# Communicating Sequential Processes by Tony Hoare

4 Hacker News commenters recommended Communicating Sequential Processes by Tony Hoare and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as a simple, foundational text on designing reliable concurrent systems, and as an accessible read for newcomers to computer science research.

## Why people recommend it

- Foundation for reliable concurrent system design (2 comments): "It seemed to be a foundational piece for designing reliable systems that incorporate concurrency in them." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47326703)) "cpsbook.pdf too from Hoare on concurrent programming and threads" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46945421))
- Simple, expandable, influential language constructs (1 comments): "I really enjoyed it's simplicity, expandability, and was always amazed that it inspired and influenced language constructs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47325033))
- Good read for new researchers (1 comments): "a great read when I was new to computer science research" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47327805))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Garbage Collection Handbook by Jones, Hosking and Moss](https://hackerapproved.com/p/garbage-collection-handbook.md): 16 recommend
- [Beej's Guide to Learning Computer Science by Brian Hall](https://hackerapproved.com/p/beej-s-guide-to-learning-computer-science.md): 15 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

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0131532715?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780131532717) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Communicating Sequential Processes by Tony Hoare", https://hackerapproved.com/p/communicating-sequential-processes/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).