Customer Reviews

Etudes for Programmers

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Ages ago my instructor at the local university computing center gave me this book. After completing all etudes
I was accepted as an apprentice programmer at age fourteen. This is an exceptional book! It teaches you to think like a programmer. Unfortunately it has been out of print for more than a decade.

etude n. Programming
1. A program composed for the development of a specific point of technique.
2. A computing system featuring a point of technique but performed because of its artistic merit.


This is one of the most wonderful books on computer programming.

To use the musical metaphor presented in the book, the reader will be challenged to compose pieces ranging from simple melodies to full blown symphonies, in styles ranging from classical to modern hip-hop. While many of the examples are in what would be viewed as archaic languages, the problems themselves are agnostic to the selection of computer languages used. One of the lessons is that there is no single silver-bullet language, and it is best to learn how to select the right instrument for the part.

Each programming Etude is presented as a problem. Background information is given to aid in the composition of the solution, and for some of the puzzles there is a supplied example solution in the back of the book. A rough time frame is given (ranging from a few hours for a single person to a class team project that might take an entire semester).

The focus on each Etude is in the critical thinking required to develop the solution while the actual implementation is assumed to be already within the grasp of the reader. Again to use the musical metaphor, the reader is assumed to be able to play several musical instruments, understand scales, chords, and can read sheet music, and is now ready to move on to their own musical compositions.