r/compsci · 2020
Most-mentioned books in r/compsci during 2020
This page ranks books by exact tracked mentions in r/compsci within the published source unit for 2020. Counts come from the reconciled subreddit-by-month matrix; a source unit may be a bounded sample.
#1 Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
Harold Abelson
MIT's 1985 Scheme textbook that 319 Reddit commenters have recommended and a noticeably smaller number have finished.
#2 Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software
Charles Petzold
A retired software engineer builds a computer from telegraph relays and flashlights, one chapter at a time, until you understand what a CPU actually does.
#3 Introduction to Algorithms
Thomas H. Cormen
The textbook four MIT professors wrote to settle every algorithms argument, cited by 254 Reddit commenters across 12 subreddits and still going.
#4 The Art of Computer Programming
Donald E. Knuth
Donald Knuth's multi-volume monument to algorithms: the book programmers cite in library lists and almost nobody finishes.
#5 Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective
Randal E. Bryant
The CMU course-in-a-book that pushes programmers to read assembly, defuse a binary bomb, and stop pretending they understand what happens after main() returns.
#6 The C Programming Language
Brian W. Kernighan
The 1978 book that defined C's syntax, co-written by its creator, still cited by name 281 times across Reddit in 7 years.
#7 Code Complete
Steve McConnell
Steve McConnell's 900-page construction manual for software, ranked third on Reddit's canonical reading list and still cited 25 years after publication.
#8 Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach
James F. Kurose
Kurose and Ross walk the network stack from HTTP down to the wire, so the physical layer arrives after you already understand why it exists.
#9 Effective Java
Joshua Bloch
Joshua Bloch's item-by-item case for writing Java the way the platform was designed to be used, with 90 independent recommendations that aged better than most of the language.
#10 Eloquent JavaScript
Marijn Haverbeke
Marijn Haverbeke's free online JavaScript book — variables to async in one volume — by someone who said he wouldn't wish a game-programming career on anyone.
#11 Modern Operating Systems
Andrew S. Tanenbaum
Tanenbaum's textbook walks through every layer of an OS — scheduling, memory, file systems, threads — one chapter at a time, with the implementation details left in.
#12 Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning
Christopher M. Bishop
Bishop's 2006 Bayesian ML textbook: 26 of its 39 Reddit mentions come from r/MachineLearning, where it sits permanently on the serious-math shelf.
#13 The C++ Programming Language
Bjarne Stroustrup
Bjarne Stroustrup's own manual for the language he built — 1,300 pages that explain every design decision, including the ones you're cursing right now.
#14 Hands-On Machine Learning with Scikit-Learn, Keras, and TensorFlow
Aurélien Géron
Aurélien Géron's end-to-end ML textbook: build a working neural net with Scikit-Learn, Keras, and TensorFlow before you finish the first half.
#15 Python Crash Course
Eric Matthes
The author built it for high school students who kept getting lost — 126 Reddit mentions later, it's still the default first Python recommendation.
#16 The Linux Programming Interface
Michael Kerrisk
A 1,500-page tour of every Linux system call, written by the man who maintains the manual pages.
#17 The Phoenix Project
Gene Kim
An IT manager inherits a failing project, a mutinous ops team, and a CEO deadline — and has to ship before the company does.
#18 The Pragmatic Programmer
Andy Hunt
Two veterans hand you a checklist for the craft: don't write code you don't need, own your tools, and fix the broken window before someone else does.
#19 The Unicorn Project
Gene Kim
The Phoenix Project retold from the developer's chair: same burning company, different seat at the fire.
#20 Think Like a Programmer
V. Anton Spraul
V. Anton Spraul's guide to breaking down any programming problem before writing a single line of code — written for learners who know syntax but freeze at blank pages.