Beej's Guide to Learning Computer Science
Beej's Guide to Learning Computer Science by Brian Hallby Brian Hall
Ranked 2 of 7 computer science books by recommenders
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.
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.
17 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 15
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 88%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: 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: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 15 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 7.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 1 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
Taught C and networking basics
“Would never have looked into C if it wasn't for beejs guide”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “Beej's Guide to Learning Computer Science” “I also passed my Networking course thanks to his guide”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “Beej's Guide to Learning Computer Science” “Beej taught me networking in c in the early 00s.”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “Beej's Guide to Learning Computer Science” Teaches how to approach problems
“I see it as "learning how to learn", not directly learning itself like a curriculum.”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “Beej's Guide to Learning Computer Science” “these don't feel like computer science, and rather how to approach coding problems”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “Beej's Guide to Learning Computer Science” Helped people actually learn material
“this is the first guide that I know the material! I have "learned computer science" (somewhat)”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “Beej's Guide to Learning Computer Science” “an extremely good read at the time. Learnt so much.”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “Beej's Guide to Learning Computer Science” Trusted reference for many years
“Beej has been a stable reference for me for decades”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “Beej's Guide to Learning Computer Science” “I'm sure this one is as good as all the others”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “Beej's Guide to Learning Computer Science”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Not really computer science content
“these don't feel like computer science, and rather how to approach coding problems”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “Beej's Guide to Learning Computer Science” “it seemed to be more of a learning how to learn CS book”
Comment from 1 Dec 2025 in “Beej's Guide to Learning Computer Science” “it's not a guide to computer science”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “Beej's Guide to Learning Computer Science”
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 HallThis page | 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 | — | — |
| Codeby Charles Petzold | 7 | 1 | 88% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
15 of the 17 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Big fan of the single-page and widescreen!”
“an extremely good read at the time. Learnt so much.”
“Beej has been a stable reference for me for decades”
“I also passed my Networking course thanks to his guide”
“Poor name aside it isn't terrible advice for what it is.”
“it's not a guide to computer science”
“these don't feel like computer science, and rather how to approach coding problems”
“I'm sure this one is as good as all the others”
“Would never have looked into C if it wasn't for beejs guide”
“I see it as "learning how to learn", not directly learning itself like a curriculum.”
“is this a guide to Computer Science or to Software Engineering?”
“Beej taught me networking in c in the early 00s.”
“this is the first guide that I know the material! I have "learned computer science" (somewhat)”
“I suspect this is the same (even before I've read it thoroughly)”
“it seemed to be more of a learning how to learn CS book”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.