Customer Reviews

Foundations of Computer Science: C Edition (Principles of Computer Science Series)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is not a "how to program" book. Rather it discusses the science and computing in detail. The basics are introduced and throughout the book the chapters build on each other for a complex yet easy to understand experience. The book is a wonderful tool for those who want to be real scientists and not just "techies."

Aho is one of the most respected authors in Computer science and he makes it clear why in this book. With the aid of step-by-step algorithms, schematics, good examples and exercises he accomplishes one of the most complete and clear books in CS for beginner students. The text is sometimes too extensive but it is never confusing or inadequate.

I'm not sure what the reviewers giving it 1-2 stars are complaining about? Maybe they just don't get it. I've been programming professionally for 8 years and I have yet to see a better book that ties Discrete Math with Computer Science. I think it gives a great example of how Induction and Recursive thinking are linked. I bought this book 3 years ago and I occasionally re-visit it to do all the exercises.... There's a lot but they are good. It's like going to the gym for a good workout but in the context of Computer Science.

No, it's not introductory, but if you're having a hard time with Discrete Math and have a solid programming background, are willing to sit down and "Work out" the excercises, then this book is for you.

I've used this book for the namesake course at university, 2 years ago. It proved to be perfectly adequate at that time. It was very readable and complete. And this would be enough for me to give it a five stars rate.
But there's more. After these two years I've collected many other books in various areas of CS, but when I need a quick reference on any specific topic or I don't remember the formal definition of a concept, I always find this book in my hands. It is one of the references I use most often.
It has been my first book by the couple Aho-Ullman. Now I've understood that whenever these two "emeritus guys" writes something, it always worths time and money to read them.

Overall, I think this book is an excellent book that anyone serious about computer science should own. I think that this book is good both for those new to computer science and those who have been involved in computer science for several years.

For those new to computer science, I would not use this as a first book (this is made clear in the introduction, as well). The expectation is that the reader will already understand the basics of programming, so prior experience or an introductory course in computer science would be appropriate. Many of the examples make use of pointers, which can occasionally be confusing to students unfamiliar with programming, so it would definitely be a good idea for the reader to be familiar with a language like C or Pascal before starting this book. Once that foundation is in place, this is an excellent book to learn the basics of the field of computer science.

For more experienced readers, this book serves as an amazing review and does a good job of collecting lots of information in one place. Explanations are solid, so the book can serve as a good reference for multiple topics. Note that the level of detail is not appropriate if you are just interested in one thing -- if you are interested only in details of algorithms, a book like the MIT Press Algorithms book would be more appropriate.

This is the best all-around foundational book covering Computer Science and Discrete Math; I wish it was used when I was a Computer Science student. I think the bad reviews were written by people who mistook this as an introductory book to CS, it's not. To get anything from this book you should know C well and be mathematically mature.

The book provides numerous examples and mathematical background for recursion, iteration, algorithmic efficiency, combinatorics and probability, as well as the major data structures.

I think if you take the time to go through this book you'll be well rewarded.

I have quite a few. Nevertheless, if you're just starting, or if you plan to buy only one book on data--make sure that's the one <g>. It simply fits the bill (under the conditions I mentioned above) better than the other ones. I also like it for the heck of it. It ain't no Knuth with his mix, you can read and use this one w/o burning sugar on some ridiculous stuff no one needs. Oh, also, it's good for self-study.

I have used this book in every one of my computer science classes - and I still haven't finished the whole book!

I don't know how they got so much information in to the thing.

Makes me glad that I have taken CS.

Keeps your brain alive and thinking

Lots of interesting stuff in here if u r a learner. Still haven't finished the book yet after a year and a half.