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Wladston Ferreira Filho

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Computer Science Distilled: Learn the Art of Solving Computational Problems

by Wladston Ferreira Filho (Author), Raimondo Pictet (Editor)

1,012 ratings

Part of: Code is Awesome (2 books)

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A walkthrough of computer science concepts you must know. Designed for readers who don't care for academic formalities, it's a fast and easy computer science guide. It teaches the foundations you need to program computers effectively. After a simple introduction to discrete math, it presents common algorithms and data structures. It also outlines the principles that make computers and programming languages work.

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The missing guide to computer science topics every programmer should know Do you know basic coding, but hesitate to tackle big problems? You're not alone. Many programmers don't know how to push computers to their full potential. Computer Science Distilled will teach you the principles of computational problem solving. If you're not sure how your code works, this book will open you the door to programming mastery. It's also a simple reference to be consulted in times of doubt. It will not waste your time with boring academic formalities! The fundamentals of computer science are fun and easy. Let's keep them that way.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Code Energy (January 17, 2017)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 186 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0997316020
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0997316025
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.1 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.4 x 0.5 x 8.4 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #189,706 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #35 in Programming Algorithms
- #39 in Software Design & Engineering
- #190 in Software Development (Books)

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1,012 ratings

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Wladston Ferreira Filho

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Wladston Ferreira Filho is a brazilian programmer who enjoys writing. His first book, "Computer Science Distilled", explains the science of computation in an easy way. His second one, "Computer Science Unleashed" presents concepts programmers leverage to build our digital world, and explains how the Internet works, cybersecurity and data science.

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Customers say

Customers find the book provides a great introduction to computer science core concepts and appreciate its excellent presentation through pseudocode and visuals. Moreover, the book is engaging and fun to read, with one customer noting how the author uses cartoons to illustrate points. However, the pacing receives mixed feedback, with some customers noting it can get oversimplistic.

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Introduction Visual style Fun to read Humor Memory retention Pacing

80 customers mention "Introduction"65 positive15 negative

Customers appreciate the book's thoughtfully laid out introduction to computer science, which serves as a great primer for core concepts and provides lots of information in a concise format.

"I really enjoyed this book, and found the author's writing lucid, engaging, concise, yet technical and informative...." Read more

"...book treads a difficult line perfectly - it's both a useful refresher to CompSci graduates and a solid introduction for those new and interested in..." Read more

"...the rudimentary aspects of subjects like discrete maths, runtime complexity theory, programming strategies, data structures and algorithms, databases..." Read more

"...It has helped me tremendously to strengthen concepts I had trouble with in the past, and the author manages to explain it in a way that's light and..." Read more

9 customers mention "Visual style"9 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the visual style of the book, with one customer highlighting its effective use of colors, charts, and pseudocode to explain concepts.

"...The author tries to liven things up with pleasant visuals and ICT humour that both techies and the general audience can love...." Read more

"...Wladston in my opinion did an outstanding job explaining the concepts through pseudocode and visuals...." Read more

"...It has a nice soft cover, and I like the use of colorful emojis in the examples...." Read more

"...The emojis are cute but add nothing to the book. The examples looked great with colors and charts but unfortunately they did very to little educate...." Read more

7 customers mention "Fun to read"7 positive0 negative

Customers find the book engaging and fun to read.

"...very valuable and engaging. One word of caution is that if you're looking to purchase this book as a means to achieve that "AHA!"..." Read more

"...and the author manages to explain it in a way that's light and entertaining at the same time...." Read more

"...be seeking but instead presents topics in an easy to understand and fun way where you can dive in and learn more about on your own" Read more

"...I found the book easy and fun to read. Also I discovered some concepts that I’d like to explore further...." Read more

3 customers mention "Humor"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the humor in the book, with one mentioning the use of satire images and cartoons to illustrate points.

"...in the book is the authors use of colourful images and cartoons to illustrate his point...." Read more

"...The satire images also helped with the explanation and keeping it fun. Though I wish there were a view more...." Read more

"...Loved this book as the explanations were clear, good and the author's sense of humor 🙂 Highly recommend for everyone who are starting their prep for..." Read more

3 customers mention "Memory retention"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book helpful for memory retention, with one mentioning it serves as a light refresher.

"...with in the past, and the author manages to explain it in a way that's light and entertaining at the same time...." Read more

"...beginners or others coming from other fields, and perhaps also a light refresher, to learn and be introduced to fundamental topics of Computer..." Read more

"A great way to refresh yor memory or take a crash course on the subject. Easy to read, nice examples in pseudo-language...." Read more

5 customers mention "Pacing"0 positive5 negative

Customers criticize the book's pacing, noting that it can be oversimplistic and contains typos, with one customer mentioning mistakes in the basic logic section.

"...My major criticism of this book is that it can oversimplify things at times...." Read more

"...There were some mistakes in the basic logic section. Overall, really disappointing and shallow take on the topic...." Read more

"...There are lots of typos in this book, but they won't prevent you from learning some valuable stuff." Read more

"Everything is presented cursorily and from way too high of a level. Additionally, the pseudocode the author uses is very unintuitive." Read more

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Garrett
Excellent Resource and Jumping-off Point
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2023
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I really enjoyed this book, and found the author's writing lucid, engaging, concise, yet technical and informative. While it doesn't provide every last detail about every topic introduced (important to note that it does not claim to be a comprehensive and exhaustive resource), it provides more than enough information to get a solid grasp on the concept and provides a jumping-off point for further research on whichever topic you'd like to learn more about.

I personally found the chapter on computers (RAM, CPU, hardware, memory, OS, etc.) very valuable and engaging. One word of caution is that if you're looking to purchase this book as a means to achieve that "AHA!" moment with Big O notation, time and space complexity, things of that nature, this probably won't be it. Like I said before, the author provides an excellent starting point to introduce the contained topics, but these in particular will require quite a bit of additional footwork and practice to absorb.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a better resource, whether you're an absolute beginner or a professional already in the field looking to brush up for an interview or deepen your understanding of foundational knowledge. As a point of reference, I'm a self-taught computer engineer who has been employed in the field for 4 years without a formal computer science degree. I picked up this book hoping to identify areas where my knowledge was lacking, and Computer Science Distilled served that purpose beautifully.

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James
One of the best general CompSci books I've ever read
Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2018
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It's no small feat to take a huge number of complex subjects and explain them this clearly. I had a professor at college with this knack of taking abstract and potentially dull ideas and bringing them to life - you have to combine genuine enthusiasm and deep knowledge to pull this off, and Wladston's writing reminds me of those lectures. The book treads a difficult line perfectly - it's both a useful refresher to CompSci graduates and a solid introduction for those new and interested in the subjects.

The breadth of topics is ambitious, the writing style is clear and detailed, while the presentation makes the concepts flow. There is talk in the appendix of a second book in the series and I really hope the author continues since CompSci is a growing collection is ideas, theories and patterns that even seasoned practitioners don't understand fully. I rarely recommend tech books to everyone but this is a must-read for anyone wanting to deepen their knowledge of many of the core subjects.

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Alexander Ahmann
Good overview, but can get a bit oversimplistic at times
Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2021
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This is a pretty good intro to CS in my opinion. It discusses the rudimentary aspects of subjects like discrete maths, runtime complexity theory, programming strategies, data structures and algorithms, databases, computer architecture and programming languages.

One of my favourite themes in the book is the authors use of colourful images and cartoons to illustrate his point. In my opinion (and the opinion of some of my colleagues in the field), computer science textbooks can be a bit dull and boring. The author tries to liven things up with pleasant visuals and ICT humour that both techies and the general audience can love. Another thing that I like about the book is that the author covers many important notions in CS, like greedy algorithms, backtracking, sorting and searching, HashMaps, relational and non-relational databases, and different programming paradigms.

My major criticism of this book is that it can oversimplify things at times. For example, in discussing searching algorithms (5.2), the author briefly touches on linear search and gives a rough sketch of binary search without getting too deep into how their runtime complexity is derived or discussing any implementations in specific languages (though the pseudocode that the author uses is similar to the Python language and this could be to make the book more "timeless"). Nonetheless, I understand that this is an introduction for beginners and the author probably doesn't want to turn them off by going too deep.

I'd give it 4.4/5 stars, great stuff! Can't wait to read the sequel :D

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shortTimer
I would recommend the book for students of any discipline
Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2017
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An easy-to-follow guide through those fundamental principles of computer science that are only hazily grasped or completely unknown to us non-programmers who nevertheless program.

Purists may complain about the author's use of emojis. For only a few hours reading it is remarkable for how much it contains.

I would recommend the book for students of any discipline, including computer science, casual or professional coders in any programming language.

There is a class of reader for whom this book is probably too basic, namely software engineers with a recent academic computer science background.

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16 people found this helpful

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Jose Estrella-Campaña
For Computer Science it doesn't get any better than this
Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2017
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I truly wish this book had existed when I was in school. If you want a painless introduction to the very core of computer science, This is it!
The concepts that are explained in the book are useful for any level, from beginner to advanced in my opinion. It has helped me tremendously to strengthen concepts I had trouble with in the past, and the author manages to explain it in a way that's light and entertaining at the same time.
I'm particularly glad that the author starts from the ground up, with a gentle introduction to the Maths you will need. Very few books (If any) take the trouble of dedicating a couple of chapters to Math alone before diving into how it's used in Computer Science.
The title of the book perfectly summarizes what the author managed to successfully do, which is to 'Distill' every CS concept and present it in a way that's brain-friendly. In Summary, the best introduction to CS you will ever find.

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Franco Parodi
Ottimo prodotto, rispecchia le aspettative, funziona a dovere, come rapporto qualità prezzo direi che è uno tra i migliori che
Reviewed in Italy on July 16, 2018
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Ottimo prodotto, rispecchia le aspettative, funziona a dovere, come rapporto qualità prezzo direi che è uno tra i migliori che ho trovato su internet.

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cuds
Weak binding
Reviewed in Singapore on March 30, 2025
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Weak binding. Few pages are coming off

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cuds

Weak binding

Reviewed in Singapore on March 30, 2025
Weak binding. Few pages are coming off

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Cliente Amazon
Computer Science? This is the BOOK
Reviewed in Spain on August 5, 2017
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Bought this book out of curiosity. My son is in the process of choosing a career and, hey, the world has changed since I studied at University...back then we had two main choices: engineering or programming. Not anymore.

While I worked at Google, a large part of new hires were Computer Scientists. I thought all they did was programming. Nothing further from the truth. I have now discovered what are some of the issues a Computer Scientist deals with.

Wow, did I enjoy this book. Clear, engaging, fun, insightful,....I can't praise it enough!!!! Neither does my son.

For anyone who is looking for a solid, approachable book on this topic. This is it!!! Thanks Wladston

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Luis Fernando Montes Martinez
Excelente
Reviewed in Mexico on July 18, 2023
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Es un buen libro para adentrarse al mundo de la ciencia de la computación

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Luis Fernando Montes Martinez

Excelente

Reviewed in Mexico on July 18, 2023
Es un buen libro para adentrarse al mundo de la ciencia de la computación

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Nicholas Freitas
It's a fantastic Computer Science Primer, get it.
Reviewed in Canada on November 18, 2017
Verified Purchase
What I can say, it's good! If you're reading this, it's likely you'll want more information, ok, so here goes.

The books key strength is introducing complex concepts in computer science in short form. It'll first, mention the topic, explain the logic or math or thought process behind it and then provide a handful of example. It's not a text book, but a primer. For the self taught programmer, or programmer that's received technical training but no advanced University ot conceptual training in software development, this book is a godsend. It introduces you to idea like Permutations and the different kinds of sorting and all kind of different topic. The sort of stuff that you might stumble across while coding something but not really know what to call it in the language of your industry.

A good example for myself, was I was doing challenges over on DailyProgrammer on reddit. I came across a simple challenge. Take the word 'dog' and create an output of every single possible combination of the word. Being a programmer from a technical school, I know how to code but we never really delved deep into the conceptual side of Computer Science. So, I start google "all possible combinations of a string" and low and behold I find some solution. However, after reading this book... I realize that what I was looking for was.. Permutations! Something I was never exposed to at the level I learned Computer Science. Which then opened the door and path to learning a whole lot more. The book is a great place to start if you're a self taught coder, so you know the language and concepts many of your colleagues and computer science professionals use. It also gives you a brief run down of fundamentals for you to know where to start looking when / if you choose to delve deeper into a topic.

In the end, coding is about using math to solve problems and this book is the primer to all those complex topics and it's absolutely definitely worth a read. This book sits next to my copy of Clean Code, another must buy book. Clean Code teaches how to write your code, Computer Science Distilled teaches you how to use code to solve problems.

A little background. I'm a recently graduated computer science student now working in the industry. I've only been working for 4 months, but this book has made a huge difference in my understanding of computer science's more complex topics. When my lead developers talk, I have less difficulty following them because of this book. That alone is worth the price.

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Great book for me and my 8yr old daughter.

Top reviews from the United States

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5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Resource and Jumping-off Point

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best general CompSci books I've ever read

4.0 out of 5 stars Good overview, but can get a bit oversimplistic at times

5.0 out of 5 stars I would recommend the book for students of any discipline

5.0 out of 5 stars For Computer Science it doesn't get any better than this

Top reviews from other countries

5.0 out of 5 stars Ottimo prodotto, rispecchia le aspettative, funziona a dovere, come rapporto qualità prezzo direi che è uno tra i migliori che

2.0 out of 5 stars Weak binding

Weak binding

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5.0 out of 5 stars Computer Science? This is the BOOK

5.0 out of 5 stars Excelente

Excelente

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5.0 out of 5 stars It's a fantastic Computer Science Primer, get it.

Excellent Resource and Jumping-off Point

One of the best general CompSci books I've ever read

Good overview, but can get a bit oversimplistic at times

I would recommend the book for students of any discipline

For Computer Science it doesn't get any better than this

Ottimo prodotto, rispecchia le aspettative, funziona a dovere, come rapporto qualità prezzo direi che è uno tra i migliori che

Weak binding

Computer Science? This is the BOOK

Excelente

It's a fantastic Computer Science Primer, get it.