Software Foundations
Software Foundations by Benjamin Pierce et al.by Benjamin Pierce et al.
Shares rank 11 of 28 computer science textbooks by recommenders
Recommended as a friendly introduction to proof assistants and Rocq, and as one of the best resources for learning Rocq. Its coverage of intuitionistic logic is also praised.
Recommended as a friendly introduction to proof assistants and Rocq, and as one of the best resources for learning Rocq. Its coverage of intuitionistic logic is also praised.
5 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: 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 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, 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
Good introduction to proof assistants
“doubles as an introduction to Rocq and also an introduction to intuitionistic logic”
Comment from 3 Oct 2026 in “Anatomy of a Lean proof for software engineers” “If you want to get in to proof assistants Software Foundations is great”
Comment from 31 Oct 2026 in “AI, Lean, and the Future of Formal Verification, with Lean Creator Leo de Moura” “one of the best resources to learn Rocq”
Comment from 7 Apr 2026 in “Rocq 9.2.0 Released” Praised as a top learning resource
“An absolutely amazing tutorial and probably the best resource out there.”
Comment from 12 Mar 2026 in “Lf-lean: The frontier of verified software engineering” “one of the best resources to learn Rocq”
Comment from 7 Apr 2026 in “Rocq 9.2.0 Released”
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 | — | — |
| Software Foundationsby Benjamin Pierce et al.This page | 5 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
All 5 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“If you want to get in to proof assistants Software Foundations is great”
“doubles as an introduction to Rocq and also an introduction to intuitionistic logic”
“Oh it's by Benjamin Pierce's team too that inspires much more confidence lol”
“one of the best resources to learn Rocq”
“An absolutely amazing tutorial and probably the best resource out there.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.