https://thecomputersciencebook.com/book/

The Computer Science Book
Overview
[ ] Contents

      + Introduction
      + Theory of computation
          o Introduction
          o Automata theory
          o Computability
          o Algorithmic complexity
          o Conclusion
          o Further reading
      + Algorithms and data structures
          o Introduction
          o Data structures
          o Abstract data types
          o Algorithms
          o Conclusion
          o Further reading
      + Computer architecture
          o Introduction
          o Representing information
          o Circuits and computation
          o The processor
          o Memory
          o Performance optimisations
          o Conclusion
          o Further reading
      + Operating systems
          o Introduction
          o Common operating systems
          o The boot process
          o Interrupts: hardware support for software
          o The kernel
          o Managing the processor
          o Managing memory
          o Managing persistence
          o Conclusion
          o Further reading
      + Networking
          o Introduction
          o What is a network?
          o The networking stack model
          o The Internet Protocol
          o Transmission Control Protocol
          o Internet addressing and DNS
          o The web, hypertext and HTTP
          o Conclusion
          o Further reading
      + Concurrent programming
          o Introduction
          o Concurrency, parallelism and asynchrony
          o Determinacy and state
          o Threads and locks
          o JavaScript and the event loop
          o Communicating sequential processes in Go
          o Conclusion
          o Further reading
      + Distributed systems
          o Introduction
          o Why we need distributed systems
          o A theoretical model
          o Handling network partitions: the CAP theorem
          o Consistency models
          o Consistency protocols
          o Conclusion
          o Further reading
      + Programming languages
          o Introduction
          o Defining a programming language
          o Programming language concepts
          o Programming paradigms
          o Type systems
          o Conclusion
          o Further reading
      + Databases
          o Introduction
          o What does a database offer?
          o Relational algebra and SQL
          o Database architecture
          o B-trees
          o Indexes
          o Concurrency control in SQLite and Postgres
          o Conclusion
          o Further reading
      + Compilers
          o Introduction
          o Compilation and interpretation
          o The program life-cycle
          o Building a compiler
          o Who to trust?
          o Conclusion
          o Further reading

Introduction

Welcome to The Computer Science Book! This book contains ten chapters
covering the main areas of a computer science degree. Together they
will give you a comprehensive introduction to computer science.

I learned to program through self-study and then attending a
bootcamp. My bootcamp did a wonderful job of preparing me for work
but there simply wasn't time to dig under the surface of web
programming. When I started my first developer job I was painfully
aware of how little I knew. There were things I'd heard of but had
never had time to investigate properly. That was fine - at least I
knew about them. Pausing to think more deeply, I realised I was
programming this thing that was mostly a black box. Who knew what was
in it? How did my code actually get to the processor and how did the
processor know what to do with it? How did the server know when
requests came and how did they get there? It felt like I was building
a career on sand.

Clearly, the solution was to study the computer science fundamentals
I was missing. In some ways computer science is very easy to study
independently. There is a huge wealth of resources freely available
on the Internet. But that abundance can be paralysing if you don't
know where to start. Which textbooks are the most useful? Do I really
need to know everything they teach or are some bits not so relevant
now? In what order should I study topics?

The Computer Science Book is intended to guide you through the field
of computer science. The ten chapters chart a sensible route through
the subject, each one building on the concepts introduced in the
preceding. Each chapter is focused on delivering the essential
knowledge that will help you improve as a developer. I've generally
erred on the side of the practical rather than the theoretical.
Nevertheless in some places the abstract theory is unavoidable - but
very interesting! Each chapter also includes a further reading
section giving suggestions for independent study and introducing
deeper topics that didn't fit in the chapter.

Modern Operating Systems is 1136 pages long. Database Systems: The
Complete Book is 1140. TCP Illustrated is 1060 (just the first
volume!). This single volume can never match such textbooks in depth
or comprehensiveness. To cover a full computer science course it must
be very selective. I've chosen to focus on topics and concepts that
I've encountered in my programming career - things that I know are
important. My intention is not to cover absolutely everything you
might need to know but to chart the unknown and give you the
necessary knowledge and confidence to explore further as your
curiosity desires.

I hope you enjoy reading The Computer Science Book and that you find
it useful. If you have any suggestions, find anything unclear or come
across any errors please do let me know.

Contents

      + Introduction
      + Theory of computation
          o Introduction
          o Automata theory
          o Computability
          o Algorithmic complexity
          o Conclusion
          o Further reading
      + Algorithms and data structures
          o Introduction
          o Data structures
          o Abstract data types
          o Algorithms
          o Conclusion
          o Further reading
      + Computer architecture
          o Introduction
          o Representing information
          o Circuits and computation
          o The processor
          o Memory
          o Performance optimisations
          o Conclusion
          o Further reading
      + Operating systems
          o Introduction
          o Common operating systems
          o The boot process
          o Interrupts: hardware support for software
          o The kernel
          o Managing the processor
          o Managing memory
          o Managing persistence
          o Conclusion
          o Further reading
      + Networking
          o Introduction
          o What is a network?
          o The networking stack model
          o The Internet Protocol
          o Transmission Control Protocol
          o Internet addressing and DNS
          o The web, hypertext and HTTP
          o Conclusion
          o Further reading
      + Concurrent programming
          o Introduction
          o Concurrency, parallelism and asynchrony
          o Determinacy and state
          o Threads and locks
          o JavaScript and the event loop
          o Communicating sequential processes in Go
          o Conclusion
          o Further reading
      + Distributed systems
          o Introduction
          o Why we need distributed systems
          o A theoretical model
          o Handling network partitions: the CAP theorem
          o Consistency models
          o Consistency protocols
          o Conclusion
          o Further reading
      + Programming languages
          o Introduction
          o Defining a programming language
          o Programming language concepts
          o Programming paradigms
          o Type systems
          o Conclusion
          o Further reading
      + Databases
          o Introduction
          o What does a database offer?
          o Relational algebra and SQL
          o Database architecture
          o B-trees
          o Indexes
          o Concurrency control in SQLite and Postgres
          o Conclusion
          o Further reading
      + Compilers
          o Introduction
          o Compilation and interpretation
          o The program life-cycle
          o Building a compiler
          o Who to trust?
          o Conclusion
          o Further reading

Theory of computation >>

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