> If you'd rather an easier start, I like "Concrete Mathematics" -- > by Graham, Knuth, and Patashnik. Reads much faster and covers the > mathematics needed to analyze algorithms. This path is a much more > abstract approach to the problem. I remember in the introduction to > the class (upon which this book was based), he claimed "we call it > Concrete Mathematics because it is hard." >
And I recommend tackling CM via J, as the late K. Iverson wrote a tutorial to go along with CM in his J language (derivative from APL in a lot of ways, but pure ASCII). Roger Hui & Co. are continuing the work. But you don't have to be a CS major to play with J, which is a joy, nor even to earn a living that involves some programming (if "earning" is your gig -- some coders just give it away, but make it back, and then some, doing trades). I don't want people to feel weighed down by my philo-informed approach to CS (my focus at Princeton). Too many mathematicians run that trip: "here, read this heavy book [thunk!]." CS needs better movies, visualizations/animations, is the long and short of it -- of Knuth's 256-cylinder engine's internals along with the rest of it (roar!). Kirby > > > --Scott David Daniels > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > _______________________________________________ > Edu-sig mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list [email protected] http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
