Fortunately it's also freely available online. But if you know anyone in the US, you can get it a lot cheaper (though still paperback): https://www.amazon.com/Structure-Interpretation-Computer-Pro...

Even having them ship it to you will probably be cheaper than that CAD price. It's unfortunate the price has shot up so much, I guess I'll be taking very good care of my hardback edition.

https://mitp-content-server.mit.edu/books/content/sectbyfn/b...

Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs. If you can only buy one book about Computer Science in your life, that's the one to get. It's not dirt cheap (even used), but it's an incredible value nonetheless:

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

• Smalltalk-80 : http://stephane.ducasse.free.fr/FreeBooks/BlueBook/Bluebook....

• Godel, Escher, Bach : https://www.amazon.com/Gödel-Escher-Bach-Eternal-Golden/dp/0...

• Crafting Interpreters : https://www.amazon.com/Crafting-Interpreters-Robert-Nystrom/...

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

"Will Change The Way You Think About Computing."

> Have you read SICP? https://www.amazon.com/Structure-Interpretation-Computer-Pro...

Probably not able to completed during a single 3 months unless you do it full time, but I picked up a copy of SICP [0] and started reading through and working through every-single-problem. I got stuck so far on one problem in the first chapter toward the end at the moment. I will say, Scheme is fun! The problems can be challenging, short, and very rewarding.

However, maybe I'm not very smart and feel like I might have a very hard time with it. I'm not that great at math I don't think, nor do I consider myself genius like. Did people who go through this book do every single problem and figure it out themselves? There are a lot more problems then I expected. They are also, so far, some to be quite challenging and math heavy. It does really feel like it helps get my brain thinking differently about a lot of problems and I love it! But it also feels like I might start grinding a lot and burn out on it. Any tips or help or suggestions how to get through it successfully, get a good amount of education out of, and continue to be excited to keep moving forward?

[0] https://www.amazon.com/dp/0262510871

I know it's free online, but I wanted a physical edition.

If you've never met Scheme, then SICP [0, 1, 2] may be something that can change the way you program. It certainly made me better, or at least a deeper understanding.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Op3QLzMgSY&list=PLE18841CAB...

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

[2] https://web.mit.edu/alexmv/6.037/sicp.pdf

I can't recommend courses, because I don't have direct experience of any, but given what you say, my suggestion would be to take a bit of a pause from pragmatic problems, and dedicate some time to learn the foundations of computer science, in particular about algorithms and data structures. I'd recommend a couple of books: "The Algorithm Design Manual" by Steven Skiena if you want something not too theoretical, or "Introduction to Algorithms" by Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest, if you want a bit more breadth and theory:

https://www.amazon.com/Algorithm-Design-Manual-Steven-Skiena...

https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Algorithms-3rd-MIT-Press...

As a second suggestion, I'd recommend to learn a language somewhat different from JavaScript-like (or C-like) languages, something that challenges your mind to think a little differently and understand and create higher order abstractions. There are many choices, but to avoid confusion and being my favourite, I'll point to one: read the "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs" by Abelson and Sussman. It teaches Scheme in a gentle and inspiring way but at the same time it teaches how to become a better programmer:

https://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/

Or if you want made of dead trees:

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

I can't recommend it enough. If you read it, do the exercises, don't limit to read through them.

Maybe it's even better if you start with this, and THEN read the books on algorithms and data structures.

Enjoy your journey!

I learned programming without a computer in the 90s with Kernigan & Ritchie "C Programming Language", one of the best coding books ever written:

https://www.amazon.com/Programming-Language-Brian-W-Kernigha...

I'd also learn SICP: https://www.amazon.com/Structure-Interpretation-Computer-Pro...

and algorithms from either CLRS https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Algorithms-3rd-MIT-Press... or Skiena Algorithm Design https://www.amazon.com/Algorithm-Design-Manual-Steven-Skiena...

Friends of mine used "Create Your Own Programming Language" to get started learning about interpreters: http://createyourproglang.com

I personally learned with SICP (But reading this book isn't just about interpreter, it will make you a better programmer and blow your mind in so many different ways. I wouldn't say it's for experts only, but this isn't the kind of book that beginners would get excited about. However, if someone is serious about improving as a developer, I can't think of a better book): http://www.amazon.com/Structure-Interpretation-Computer-Prog...

Finally, (How to Write a (Lisp) Interpreter (in Python)) by norvig is a great read if you're getting started with interpreter: http://norvig.com/lispy.html

* The reason the two last links are lisp related is because writing interpreter in Lisp is really straightforward (Since the code is the AST). Similarly, if you wanted to learn about memory management, a language like assembler or C might be more suited than say Python.

Amazons URL's are actually quite interesting -

    Original:          http://www.amazon.com/Structure-Interpretation-Computer-Programs-Engineering/dp/0262510871/      Equivalent:         http://www.amazon.com/dp/0262510871         http://www.amazon.com/dp/0262510871/something-else         http://www.amazon.com/something/dp/0262510871         http://www.amazon.com/something/dp/0262510871/something-else 

It appears so long as 'dp/0262510871' is in the url (without dp/# appearing before it, but a second one after is fine) it works.

It is actively harmful to teach students that software architecture is something that somehow arises from diagrams or that those kinds of silly pictures capture anything important about it. Powerful architectures come out of powerful ideas that in turn come from accumulated hard work of many people in different disciplines. One can learn much more from walking through the actual source code of some classic projects and from trying to understand the ideas that make them tick:

https://github.com/onetrueawk/awk - UNIX philosophy of small tools, DSLs, CS theory: state machines / regular expressions, Thompson algorithm ...

https://github.com/mirrors/emacs - Both a program and a VM for a programming language, hooks, before/after/around advices, modes, asynchronous processing with callbacks, ... Worth to think of challenges of designing interactive programs for extensibility.

https://github.com/rails/rails - Metaprogramming DSLs for creating powerful libraries, again a lesson in hooks (before_save etc.), advices (around_filter etc.), ...

https://github.com/git/git - The distributed paradigm, lots of CS theory again: hashing for ensuring consistency, DAGs everywhere, ... By the way, the sentence "yet the underlying git magic sometimes resulted in frustration with the students" is hilarious in the context of a "software architecture" course.

One of computer algebra systems - the idea of a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canonical_form

One of computer graphics engines - Linear algebra

...

There are loads of things one can learn from those projects by studying the source in some depth, but I can't think of any valuable things one could learn by just drawing pictures of the modules and connecting them with arrows. There are also several great books that explore real software design issues and not that kind of pretentious BS, they all come from acknowledged all-time master software "architects", yet all of them almost never find diagrams or "viewpoints" useful for saying the things they want to say, and they all walk you through real issues in real programs:

http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Addison-Wesley-Professiona...

http://www.amazon.com/Paradigms-Artificial-Intelligence-Prog...

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

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

http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Environment-Addison-Wesley...

To me, the kind of approach pictured in the post, seems like copying methods from electrical or civil engineering to appear more "serious", without giving due consideration to whether they really are helpful for anything for real-world software engineering or not. The "software engineering" class which taught those kind of diagram-drawing was about the only university class I did not ever get any use from, in fact I had enough industry experience by the point I took it that it just looked silly.

Amaozn's got it for $46.55 (and it's eligible for Prime shipping) and MIT has it for $50; maybe I'm missing something?

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

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...)

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.