# Beej's Guide to Learning Computer Science by Brian Hall

15 Hacker News commenters recommended Beej's Guide to Learning Computer Science by Brian Hall and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 1 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Praised as a long-standing reference that helps people approach coding problems and learn C and networking. Critics say it teaches how to learn rather than computer science itself.

## Why people recommend it

- Taught C and networking basics (3 comments): "Would never have looked into C if it wasn't for beejs guide" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46118247)) "I also passed my Networking course thanks to his guide" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46119618)) "Beej taught me networking in c in the early 00s." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46117694))
- Teaches how to approach problems (2 comments): "I see it as "learning how to learn", not directly learning itself like a curriculum." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46117940)) "these don't feel like computer science, and rather how to approach coding problems" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46118683))
- Helped people actually learn material (2 comments): "this is the first guide that I know the material! I have "learned computer science" (somewhat)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46117614)) "an extremely good read at the time. Learnt so much." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46120365))
- Trusted reference for many years (2 comments): "Beej has been a stable reference for me for decades" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46120336)) "I'm sure this one is as good as all the others" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46118458))

## What people warn about

- Not really computer science content (3 comments): "these don't feel like computer science, and rather how to approach coding problems" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46118683)) "it seemed to be more of a learning how to learn CS book" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46102760)) "it's not a guide to computer science" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46118770))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Garbage Collection Handbook by Jones, Hosking and Moss](https://hackerapproved.com/p/garbage-collection-handbook.md): 16 recommend
- [Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold](https://hackerapproved.com/p/code-the-hidden-language-of-computer-hardware-and-software.md): 12 recommend
- [The Unix-Haters Handbook by Garfinkel, Weise and Strassmann](https://hackerapproved.com/p/unix-haters-handbook.md): 8 recommend
- [Code by Charles Petzold](https://hackerapproved.com/p/code.md): 7 recommend
- [The Annotated Turing by Charles Petzold](https://hackerapproved.com/p/annotated-turing.md): 5 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Beej%27s+Guide+to+Learning+Computer+Science&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Beej's Guide to Learning Computer Science by Brian Hall", https://hackerapproved.com/p/beej-s-guide-to-learning-computer-science/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).