Textbooks

We do not assign an official textbook for CS 131, but textbooks can provide excellent background reading about course material. The books below are our recommendations if you're looking for additional resources.

• The C Programming Language by Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie (also known as "K&R"; Prentice Hall PTR, ISBN 0-13-110362-8) is the classic textbook for programming in C. We will use C++ in CS 131, but the book gives a good foundation in C, and the C++ syntax we use in the course is mostly chosen to make your life easier.
• Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective, Third Edition (also knows as "CS:APP3e") by Randal E. Bryant and David R. O'Hallaron (Pearson, 2015, ISBN 978-0134092669). This is a long, comprehensive textbook, and provides a background reference for the lecture material. If you would like to read about the same concepts explained in different words, or read beyond what we talk about in lectures, this will be a good starting point.

Copies of these books are available in the SciLi, and at online bookstores. Look for used copies, as they are often cheaper.