Scholarly Resources for CompSci Undergrads

Some Useful Technical Books

This list is intended primarily for undergraduate students in computer science at the University of Western Ontario. It is part of my list of undergrad resources and an experiment with different ways of presenting information.

Annotated Version

The links here lead to full citation information.

Dynamic version of this list!

What's Here

1. Programming in General
2. Resources About the C Programming Language
3. Books of and About Algorithms
4. Other
   • See Also

Programming in General

These are some books about computer programming that I think everyone should read.

The Elements of Programming Style

The best book about programming and programming style I have ever seen. The examples are in RATFOR and PL/1 but they are short and easy to understand even if you don't know those languages.

Programming Pearls; and More Programming Pearls

Selected essays by Jon Bentley about programming, insights, problems and solutions from the former Programming Pearls column in Communications of the ACM.

Resources about the C Programming Language

NOTE

I've been told that the GNU C compiler (gcc) that we all know and love (well, okay I like it -- a lot) does not comply with the ANSI standard unless you include both the -ansi and the -pedantic command line switches. Especially if you are learning C just now, make sure you use both of those switches -- and throw in -Wall -O for good measure too. I have some more details in my Notes about gcc.

The C Programming Language (Second edition) by Kernighan and Ritchie

Not only a great book about both ANSI and K&R C, but a great book about programming (in C). Some example from Kernighan and Plauger's Software Tools appear in C form too. You might be able to learn C from this book as easily as any other, but be sure to add your own cross-references, and check both the errata list and Koenig's book.

If you want to learn C, then you might find my Advice for Those Who Want to Learn C helpful.

C: A Reference Manual (Fifth Edition) by Harbison and Steele

The indispensable reference for ANSI C and K&R C. It even includes details about the libraries.

The comp.lang.c Frequently Asked Questions List

Steve Summit's list is an incredible resource for both new and experienced programmers. An expanded version is available as a book with title C Programming FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions.

C Traps and Pitfalls by Koenig

From the back cover:

Even C experts come across problems that require days of debugging to fix. This book helps to prevent such problems by showing how C programmers get themselves into trouble. Each of the book's many examples has trapped a professional programmer.

More? You want more?!

• I think the C archive in Sweden and its list of related sites are good places to look for more information online.
• Mitch Wright maintains an annotated bibliography of C and Unix books; it is available for anonymous FTP from ftp.rahul.net in the pub/mitch/YABL/ directory.
• I've made an index of all C related documents by me.

Books of and about Algorithms

Where do I go when I can't find it in Knuth (or don't understand him)? Sometimes I check Programming Pearls (see above) for inspiration and sometimes I start with these books:

Aho, Hopcroft and Ullman's Data Structures and Algorithms and The Design and Analysis of Computer Algorithms

Although a bit old they still covers some basic algorithms and concepts clearly and thoroughly.

Introduction to Algorithms by Cormen et al.

The big white book covers a lot of territory and covers it well. The presentation of algorithms is helped by the excellent book design.

I think P. J. Plauger's collected Programming on Purpose articles will be of great interest to anyone who either does, or intends to, program professionally.

Programming on Purpose: Essays on Software Design by P. J. Plauger

Reviewed in ACM Computing Reviews (CR 9311-0825) and IEEE Software (March 1994, pp. 104 - 106)

Programming on Purpose II: Essays on Software People by P. J. Plauger

Reviewed in ACM Computing Reviews (CR 9407-0435)

Programming on Purpose III: Essays on Software Technology by P. J. Plauger

Reviewed in ACM Computing Reviews (CR 9503-0156)

Other

The finding stuff section of my bookmarks list should help you find all the other references you are looking for. There is also a brief source code section in that list.

SeeAlso

Prof. Bob Webber created a suggested reading list for anyone who wants to earn a post-graduate degree in Computer Science. The readings have been carefully organized over a five year span (12 books/year). I have a copy of the 19 May 1995 version (which was still current in January 1996).

My recommendations for books about writing are elsewhere. I also have a list of literary books I greatly enjoy.

http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~jamie/.Refs/tech-books.html

This document is copyright by its author, J. Blustein.