The Annotated Turing
The Annotated Turing by Charles Petzoldby Charles Petzold
Ranked 6 of 7 computer science books by recommenders
Recommended as an accessible, insightful walk through Turing's 1936 paper on computable numbers, mixing biography with technical analysis; no criticism appeared in the quotes.
Recommended as an accessible, insightful walk through Turing's 1936 paper on computable numbers, mixing biography with technical analysis; no criticism appeared in the quotes.
5 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Mixes biography with technical analysis
“I didn't know you could meaningfully intertwine biography and technical analysis like that.”
Comment from 16 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: What is the most career altering course or book you have gone through?” Changed reader's path into computer science
“got me into CS vs. prior interest mainly in EE”
Comment from 15 Mar 2026 in “The Appalling Stupidity of Spotify's AI DJ” Described as great
“The Annotated Turing is great.”
Comment from 13 Aug 2026 in “Principia Mathematica is modern and insightful”
Other computer science books people recommend
The four most recommended other computer science books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Garbage Collection Handbookby Jones, Hosking and Moss | 16 | 5 | 76% | 4 | — | Approved |
| Beej's Guide to Learning Computer Scienceby Brian Hall | 15 | 2 | 88% | 1 | — | — |
| Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Softwareby Charles Petzold | 12 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| The Unix-Haters Handbookby Garfinkel, Weise and Strassmann | 8 | 1 | 89% | 4 | — | — |
| The Annotated Turingby Charles PetzoldThis page | 5 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
4 of the 5 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I didn't know you could meaningfully intertwine biography and technical analysis like that.”
“The Annotated Turing is great.”
“The Annotated Turing by Charles Petzold.”
“got me into CS vs. prior interest mainly in EE”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.