The Computer Science Book: For self-taught developers
Original price was: $49.99.$21.05Current price is: $21.05.
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You can code. But do you understand what’s happening underneath?
If you’re self-taught or came through a bootcamp, you’ve felt it: you get the job done, but there are gaps — and the nagging sense that everyone with a CS degree knows far more than you do. Big-O. How memory actually works. What a database actually does. Why distributed systems fail. And now: how machine learning and LLMs actually work.
The Computer Science Book closes those gaps. It’s a complete, degree-broad computer science education in one readable volume. It’s written for working developers.
What’s inside — 13 chapters from fundamentals to frontier:
- Theory of computation, algorithms & data structures
- Computer architecture, operating systems, networking
- Concurrency and distributed systems
- Programming languages, databases, compilers
- Machine learning, deep learning, and AI & large language models — the modern AI foundations most CS books still don’t cover
Why this one: written to be understood, not endured — conversational and example-led, no prerequisites beyond knowing basic coding. The breadth of a degree without a shelf of dense textbooks. Up to date: from logic gates all the way to LLMs.
Who it’s for:Â self-taught developers, bootcamp graduates, career-changers, and anyone preparing for technical interviews who wants the fundamentals to finally click.
“An essential read… a joy to read.” — Adrian Booth, Software Engineer, Syft
“Covers all the topics I lacked confidence in.” — John Whiles, Software Engineer, Contentful
Stop guessing at the fundamentals. Build the mental model the CS graduates have — and the AI knowledge most of them don’t.
4 reviews for The Computer Science Book: For self-taught developers
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Amazon Customer (verified owner) –
I read this book to get an overview of computer science. I’m a working programmer, but having graduated from a bootcamp rather than a comp-sci degree I felt like I lacked some of the knowledge that would help me progress in my career.
This book covers a lot of the topics that I lacked confidence in. Each chapter gave me the lay of the land for the particular area in question. I now feel like I can understand discussions about topics like algorithmic complexity, compilers, networking and more. I also feel that if I needed to dive deeper into any of these topics then I have a solid base to start from.
The book isn’t just for theoretical or architectural interest. I’ve been able to apply some of the content to my day to day work. For example I was able to use what I learnt about state machines to refactor a complex React component. The end result was a big improvement over my previous attempt, and I’m pretty proud of the code now 🙂
I’d really recommend this book, if you’re in a position like I was. Knowing how to code, but lacking knowledge of some computer science fundamentals.
Mark (verified owner) –
This introduction to computer science is different. Introductory books are often somewhat narrow and utilitarian.
Here instead the exploration is broader. It touches on several foundational aspects of computing, and it’s driven by passion for computing and intellectual curiosity.
Some parts will have a direct practical applicability for the majority of software practitioners, some other will be of a more theoretical interest. Either way they are clearly well researched, and will uncover what’s under the hood in a very friendly and human style.
The books succeeds in its goal: intrigue the reader and dispel the magic. It builds the curiosity and the confidence required for the next steps on the learning journey.
There are two audiences that will especially benefit from this book:
* self-taught software developers, because they might not have had the opportunity to be exposed to many of the subjects covered
* whoever would like to enter the field of software, but is not quite sure what it might hold
If you read this book, congratulations, you’ve taken your first step into a larger world.
Anh Le (verified owner) –
Forget blogs, which are often spotty and inaccurate
Forget text books, which cover too much stuff you don’t need as a developers
This is the one book that covers the 10% of CS theory you need in lucid prose. For more depth, the author provides additional reading.
Chloe Turner (verified owner) –
Although this little book is small and focused on giving an introduction to computer science, it does do it exceptionally well. Great for getting to grips with various aspects of computers and also points you in the direction of where to learn more if something interests you. Fantastic and written.