Chapter 13: Moving on From Here

Overview

Congratulations on getting this far. You should now have a basis for understanding the issues involved in many areas of programming. Even if you never use assembly language again, you have gained a valuable perspective and mental framework for understanding the rest of computer science.

There are essentially three methods to learn to program:

• From the Bottom Up - This is how this book teaches. It starts with low-level programming, and works toward more generalized teaching.

• From the Top Down - This is the opposite direction. This focuses on what you want to do with the computer, and teaches you how to break it down more and more until you get to the low levels.

• From the Middle - This is characterized by books which teach a specific programming language or API. These are not as concerned with concepts as they are with specifics.

Different people like different approaches, but a good programmer takes all of them into account. The bottom-up approaches help you understand the machine aspects, the top-down approaches help you understand the problem-area aspects, and the middle approaches help you with practical questions and answers. To leave any of these aspects out would be a mistake.

Computer Programming is a vast subject. As a programmer, you will need to be prepared to be constantly learning and pushing your limits. These books will help you do that. They not only teach their subjects, but also teach various ways and methods of thinking. As Alan Perlis said, "A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming is not worth knowing" (http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/perlis-alan/quotes.html). If you are constantly looking for new and better ways of doing and thinking, you will make a successful programmer. If you do not seek to enhance yourself, "A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest - and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man." (Proverbs 24:33-34 NIV). Perhaps not quite that severe, but still, it is best to always be learning.

These books were selected because of their content and the amount of respect they have in the computer science world. Each of them brings something unique. There are many books here. The best way to start would be to look through online reviews of several of the books, and find a starting point that interests you.