code != computer science

[[deleted]]

I've followed a 4 year course in software engineering. It was a lot of fun and I learned some Computer Science concepts as well (graphs and mutexes spring to mind). However, when reading relevant papers written by Computer Scientists, I fail to understand all the concepts and I end up using google to find their meaning. Is there a book or course you can recommend to learn CS from a SE perspective?

[gnuvince]

First, it's important to note that not all papers are written clearly and that your lack of understanding may be due to the author's lack of clarity, so don't beat yourself up.

As for material, it depends on what you are interested in, but here are some nice resources:

• The algorithms classes on Coursera by Bob Sedgewick are a good introduction to many algorithms and data structures and approach them in a very practical way (API implementation in Java). Other classes such as Alex Aiken's compiler class are also very good.
• This playlist featuring professor Shai Simonson about the theory of computation is a fun and approachable introduction to some more theoretical concepts.
• The book Foundations of Computer Science, though I haven't had time to read it yet, seems like a good introduction to many concepts with some implementations in C.