Customer Reviews

Computer Science: An Overview (8th Edition)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After finishing a first year sequence in CS I felt like I had accomplished a lot.. yet something was missing and I didn't know what. Before this past year I had virtually no real CS exposure and was thrown into the curriculum and was practically forced to progress at their speed and rate. Once the spring semester was over I immediately began to read this book and found it to be a very enjoyable read. It's so broad and easy to absorb that out of its eleven chapters I would complete two or three chapters in one sitting. I found that it really filled in holes left having gone from no experience in CS to finishing a first year University level curriculum. For a complete newbie, some concepts may be out of range but I don't think that should deter you. For someone like me having at least a years experience in CS I found it be a nice supplement to what I already know and a nice reinforcer on subjects I needed review as well as small introductions to material I may have not seen or looked into before. Definately keeping it in the personal library.

This is a pretty nice overview of the subject of computer science. Very easy to understand tone and not pretentious. Of course, this author has a 10th edition out or something like that. However, the general concepts and text are the same.

If one can't understand the style of writing maybe one should not be in a CS 100 level course or even close to the college level! If anything, as reviewed earlier, I found this style made it easier to read a CS text... as a lot of the texts are just too technical; but rightfully so. This text was a relief from the standard curriculum required reading. You think this is bad? Try an English Comp reading essay or assignment. CS needs more of this if the discipline expects to recruit a wider spectrum of students, as science and engineering is already scarce with students as it is. Bottom line, if you're used to the technical reading of the CS curriculum, this book will serve as a reading relief as it is a fast and EASY read. As another reviewer stated, one weekend and this book is finished. If your trouble with reading comprehension is severe enough you should not be reading CS material to begin with - take a course in English and read some extra-curricula novels to build up reading skills first, like fiction.