<p>I've never taken any computer science, and I've heard that this class is tough, especially if you have no experience. So I was thinking about buying a book just to familiarize myself with the material, but I have no idea what to buy or even what language the course is instructed in. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>C++ Primer Plus by Stephen Prata is an excellent choice...</p>
<p>or just buy the textbook used for CS 31 by UCLA...I believe it's Absolute C++ by Walter Savitch (2nd Edition)</p>
<p>CS 31 is the easiest of a trifecta of weeder classes. It's taught in C++, and out of the four C++ books I've used, my CS 31 textbook (Absolute C++ by Prof. Savitch at UCSD) turned out to be the best. They might have changed the book, though. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>You won't be the only one to have no programming experience in CS 31, but you will be in a minority. Two of my roommates are EE majors (I'm guessing that you are too) and had no prior programming experience but both were able to pass the class. The CS professors they have teaching this class are excellent, though I'd avoid Rohr if you can. Smallberg and Nachenberg are excellent but I'm not sure Nachenberg is lecturing anymore. Definitely take advantage of professors and TAs office hours for this class especially. I also agree that the Absolute C++ book used in this class is pretty solid, much better than most engineering texts I've had. Most of them are barely readable, but this book actually makes as a good reference.</p>
<p>I still recommend C++ Primer Plus...although I haven't used Savitch's Absolute C++ I did look over his "Problem Solving with C++: The Object of Programming" which I thought was horrible....o well. here's what I would get...</p>
<p>C++ Primer Plus
Accelerated C++</p>