Any book that has the name of a language in the title is not essential. The first book, for anyone who wishes to write software, should be a language neutral data structures book, to help learn the basics. Knuth is great, in parts, but it's not a beginners book. I'd recommend starting with something like "Data Structures and Their Algorithms" by Harry R. Lewis.
While working you're way though the book, pick a
simple language, with a clean syntax, like python, with which to try out the concepts. Most "real" languages are unnecessarily complex for learning the things which beginners really need to know.
The second book should be an overview of the different types of languages that exist.
Slashdot Mirror
Any book that has the name of a language in the title is not essential. The first book, for anyone who wishes to write software, should be a language neutral data structures book, to help learn the basics. Knuth is great, in parts, but it's not a beginners book. I'd recommend starting with something like "Data Structures and Their Algorithms" by Harry R. Lewis.
While working you're way though the book, pick a simple language, with a clean syntax, like python, with which to try out the concepts. Most "real" languages are unnecessarily complex for learning the things which beginners really need to know.
The second book should be an overview of the different types of languages that exist.