Pointers for Software Engineers 
A curated list of topics to start learning software engineering
Pointers for Software Engineers is a complete open-source computer science curriculum, designed to cover the fundamentals and practical topics of software engineering most relevant to the industry today. Think of it as an alternative or supplement to college or bootcamp education. It aims to serve as a guidebook for beginners planning to make a career transition into software engineering, computer science students looking to expand their practical knowledge, and experienced engineers curious to seek references for other subject matters.
Each topic in this curriculum includes only a single reference for readers to gain familiarity and understanding in a short period of time. Tutorials with clear content structure and hands-on examples are selected over other references. Some would say it is taking a breadth-first search approach to computer science learning.
This curriculum is divided into four major sections: fundamentals, advanced, tracks, and subjects. Fundamentals cover the core part of computer science and are often required as the lower-division courses in universities. Advanced goes more in depth on various computer science subjects and are usually topics discussed in upper-vision university electives. Tracks outline the most common software engineering roles and provide relevant topics for introductory understanding. Subjects offer content for specialization fields researched in corporate research labs and startup initiatives.
If you are just starting, it is recommended to go through the fundamentals in order, then pick a subset of advanced topics to read at will. For the curious ones, use tracks and subjects as references when choosing career options that most interest you.
Table of Contents
- Fundamentals
- CS 101
- Data Structures & Algorithms
- Operating Systems
- Shell, Git, editors, and more
- Advanced
- Web Applications
- Databases
- Programming Languages
- Compilers & Interpreters
- Networking
- Security
- Miscellaneous
- Tracks
- Systems Engineering
- Product Engineering
- Machine Learning & Data Engineering
- Security Engineering
- Game Engineering
- QA Engineering
- Subjects
- Artificial Intelligence
- Blockchain
- Bioinformatics
- Cybersecurity
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Theory
1. Fundamentals
CS 101
- Course: https://www.edx.org/course/cs50s-introduction-to-computer-science
- Python: https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-python-3
Data Structures & Algorithms
- Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/algorithms-part1
- Book: https://livebook.manning.com/book/grokking-algorithms
Operating Systems
- Course: https://www.udacity.com/course/introduction-to-operating-systems--ud923
- Book: http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~remzi/OSTEP
Shell, Git, editors, and more
- Course: https://missing.csail.mit.edu
2. Advanced
Web Applications
- HTML & CSS: http://learn.shayhowe.com/html-css
- jQuery: http://jqfundamentals.com
- Frontend development: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/from-zero-to-front-end-hero-part-1-7d4f7f0bff02
- Backend development: http://blog.miguelgrinberg.com/post/the-flask-mega-tutorial-part-i-hello-world
- Design: https://medium.com/hh-design/design-resources-5071be5f2e43
Databases
- SQL: https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/computer-programming/sql/sql-basics/v/welcome-to-sql
- SQL practice: https://pgexercises.com
- NoSQL: https://www.openmymind.net/mongodb.pdf
- Database systems: http://www.redbook.io
Programming Languages
- JavaScript: http://speakingjs.com/es5/index.html
- Python: http://pymbook.readthedocs.io
- Go: https://gobyexample.com
- C++: https://www.learncpp.com
- Lisp: http://www.gigamonkeys.com/book
- Ruby: http://rubylearning.com/satishtalim/tutorial.html
- Java: https://leanpub.com/aprimeronjava/read
- Scala: http://twitter.github.io/scala_school
- Rust: https://doc.rust-lang.org/book
- PHP: https://phptherightway.com
- Haskell: http://learnyouahaskell.com
- Clojure: http://www.braveclojure.com/clojure-for-the-brave-and-true
Compilers & Interpreters
- Compilers: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Compilers-Principles-Techniques-Alfred-Aho/dp/0201100886
- Interpreters: http://craftinginterpreters.com/contents.html
Networking
- Network programming: http://beej.us/guide/bgnet/html
Security
- Cryptography: https://www.crypto101.io/
- Network security: https://training.apnic.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/12/TSEC01.pdf
Miscellaneous
- Interview preparation: https://leetcode.com
- Design patterns: https://sourcemaking.com/design_patterns
- Linux: https://linuxjourney.com
- Bash: http://www.tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-Guide/html
- Markdown: https://github.com/adam-p/markdown-here/wiki/Markdown-Cheatsheet
- LaTex: https://www.latex-tutorial.com/tutorials
- Algorithms: http://mimoza.marmara.edu.tr/~msakalli/cse706_12/SkienaTheAlgorithmDesignManual.pdf
- Competitive programming: http://www.stanford.edu/class/cs97si
- Mathematical programming: https://projecteuler.net
3. Tracks
Systems Engineering
- System design: https://github.com/donnemartin/system-design-primer
- Site reliability: https://landing.google.com/sre/sre-book/toc/index.html
- Data-intensive systems: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Designing-Data-Intensive-Applications-Reliable-Maintainable/dp/1449373321
- Microservices: https://microservices.io
- Distributed systems: https://github.com/aphyr/distsys-class
- AWS: https://adayinthelifeof.nl//2020/05/20/aws.html
Product Engineering
- React: https://reactjs.org/tutorial/tutorial.html
- React Native: https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/tutorial.html
- API design: https://www.vinaysahni.com/best-practices-for-a-pragmatic-restful-api
- iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/course/developing-ios-11-apps-with-swift/id1309275316
- Android: https://www.udacity.com/course/developing-android-apps--ud853
- Ruby on Rails: https://www.railstutorial.org/book/beginning
- Node: https://www.airpair.com/javascript/node-js-tutorial
Machine Learning & Data Engineering
- Machine learning: https://www.coursera.org/learn/machine-learning
- Data mining: http://guidetodatamining.com
- Data visualization: http://alignedleft.com/tutorials/d3
- TensorFlow: https://www.tensorflow.org/tutorials
- PyTorch: https://pytorch.org/tutorials
Security Engineering
- Security engineering: https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/book.html
- Security checklist: https://www.sqreen.com/checklists/saas-cto-security-checklist
Game Engineering
- Game programming: http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~amitp/gameprog.html
- Game design: http://dl.booktolearn.com/ebooks2/computer/gamedevelopment/9781449337933_designing_games_71f6.pdf
QA Engineering
- Test design: http://dahlan.unimal.ac.id/files/ebooks/2004%20A%20Practitioner's%20Guide%20to%20Software%20Test%20Design_Good.pdf
- Refactoring: http://silab.fon.bg.ac.rs/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Refactoring-Improving-the-Design-of-Existing-Code-Addison-Wesley-Professional-1999.pdf?lang=latxzf
4. Subjects
Artificial Intelligence
- Neural networks and deep learning: http://neuralnetworksanddeeplearning.com/index.html
- Reinforcement learning: https://lilianweng.github.io/lil-log/2018/02/19/a-long-peek-into-reinforcement-learning.html
- OpenCV: https://www.pyimagesearch.com/2018/07/19/opencv-tutorial-a-guide-to-learn-opencv
Blockchain
- Bitcoin: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
- Crypto: https://a16z.com/2018/02/10/crypto-readings-resources
Bioinformatics
- Computational biology: https://open.oregonstate.education/computationalbiology
Cybersecurity
- Digital defense: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=UIvDCgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Human-Computer Interaction
- User interface: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321537351/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0321537351&linkCode=as2&tag=roblov-20
Theory
- Academic paper review: https://blog.acolyer.org
- Corporate research: https://research.google/research-areas
Appendix
Why is a reference chosen over the others for a topic?
References are selected using the following order of criteria:
- Free and available online
- Primers over textbooks
- Learning by examples
- Content coverage on practical applications
How do I contribute?
Pointers for Software Engineers is meant to be an open-source curriculum under continuous updates by the community. All contributions are welcome by simply creating a pull request for review.
May I modify or distribute this project?
This project is released under MIT License. See here for more information.
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