📖 Books & Canonical References¶
The textbooks that define each field. Free where possible, linked for reference otherwise.
Computer Science Fundamentals¶
| Book | Author | Free? | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs | Abelson & Sussman | ✅ | mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/sicp |
| Introduction to Algorithms (CLRS) | Cormen et al. | ❌ (MIT OCW lectures free) | MIT OCW 6.006 |
| The Art of Computer Programming | Knuth | ❌ | Reference |
| Concrete Mathematics | Graham, Knuth, Patashnik | ❌ | Reference |
Systems Programming¶
| Book | Author | Free? | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces | Arpaci-Dusseau | ✅ | ostep.org |
| Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective (CSAPP) | Bryant & O'Hallaron | ❌ (labs free) | csapp.cs.cmu.edu |
| Dive into Systems | Suzanne Matthews et al. | ✅ | diveintosystems.org |
| Linux Device Drivers (LDD3) | Corbet, Rubini, Kroah-Hartman | ✅ | lwn.net/Kernel/LDD3 |
| The Linux Programming Interface | Michael Kerrisk | ❌ | man7.org/tlpi |
Distributed Systems & Databases¶
| Book | Author | Free? | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Designing Data-Intensive Applications | Martin Kleppmann | ❌ (talks free) | dataintensive.net / YouTube talks |
| Database Internals | Alex Petrov | ❌ | Reference |
| Architecture of a Database System | Hellerstein et al. | ✅ | dsf.berkeley.edu/papers/fntdb07-architecture.pdf |
| Distributed Systems (Maarten van Steen) | van Steen & Tanenbaum | ✅ | distributed-systems.net |
Networking¶
| Book | Author | Free? | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beej's Guide to Network Programming | Brian Hall | ✅ | beej.us/guide/bgnet |
| High Performance Browser Networking | Ilya Grigorik | ✅ | hpbn.co |
| Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach | Kurose & Ross | ❌ (lectures free) | gaia.cs.umass.edu |
| TCP/IP Illustrated | W. Richard Stevens | ❌ | Classic reference |
AI & Deep Learning¶
| Book | Author | Free? | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deep Learning | Goodfellow, Bengio, Courville | ✅ | deeplearningbook.org |
| Dive into Deep Learning | Aston Zhang et al. | ✅ | d2l.ai |
| Pattern Recognition and ML | Christopher Bishop | ✅ (PDF) | microsoft.com/research |
| Speech and Language Processing | Jurafsky & Martin | ✅ | web.stanford.edu/~jurafsky/slp3 |
| Probabilistic Machine Learning | Kevin Murphy | ✅ | probml.github.io/pml-book |
| Neural Networks and Deep Learning | Michael Nielsen | ✅ | neuralnetworksanddeeplearning.com |
| Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction | Sutton & Barto | ✅ | incompleteideas.net/book/the-book |
Software Engineering & Design¶
| Book | Author | Free? | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Architecture of Open Source Applications | Various | ✅ | aosabook.org |
| Crafting Interpreters | Bob Nystrom | ✅ | craftinginterpreters.com |
| Game Programming Patterns | Bob Nystrom | ✅ | gameprogrammingpatterns.com |
| Pro Git | Scott Chacon | ✅ | git-scm.com/book |
| The Pragmatic Programmer | Hunt & Thomas | ❌ | Classic reference |
| Clean Code | Robert C. Martin | ❌ (talks free) | YouTube |
| Design Patterns (GoF) | Gamma et al. | ❌ | refactoring.guru (free explanations) |
Embedded & Real-Time¶
| Book | Author | Free? | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Making Embedded Systems | Elecia White | ❌ (talks free) | YouTube |
| FreeRTOS Reference Manual | AWS | ✅ | freertos.org/Documentation |
| The Art of Electronics | Horowitz & Hill | ❌ | Classic reference |
| Embedded Linux (Bootlin slides) | Bootlin | ✅ | bootlin.com/training |
Cloud & SRE¶
| Book | Author | Free? | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Site Reliability Engineering | ✅ | sre.google/sre-book | |
| The Site Reliability Workbook | ✅ | sre.google/workbook | |
| Building Secure & Reliable Systems | ✅ | sre.google/books | |
| 12-Factor App | Heroku | ✅ | 12factor.net |
| Kubernetes Up & Running (examples) | Burns et al. | ✅ (code) | github.com/kubernetes-up-and-running |
Languages¶
| Book | Language | Free? | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Rust Book | Rust | ✅ | doc.rust-lang.org/book |
| Go by Example | Go | ✅ | gobyexample.com |
| Eloquent JavaScript | JS | ✅ | eloquentjavascript.net |
| Think Python | Python | ✅ | greenteapress.com/thinkpython2 |
| Modern C | C | ✅ | gustedt.gitlabpages.inria.fr/modern-c |
| learncpp.com | C++ | ✅ | learncpp.com |
| You Don't Know JS | JS | ✅ | github.com/getify/You-Dont-Know-JS |
Physics & Mathematics¶
| Book | Author | Free? | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feynman Lectures on Physics | Feynman | ✅ | feynmanlectures.caltech.edu |
| Linear Algebra Done Right | Sheldon Axler | ✅ | linear.axler.net |
| The Art of HPC | Victor Eijkhout | ✅ | theartofhpc.com |
Cross-references: Starred Repos · All Tracks · Languages