Fridays]

I believe I'm posting this in the right place, yet if it needs to be moved to another section then my apologizes.

I'm looking for a good, solid ebook that features some preliminary study material in the Computer Science field. I'll be attending an online program through http://www.onlinecomputersciencedegr...hington-state/ in summer, yet I would feel more comfortable if I got some background now.

Any help at all would be appreciated. Again, the ebook doesn't have to be incredibly detailed or advanced, simply a launching pad that is clear and concise.

Thanks in advance

[unboggling]

Welcome to the Mobile Read forums, Fridays. I suspect you haven't received any posts in reply yet because the computer field is so vast and changes so rapidly it's probably difficult even for computer-learned folks to know where to advise you to start. My primary advice is: while you're in your degree program, take everything you learn there with a grain of salt and keep a more open mind than your professors. The most relevant learning I ever did regarding computers was done on my own outside of school, by playing around with them and trying different things. As a start, if you can afford it or otherwise work it out, you might try to bring into that degree program some beginning experience working with whatever type of computer platform that particular school likes to emphasize (PC Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, or some Unix variant.

[Rob87]

To be honest I don't find Computer Science books good in e-book form.

Its harder to flick through e-books and you'l want to use the books as a reference so I suggest pbook or hard backs.

CS is a huge field so it depends on what you're studying no books going to cover it all.

These 3 I own are often considered bible type books on their subject:
Introduction to algorithms - Cormen & Rivest
Artificial Intelligence A modern approach. - Russel Norvig
Introduction to computer graphics - Foley

They arn't really beginner books though despite the word "introduction" especially the first one.

Heres a link that you might find interesting:
http://www.cs.bris.ac.uk/admissions/what_is_cs/wics/

It talks about some interesting uses for CS.

[jehane]

As mentioned, it's a vast field. It would help if you gave us some idea of where you're starting from and what the course is about. Complete beginner? Learning to program? What language? Learning systems administration? What OS? Something else entirely?

I am far from being a geek, but I learnt basic command line (DOS - back in the day) from my dad, then the basics of programming (in Pascal - ugh) in a structured course at uni, and all the rest (Fortran, Matlab, unix, s/x/html) just on the job as needed. If I need to look something up, I usually just google it, but I find the O'Reilly books great references.

[susan_cassidy]

I still prefer computer books in paper format - easier to add post-its, highlight, flip back and forth, etc. Half.com and/or Amazon Marketplace is a great place to get books much cheaper than usual. I often pay something like $7.95 for a $35 or $40 book.

[unboggling]

Originally Posted by susan_cassidy

I still prefer computer books in paper format - easier to add post-its, highlight, flip back and forth, etc.

I just bought some in paperback, then realized if I'd gotten them in some sort of eFormat other than pdf image I could have extracted sample code as text, then played with it from there. lol.

[susan_cassidy]

Many computer books have web sites where you can download the sample code that they use. I've done it many times.

[unboggling]

Originally Posted by susan_cassidy

Many computer books have web sites where you can download the sample code that they use. I've done it many times.

Cool. Until this week I hadn't bought any computer books for a dozen years or so. Lutz probably has his example python code on his website. Thanks for the tip.

[avantman42]

I'd suggest taking a look at O'Reilly's website. They have a good reputation, and have books covering every aspect of computer science in both paper and electronic formats. They also do print + ebook deals, so you can save money if you want both paper and e-book. The e-books are available without DRM in various formats (most are available in PDF, ePub and Mobi)

You might also want to take a look at their Open Books project, which is a collection of books with some form of "open" copyright.

[unboggling]

Originally Posted by avantman42

I'd suggest taking a look at O'Reilly's website…. You might also want to take a look at their Open Books project, which is a collection of books with some form of "open" copyright.

Wow. Cool site. And they're mobile device oriented too.

[FatDog]

O'Rielly has a on-line bookshelf which for a monthly fee gives you access to every electronic copy of every book. Since you will probably change from generic CS study to some language or topic specific language every few months, this subscription would save you money and give you flexibility.

You might also sign up with Amazon for a Amazon Cloud account. As long as you stay under 5 gigs of total storage you can create a 1 gig hard drive and use the other 4 gigs to fire up a Linux virtual machine, a Windows machine, etc. The machine disappears when you log off - but this gives you access to Windows and Linux platforms to program on. (You can even fire up Oracle database images if you want to play with Oracle/SQL).

You should also d/l a copy of "Eclipse" - a free IDE for many languages.

[Fridays]

Thank you for all the replies.

I'm not sure if this makes a huge amount of sense, but I am looking to get into programming through the computer science field. I know that I probably don't need a CS degree to get into programming, yet I wanted a degree that was versatile and weighty. I will be starting as a complete beginner.

I'll be looking into all the resources you guys provided me. Very useful information.

[unboggling]

Fridays, I didn't mean to imply that school and formal degrees aren't valuable, just that for me the 'best' learning usually happened in my own projects outside of school and work. That's different for different people, and also depends on the quality of the school, specific degree program, and specific professors - mine were okay but not the best. Regardless, enjoy.

[Fridays]

Oh I understand what you're saying; I'd suppose that that holds true for most professions. Your point is well taken - I just need some source of knowledge before I can even start tinkering around independently.

[PitterPat]

I'm a computer programmer analyst. Have been for many years. It depends on what type of computer programming you want to do. Web? Desktop Applications? Mobile applications?

I love my Kindle but don't like to use it for programming books because with programming books I tend to flip back and forth between pages.

One place to start is to look for very basic books about C# (pronounced C Sharp, may also be listed as Visual C#) or VB (Visual Basic). These are two languages used in conjunction with web programming and desktop applications. You can find information and tutorials online for these languages. One set of very basic programming books are called "build a program NOW". They are inexpensive (less than $20 new) and easy to follow.


Also, look for used computer programming paper books on Amazon and half.com. Just make sure they are recent editions.