Python scripting for computational science is an unusually good textbook. The author goes straight to the point without beating around the bush and the book is full of simple to understand examples. There are three things to be aware of before buying this book. First of all it's written for people who are into computational science. In other words not a good choice for those who simply want to learn Python. If that's your goal there are much better choices available.Read more »»

If you actually want to learn syntactic theory this is a good book. However, it's main focus would be for machine use. The methods presented are typical "paper and pencil" methods but are quite similar to the LKB language. You will, however, not learn anything about algorithms by reading this book.

The language is compact and dull and the use of footnotes is extreme. It's amazing that it actually is possible to put that many footnotes in a single book. The examples are plentiful and because of the huge font often span over a large number of pages.Read more »»

This book covers everything from the mundane, like how the file explorer in Windows XP works, to the complex, like how the scheduler works in UNIX-systems. It obviously been written to give the impression of a easy reader. There is a lot of padding between the facts, and quite often a fact that could be presented in one sentence has been dedicated a whole paragraph. Thus this is not the book for people who want to learn things fast. It probably is a good book for beginners though.

The book is filled with illustrations.Read more »»

Learning GNU emacs is the best textbook available teaching emacs - the best editor there is. Both beginners and experienced emacs users will find this book useful. Here you get everything from the simple introduction to emacs to more advanced topics. The book is far from covering all of the topics regarding emacs, but such a book would be larger than the worlds largest book. Still you learn enough that after reading this book you can call yourself an advanced emacs user.Read more »»

This is something as unusual as a sucsessful Norwegian computer book. The authors have done a great job writing this book. It's very informative, you learn what you need to learn and it's very easy to read. It's not full of "embarrassing" words like Norwegian computer books normally are. The authors obviously have put a lot of effort into finding good Norwegian words that work.

You will not find lot of "padding material" like you normally find in this type of computer books. It gets right down to business, explains the things you need to know, nothing less, nothing more.Read more »»

"C Programming Language" is a book you either will love or hate. The style of writing is quite special, but it's quite obvious that the book was written by people who really know what they were talking about (Ritchie founded the language). The book goes right to the point and takes you step by step through the process of learning C. And you definitely learn C.

However, there are several disadvantages with this book. First of all the book is quite vague on certain areas, and at times it's impossible to understand without referring to other sources.Read more »»

The main message of this book is, as of today, probably more relevant in the States than in Norway. Being an atheist is more accepted in our society than the societies this book probably is aimed at. Still it’s probably a good idea to be reminded of some of Dawkins arguments. If nothing else this is a great book you can use to awaken your own thoughts and attitudes and perhaps gain more insight on the topic. Perhaps it can even help you establish why you have the attitudes you have.Read more »»

“Programming perl” is a book any perl programmer must have on his or her shelf. The book is written as a textbook and takes you from the simplest introduction to perl to hyperadvanced stuff like writing your own perl modules in C or using perl scripting in your own software.

Regardless the book also functions surprisingly well as a reference. The book is funny in the good O’Reilly tradition. We often recognize the examples from TV like The Simpsons, Star Wars, The Flintstones, etc.Read more »»