The Computer Always Wins
A Playful Introduction to Algorithms Through Puzzles and Strategy Games
MIT Press · Print & ebook · April 29, 2025
An engaging and approachable resource for beginning-to-intermediate coders eager to learn advanced ideas in computer programming.
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- Who it’s for
- Learn programming concepts through familiar word, board, and strategy games, from recursion to machine learning.
- Themes
- Algorithms through games, Recursion and efficient search, Machine learning
- Genres
- Algorithms, Computer Science, Game Dev
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Start with this bookAbout this book
An engaging and approachable resource for beginning-to-intermediate coders eager to learn advanced ideas in computer programming. In The Computer Always Wins, Elliot Lichtman will teach you some of computer science’s most powerful concepts in a refreshingly accessible way: exploring them through word games, board games, and strategy games you already know.
Continue reading
Learn recursion by playing tic-tac-toe, efficient search through puzzle games like sudoku and Wordle, and machine learning by way of the playground classic rock-paper-scissors. Finish the book, and you’ll come away with not only a deeper understanding of these foundational programming techniques but also a new appreciation for the amazing feats that can be accomplished using simple, readable code.
Programming Through Games
Learn programming concepts through familiar word, board, and strategy games, from recursion to machine learning.
Come here for
- Recursion through tic-tac-toe
- Efficient search through sudoku and Wordle
Expect
- Tic-tac-toe for recursion
- Rock-paper-scissors as a route into machine learning
Where it sits
| Computer Science | 58% |
|---|---|
| Game Dev | 44% |
| Algorithms | 37% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Game Dev
- Algorithms
- EdTech
- Authors
- Elliot Lichtman
- Publisher
- MIT Press
- Published
- April 29, 2025
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Algorithms through games · Recursion and efficient search · Machine learning
- Reading lane
- Game Dev