From: hal@rain.org
Date: Wed May 12 1999 - 11:53:44 MDT
Anders Sandberg, <asa@nada.kth.se>, writes:
> "Chandra Patel" <chandrapa@hotmail.com> writes:
> > On the physics side I'm starting with Feynman's lecture
> > series.
>
> A good idea. A very good series.
We used this series in college. With Feynman I often found that the
chapters were easy to read and it seemed like I was following him, but
it was hard to apply what I had learned. I seem to recall that there
was a separate book of exercises, perhaps by Leighton, cross-referenced
to his chapters? I can't seem to find it online. Maybe available from
the Caltech bookstore.
> > If anyone has any recommendations for good introductions to
> > relativity, quantum mechanics, and other topics please let me know.
>
> I wonder if Misner, Thorne, Wheeler _Gravitation_ is worth reading for
> you. I like it and it is a standard book, but some may have different
> opinions and I'm not sure about the intro potential. Anyway, it is
> likely not worth reading until you have the basic physics clear.
The MTW Gravitation is nice because it is marked into two tracks, and you
can stick with track one which gives you a good feel for the subject.
More accessible though is Spacetime Physics, by Taylor and Wheeler, which
discusses special relativity. Like the MTW book it takes a geometric
approach. It turns out that velocity boosts are exactly the same as
coordinate axis rotations, except using hyperbolic geometry rather
than Euclidian. They have a lot of exercises to help pin down your
understanding, including discussions of many of the traditional paradoxes.
> > I'm also interested in sharpening my programming skills which have been
> > isolated mainly to BASIC and QBASIC at this point. What computer languages
> > are best for beginning my trek toward Coding Deity status? There seem to be
> > lots of options and my teachers and friends have no ideas about where to
> > start.
>
> Like the others, I think C is worth knowing. Pascal - well, it is good
> for you, but in my opinion it tastes bad :-) Once you understand C, I
> would suggest going directly to Java, C++ is in my opinion a bit too
> messy.
I agree that C++ is too messy and that Java is superior. Personally I
would start with Java since that way you are working with objects from
the beginning; you would find it easy to then move to C since the syntax
is 80% the same. Plus with Java you can make cool web applets from the
start. I'm not sure what the best Java development system is though;
it would depend on your host. But there are a lot of recommendations
online.
I'm sure you'll do well whatever path you follow. It sounds like you
are off to a great start. Don't forget to spend some time enjoying
life; learning is fun but there are a lot of other fun things to do in
your teens.
Hal
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