DEV Community

Discussion on: What are the most interesting, readable software books?

Collapse
 
johnlukeg profile image
John Luke Garofalo

There are a few that I highly recommend that were already mentioned. One that I'm finishing up which has won me over is Algorithms To Live By by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths. It takes a lot of the complex theory of computer science into super easy to understand overview and application in your real life.

Some example of a few of the topics they speak about:

  • Processor Scheduling Theory ~> How to optimize your daily scheduling for maximum efficiency.
  • Various Sorting Algorithms ~> Every day we are constantly sorting & searching from folding laundry to choosing your wedding seat arrangement.
  • Optimal Stopping Problems ~> How long is long enough when searching for an apartment or a spouse or a winning slot maching? Computer Science theory says it's around 33%.
  • Network Packet Switching Theory ~> Humans communicate like buffers and with the dawn of the packet switching paradigm in networks, our society has evolved to buffer things just like our text messages or emails.