The Art of Multiprocessor Programming
The Art of Multiprocessor Programming by Herlihy and Shavitby Herlihy and Shavit
Shares rank 19 of 28 computer science textbooks by recommenders
People recommend it as a classic starting point for concurrent programming, with examples in Java. Critics say it is very theoretical and skips practical performance on real hardware.
People recommend it as a classic starting point for concurrent programming, with examples in Java. Critics say it is very theoretical and skips practical performance on real hardware.
4 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 3
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 75%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 3 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 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
Classic starting point for concurrency
“a good starting point for concurrent programming”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Book review: Is parallel programming hard, and, if so, what can you do about it?” “The classic must-study book.”
Comment from 14 Nov 2025 in “Ask HN: How to learn concurrency?” Includes examples in Java
“It includes examples in Java”
Comment from 14 Nov 2025 in “Ask HN: How to learn concurrency?”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Very theoretical, no hardware performance
“It is very theoretical. There is no mention of practical performance considerations on real hardware.”
Comment from 17 Nov 2025 in “Ask HN: How to learn concurrency?”
Other computer science textbooks people recommend
The four most recommended other computer science textbooks, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programsby Abelson and Sussman | 55 | 5 | 92% | 12 | — | Approved |
| The Art of Computer Programmingby Donald E. Knuth | 28 | 6 | 82% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programsby Abelson and Sussman | 12 | 0 | 100% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Quantum Computation and Quantum Informationby Nielsen and Chuang | 12 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| The Art of Multiprocessor Programmingby Herlihy and ShavitThis page | 3 | 1 | 75% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
All 4 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“a good starting point for concurrent programming”
“It is very theoretical. There is no mention of practical performance considerations on real hardware.”
“It includes examples in Java”
“The classic must-study book.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.