A Fortran coloring book
by Roger Emanuel Kaufman · first published 1978
50% recommend50% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Playful, illustrated introduction to FORTRAN programming from the late 1970s. It teaches the basics in a patient, hands-on way, works well as a supplement to a class, and remains amusing to read today.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
A whimsical introduction to the FORTRAN programming language, presented as a tongue-in-cheek coloring book. Despite (or perhaps because of) its unconventional nature, it's generally regarded as one of the best FORTRAN textbooks ever written.
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If you like this sort of thing, here are some others in a similar humorous style for other languages. 1. Kaufman, Roger. A FORTRAN Coloring Book (probably the first funny programming book -- from 1978). 2. Lipovača, Miran. Learn You A Haskell for Great Good. 3. Hebert, Fred. Learn You Some Erlang for Great Good (inspired by the Haskell book).…
on “Land of Lisp (2010)” ↗In a previous century I learned to program using Roger Kaufman's "A FORTRAN Coloring Book". It uses a very similar technique (and style!). Here is a link to the internet archive: https://archive.org/stream/9780262610261
on “How to teach technical concepts with cartoons” ↗Maybe A FORTRAN Coloring Book http://www.seas.gwu.edu/~kaufman1/FortranColoringBook/Colori... (I can't be sure since I got my copy long after I'd learned FORTRAN and wasn't using it anymore, but it looked OK or better).
on “Ask HN: Your favorite guide/learn-to” ↗Despite high interest in learning to program, I was confused and bored in my first (FORTRAN) programming course. Browsing at the local bookstore I found 'The FORTRAN Coloring Book' and took it home. Kaufman's approach unlocked some kind of door for me, and the effort of going to find my own resources did as well. Forty years on, 'The Fortran Coloring Book' sits on the shelf next…
on “Ask HN: The book that did it for you in math and/or CS?” ↗I was hoping this would be something like the Fortran Coloring Book (link below) - although it is indeed funny to see what remains the same 40 years later. http://www.seas.gwu.edu/~kaufman1/FortranColoringBook/Colori...
on “In the 1960s, Adult Coloring Books Were Radical Texts” ↗The FORTRAN Coloring Book is quite the amusing little programming book for the late 70s. https://www2.seas.gwu.edu/~kaufman1/FortranColoringBook/Colo... What makes it even more amusing is that people on this forum, even if they…
on “Technical Time Travel: On Vintage Programming Books” ↗'A Fortran Coloring Book', Kaufmann (MIT Press) 'Starting Forth', and 'Thinking Forth' by Leo Brodie. I'd say the 'Head First' books are modern equivalents with a similar spirit.
on “Ask HN: What language-agnostic programming books should I read?” ↗I credit 'A FORTRAN Coloring Book' with saving my first computing class, long, long ago. I bought it as a supplement to the textbook and lectures, as the lightbulb wasn't quite coming on for me through those. Among other things, the book…
on “How to teach technical concepts with cartoons” ↗…230-244. scans at https://www.digibarn.com/collections/books/xerox-parc-1970-8... Programming Your Own Computer, in Science Year, The World Book Annual Science Supplement, 183-195. (Chicago, Ill., 1978). Fortran Coloring Book https://archive.org/details/9780262610261 BASIC Cookbook https://archive.org/details/Basic_Cookbook_1978_Tab_Books and later, in 1984, the Smalltalk-80: The Language and Its Implementation (the Blue…
on “Ask HN: The book that did it for you in math and/or CS?” ↗…was pretty forward looking at the time. I did take a FORTRAN course in college which people would consider very rudimentary today. This was the textbook :-) https://openlibrary.org/works/OL6795090W/A_Fortran_coloring_... But I didn't really use a computer to speak of (other than as a text editor in grad school) until I was working--and later got into programming as a hobby.
on “Software Engineering Grads Lack the Skills Startups Need” ↗Roger Kaufman's FORTRAN Coloring Book was published by MIT press in 1978.
on “Show HN: A coloring book of data structures and algorithms” ↗"A FORTRAN Coloring Book" - http://www.amazon.com/FORTRAN-Coloring-Book-Roger-Kaufman/dp...
on “Coloring books are suddenly catching on with adults” ↗…company while in grad school was the first place I got to play with Fortran. It seems like Python is becoming the common language for researchers in a variety of fields -- ML, etc. I still have the Fortran Coloring Book around somewhere.
on “Practical Python for Astronomers” ↗I don't think the jokey book-long tutorial is a new phenomenon. I learned Fortran in the 80s from the Fortran Coloring Book.
on “Closure, from Why_ the Lucky Stiff” ↗Another, from 1978: 'A Fortran Coloring Book' https://archive.org/details/9780262610261
on “Show HN: A coloring book of data structures and algorithms” ↗