For example, you'll read about the importance of using good grammar when writing (especially in your essays), how important it is to be aware of your audience, and the importance of having a well thought out plan. There will also be many examples of people using bad grammar. But what does this have to do with computer science? The answer is nothing, and you're right. So it's all about the bad grammar. I was hoping there was a hidden message in the title, but the only way this is relevant to computer science is if the grammatical atrocities are caused by the computer programming language. No? Ok then, this is more useless than I thought. Oh no! The author didn't have any real reason for you to read this book. I guess there's nothing in here for me either. This review is for the paperback edition of The Art of Computer Programming. You should be reading the first edition instead. I would have prefered a book that covers much more ground. I was expecting a beginner book and it wasn't much better than the college level "The Elements of Computing Systems" book. It certainly covers all of the basics, but like the last book it makes the statement of being an "Introduction to Computer Science" - which it clearly is not. If it had been an introduction to computing I would expect more. To be honest I would rather read a programming book like "The C programming language" - which is probably the better book to learn programming from. In fact it's just as bad as the "The Elements of Computing Systems" book - but for a different language. Even the other books are no different, they cover the same topics and the are also an introduction to computer science. If you are looking for an introduction to the CS field then this may be a good book, but it certainly is not my favorite, and I would not recommend it to any college-bound child, unless they already know the concepts of computer programming - which is the basic book to start with, Elements or The C Programming Language. It is the one I like. However if you ask me, I would say the original one, not this one. For the same price, I got a better book. I would suggest buying "Elements" instead. It is better than this one in terms of "readability", it has better examples and has more content. This book covers the basics, including recursion. The language used is Pascal and not C++, which makes this book much harder to understand than a book written in C++. Still, the content of this book is good, and very useful for a college-level course in programming. I bought this book because I was interested in computer science. However, after reading through about three chapters I found the material a bit hard to understand (mainly because there were no examples given in the text). The author is very proud of this book, and it is a good book on a basic level, but you will have to put a lot of effort into reading it. As with the other "Introduction to CS" books (not THE Elements), this book lacks examples and exercises. It is worth it to buy the book so that you can get familiar with the terminology. The "Programming Language" chapter gives some excellent examples of how to code in this programming language (albeit not C or C++). On a personal note: I used to be a computer science major, now I am going for a mathematics major. However, this book was a useful tool in reintroducing me to CS. For everyone who said this book was the best, I would like to add something to the same line: This is the best book for the beginners. If you are looking for a full and profound course, go to any University. There are classes of university that are specifically for CS. I studied at University in US and there is no way I could be a programmer even if I were to have taught myself. "Programming: Principles and Practice using C" on the other hand is a good source to use when you know what you're doing. For those who don't, this book is the only choice. C programing is the most difficult language to program in. Before you start programming in C you should learn C++ and not C. The Author made me feel like an alien of this world. Who would have thought that a computer can be an alien? But yes, this is very true indeed. I have never studied Computer Science; well, I did try to read the very first edition of the said book of Bill, but the concepts were way above my reach, and hence I did quit that. However, this is a book which every Computer Geek should have to read atleast once in a lifetime. It has got some very interesting content which I have not ever come across with any of the other textbooks. I recommend this book for everyone, who is either a Computer Scientist or just wants to make a start with Computer Science. It is not a very thick book, but it provides enough material which is required to learn Computer Science. It is an excellent read if you have nothing to do and you want to learn. If you are a budding Computer Science researcher you should definitely buy this book as you will surely need this book at a later time. The best thing about this book is the contents, it also contains interesting comments by the famous computer scientists and other persons who have contributed to the growth of the Computer Science. This book is very good as a starter. It provides a very good introduction to computer programming and to what a good programmer should learn. It covers a lot of areas of computer science without the need to go into unnecessary details. The programming content is also very good. Most of the content of the book is based on Pascal which is an obsolete language (it is a programming language built on top of the ALGOL 68 and the Modula 2 languages), but it can serve as a good introduction to languages like C and C++. Programming in Pascal will have to suffice in my opinion. It is sufficient if you are interested in this specific language or if you are aware of the other languages. This is really a good book that I suggest everyone to read atleast once, if you have nothing to do. I bought this book a couple of years ago. I was searching for a book that covers all the basics of programming, but I didn't even know how to start with. This book started the way I needed. After reading the book and doing a few exercises I was able to implement programming into my normal life. The author has a very descriptive approach towards programming, and what makes it so nice is that it is easy to understand. The last chapter introduces you to the idea of object-oriented programming in a very interesting way which is perfect for someone who wants to start a career in computer science. In my opinion it is worth the money that you are about to spend on it. I find this book a good choice for beginners. However, if you think you know how to program then this is no book for you. This is a wonderful book that provides you a wonderful idea of the world of computers. As a new student I always love to read books which cover the basics of the subjects first before covering the depth and hence this book is just a wonderful thing for a beginner. It is really a good choice for everyone and will be able to bring out the best out of you to make you a better programmer. If you have already started your journey then it is worth to have read this book as it will be very helpful in understanding the basics in a better way and thus you will be able to develop your skills much more rapidly. This is an introductory book for most of us and is thus, highly practical and very interesting. Every programming language deals with the same principles, but are implemented differently depending on the needs of the language. This book is about some basic programming principles and how to start programming, which I found quite an interesting read.