Best products from r/OMSCS

Congrats! She will need LOTS of your support, making her free time about 2~3 hrs per day would be the best gift you can ever give her for the next 2~3 years. If you don't know how to cook, wash the dishes, do the laundry, changing diaper, ... start to learn them LOL

Other than that, It depends on how much you want to spend:


- In the range of $300, I would definitely recommend a good wireless headphone (as other people mentioned already) like Bose QuietComfort. I've got one for Father's day two years ago, and that was the most useful gift I've got.Two points about headphones:
1- Even if you want to go with other brand, make sure to get the "Around the Ear" and not "Over the Ear", you will see the difference when using long hours.
2- Keep in mind some people (including my wife) are not comfortable with noise cancelling feature of the headphone and they feel dizzy or will have queasy or motion sickness feeling specially if they use it long time. You won't know it until she use it, but make sure you can either return or exchange the item. If that is the case I can recommend Bose SoundLink II.

- In the range of $500, I would definitely recommend a 30"x60" adjustable desk. There were numerous time, even if with having comfortable chair, I couldn't sit anymore! and I wished I could have stand up and continue studying! Don't go with smaller than 60" length since she has two monitors.

The book that really helped me prepare for CS 6505 this fall was Discrete Mathematics with Applications by Susanna Epp. I found it easy to digest and it seemed to line up well with the needed knowledge to do well in the course.

Richard Hammack's Book of Proof also proved invaluable. Because so much of your success in the class relies on your ability to do proofs, strengthening those skills in advance will help.

Yet another Windows user here:

I bought this Lenovo in 2015:
http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Y40-80-Laptop-i7-5500U-Display/dp/B00SBVIEM6/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1440199533&sr=1-2&keywords=lenovo+y40+512

Not the most impressive laptop, but 512GB SSD is nice. Also I bought 8gb additional RAM, for a total 16gb. Intel i7

The ram is nice for running several VMs at once (tbh, that hasn't happen much in OMSCS classes). It is also good enough for running ML experiments (although I regret not buying a laptop with an NVIDIA GPU)

I love how it's very portable (14'' form factor)

YMMV, etc. In short: Windows just works.

I learned C in college with this book, but I highly doubt it's the best way to learn the language: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0131103628
I haven't used C since college, so hopefully someone else like /u/tphb3 can chime in with a better answer for you.
Edit: Just realized he said "Read K&R" (which is the book I linked to).

Needing an understanding of things such as computer networks will again come down to your course selection. How solid is your math?

thanks.

any particular python book, course, lecture video, or combination of?

I was looking for a python book, not for a beginner programmer, but for someone with already knowledge of C, C++, java. when I went through those courses, the deitel & deitel books were good, I see this one, but don't know if its the right fit. maybe so, if it will be thorough and will be a reference book later on

I presume this is the book you are referring to, correct? this

It seems pretty old, considering they have 10th anniversary editions out. Is it still regarded as one of the better textbooks out there for this subject matter today?

I bought this book to help:
https://www.amazon.com/Manga-Guide-Linear-Algebra/dp/1593274130/

And did a lot of youtube research watching videos on related stuff. This was a tough course. :)

I have a Zenbook that I bought last year. Works wonderfully.

Every few months, it's on sale for $600 if you check on slickdeals.

I did IOS for my first course (non-CS engineering undergrad, mostly Python and JavaScript programming, limited C). I worked through the bulk of The C Programming Language (https://www.amazon.com/Programming-Language-2nd-Brian-Kernighan/dp/0131103628) before taking the course and, on that basis, it was manageable. Hard, but manageable. I also learned a tonne and enjoyed it a lot, though the second project nearly killed me.

I think IOS is a great introduction to the program, iff you can get through some C programming beforehand...

Logitech C270

I have an older model of this and it works well enough. It's on sale for $20 as well, so that's good.

Machine Learning, Mitchell

https://www.amazon.com/Machine-Learning-Tom-M-Mitchell/dp/0070428077

Reinforcement Learning, Sutton & Barto

https://www.amazon.com/Reinforcement-Learning-Introduction-Adaptive-Computation/dp/0262193981

Artificial Intelligence, Norvig & Russell

https://www.amazon.com/Artificial-Intelligence-Modern-Approach-3rd/dp/0136042597

7641 Machine Learning: If you're planning to use R, buy Lantz' book, and read it cover-to-cover. You'll be glad you did.

Machine Learning with R - Second Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/1784393908/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_XoCGwbQPQG497

This poster


Hang in There Baby Cat Retro Motivational Cool Wall Decor Art Print Poster 12x18 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077VXSZ8Q/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_5Dd3Db96FP80S

At Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Security-Principles-Practice-4th/dp/0134794109/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

If you have problems with probability take the MITx probability class on edX. That is as good as it can get as a EECS probability class. It teaches you tons of stuff but assumes nothing but multivariable calculus from you. If you have time, read Introduction to Probability by the class instructors.

Note the class alone is a huge time sink.

I'm finding this one useful for the ML class:

https://www.amazon.com/Hands-Machine-Learning-Scikit-Learn-TensorFlow/dp/1491962291

The suggested textbook. Authors' initials. This one (don't know if correct edition). https://www.amazon.com/Algorithms-Sanjoy-Dasgupta/dp/0073523402

Have a look at this book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NYBRH30/ref=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o02_?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I find the short guide on C the author has in the appendix to be very handy especially if you already know programming. Otherwise, K &R as /u/onetyone suggested.