Hey Sup Forums
In the past month I've begun programming. At the moment im learning Java and soon ill start learning Python as I'm a geneticist by trade and within the biotech industry, Python seems to be in demand.
My question is, does Sup Forums recommend any sites or books that give a beginner a good understanding of computer science?
Try and unlearn Java.
Why user?
computer science is a broad field.
Get a book on Discrete Math. We used Rosen's in my program. Then find a good book on Data Structures & Algorithms. The one we used was shit, so I have no recommendations there.
SICP
Discreet Math, and also Linear Algebra. Math has strong roots and the foundation of Computer Science in general.
Why learn several languages simultaneously? I think that it would be better if you focus on only one language for the moment, and not to learn an language each month.
Good response. Thanks user.
I'm learning a few languages simultaneously and I personally like it this way way more than when I stuck to one language. You get to know different paradigms, limitations, advantages and disadvantages of the languages. It makes you more... How can I say it? Versatile?
On the downside, you don't really go into peculiar features of the language, but do you really need? I think you need it only when you're generally knowledgeable.
Don't take this as granted of course, that's just my opinion. I'm not an expert at all and can be very wrong.
Read Making it Big in Software and learn another language
This.
It won't land you a job and you won't get any marketable skills. Just the first 3 chapters will take you 200+ hours to work through and you'll learn an obsolete language that nobody uses anymore (not that anyone did in the first place).
But SICP isn't a book or a course. SICP is a way of life. You'll ascend to a higher level of being and become a hot girl.
Ignore meme replies. You need a strong foundation in LOGIC. Take a philosophy class in logic and go as far as you can into the subject. Math is not needed when programming, only logic.
>inb4 hutt burt (you)s
no I am not trolling
You mean, the first thing covered in a discrete math course? Dumbass.
No, it's the other way around faggot. Logic is the foundation of all math and pure logic goes way deeper than any math class ever could.
btw, I looked into taking a logic course in the philosophy department this year, just for fun.
>mfw they cover in 3 months what we cover in discrete math in 3 weeks.
For genetics you should look at algorithms study. Learn about graph searches, greedy algorithms and things like that. I remember way back my uni days having to compare protein strands from pdbfiles in my algorithms course, it's pretty much what they are doing these days to data mine genomes in efficient ways.
Doesn't matter, all serious study in logic is done by mathematicians now. Philosophers are post-modern meme machines nowadays.
anything about data structures and algorithms. those are the things you'll use to make your code work.
"Doesn't matter, all serious developing in programming is done by webdevs with JavaScript now. Systems programmers writing in Assembly and C are meme machines nowadays."
This is the equivalent of what you just said.
No, it's not the equivalent, because this:
>all serious developing in programming is done by webdevs with JavaScript now
is false. Are NASA's systems being programmed in JS? How about implantable pacemakers, or flight control software?
It is false. And yet, it's the equivalent logic to what you said. Thank you for proving my point dumbass.
Well, you've sure shown me your mastery of logic with strawmen built on false equivalencies. Listen to this guy, OP, he knows what's up.
No strawman here kiddo, you're just being evasive because you're too stupid to see the equivalence.
>kiddo
How old are you?
It does everything for you. It's to programming what Duplo is to Legos.
What's your name?
I believe the word you're looking for is "bioinformatics".
>logic
Mathematics is its own philosophy.
The logic is equivalent, but the premises are not. Philosophy is subjective. Mathematics is much, much less so, if at all.
Underage retard confirmed.
Who's your daddy?
Is he rich? Like me?
Has he taken, any time?
And now the triggered autistic kid must flail and screech. Wew lad.
Math is essentially applied logic based on number theory and I don't think you know what the word subjective means.
To show you what you need to live?
Geez, you sure are new to not realize that that series of posts was a reference to a 1968 rock song by the Zombies.
>Math is essentially applied logic
Yes, this is why the toughest theorems are usually proven by logicians in the philosophy department.
>legos
>s
Just keep going. Get it all out slugger.
So you think mathematicians aren't applying logic to their work?
Are you saying that applied anthropologists aren't anthropologists?
I suppose you also think computational science is not applied mathematics?
They are directly related systems that form a branching tree. Logic is the base, math is the extension.
Math is applied logic != learning logic is the best way to become good at math. If this were true, undergraduate math courses would consist purely of philosophical logic for the first year. But they don't, because the two fields have diverged so far when you get past the basics, that it would be a meaningless exercise.
>mfw I'm not even that same poster
This is somewhat true, but understanding LISP can help you further understand programming in a way other languages would take you longer, if they would even take you there, to understand.
You may not in the end use LISPs, but you will learn much with it.
This is, however, more of a conceptual understanding. It can be applicable, but you'll go through some hassles since most LISPs have been relatively abandoned with the exception of Clojure and a few other, which are full bloatmode due to its relationship with Java.
Watch the video classes on the "Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs". They're available on YouTube, and will show you a beautiful, philosophical way of looking at programming.
However, this is if you want to go there, to a magical land where computers are wizard staves and wands and the creation of programs become spellcasting and worthy of philosophy, where you will take voyages alongside Plato and Hume and Locke in your endeavor for creativity.
If you just want to go to more job-related places, though, hear the other anons and forget about what I said.
Udacity.com
Can't suggest this enough.
Ok, i see. Thank you for your opinion. I accept it!