Source for open-source textbooks for computer science?

My soon-to-defend Ph.D. student, Theresa Migler, pointed me to the Open Textbook Initiative by AIM, with the question as to whether a similar resource exists or is in development for computer science.  I am now forwarding that question to you.

The Open Textbook Initiative looks awesome.  It is more than just a collection of textbooks that are available freely.  The textbooks are vetted against a set of reasonable criteria, including (but not limited to):

  • able to serve as the primary text in a mainstream mathematics course at the undergraduate level in U.S. colleges and universities
  • have exercises
  • be class-tested and have been used (and be in current use) by faculty other than the author

I think this is a great direction to go in.  Peer-reviewed and peer-tested classroom resources, available freely to all.  These are exactly the types of resources I limit myself to for my courses (although, it isn’t a limit of quality).  Currently I use:

All of these, I think, meet the OTI criteria.  Do we have a similar group that vets open textbooks in CS?

 

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4 thoughts on “Source for open-source textbooks for computer science?

  1. aravind

    Thanks for this post! Inspired by it, I will use only freely-available material for my Fall ’14 algorithms class. An additional excellent resource I have found is Kevin Wayne’s set of slides that support (primarily) the Kleinberg-Tardos book. (I like the K-T book a lot, but am waiting for the upcoming version that will be quite a bit cheaper.)

    1. Glencora Borradaile Post author

      Wow! That’s great, Aravind! I am sure your students will appreciate it.

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