r/computerscience • • 18d ago

Advice “Modern” Intro Books

I am currently reading Complexity: A Guided Tour by Melanie Mitchell and since it was published in 2009, I am wondering if there are more “modern”/“up-to-date” intro books.

18 Upvotes

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8

u/nuclear_splines PhD, Data Science 18d ago

I'd recommend Hiroki Sayama's Introduction to the Modeling and Analysis of Complex Systems over Mitchell's (excellent!) book for someone getting into the field now.

4

u/Competitive_Aside461 18d ago

Intro books related to complexity? or just in general computer science?

3

u/No-Leopard-1691 18d ago

Systems theory, complexity, networks and information, etc.

4

u/Competitive_Aside461 18d ago

Computer Science: A Programmer's Perspective is a good book, covering a lot of this information, especially from the lens of C.

2

u/ignacioMendez 17d ago

that has nothing to do with the topics OP is asking about

1

u/Competitive_Aside461 17d ago

Have you read the book?

2

u/faintcurrent 17d ago

Mitchell also teaches a free Introduction to Complexity course on Complexity Explorer, which is more current than the book. For networks, Barabasis Network Science is free to read online.