Think Raku: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist - 2nd edition

Reviewed by Mark Nelson, Assistant Professor, American University on 1/14/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This is a pretty complete, self-contained introduction to programming, using Raku as the programming language. It starts from the very basics, assuming no knowledge of programming (variables, control flow, etc.), and continues up through intermediate features like object oriented programming, ending with fairly advanced, Raku-specific features like the language-level grammar system. There are some case studies interspersed, which further dig into practical issues like how to select a data structure for your task (Chapter 11).

Content Accuracy rating: 5

It's written by an expert in the Raku language, and I didn't encounter any errors.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

To my understanding, Raku is now a fairly stable language, so the book shouldn't become obsolete very quickly. There's perhaps a larger question of the extent to which Raku itself remains relevant, given its fairly small user base, but that is beyond the scope of this book.

Clarity rating: 5

Written in a friendly, conversational tone, and every chapter has a helpful glossary summarizing the technical terms introduced in that chapter.

Consistency rating: 5

Did not notice any consistency problems.

Modularity rating: 4

At the top level, the book is divided into two main sections: Part I is a comprehensive introduction to programming, using Raku, while Part II focuses on some more advanced features, many of them specific to Raku. The second part could be used on its own by someone already familiar with programming, to learn more about Raku-specific features, although I don't believe that is a primary intent of the book. Within Part I, the book is nicely modular but does have a "cumulative" style, where chapters will build on previous material, so is best read in order rather than picking and choosing chapters.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

Generally well organized, no real complaints. Part II is a little more of a grab-bag of material, but that is difficult to avoid.

Interface rating: 5

The book is nicely typeset in LaTeX, with clear conventions for displaying code snippets, etc. Also good use PDF hyperlinking for references and the index.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammatical issues.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

No cultural insensitivity or anything of that sort. The examples are perhaps slightly dry (a lot of basic mathematical operations), but not unusually so for an intro programming book.

Comments

This is a somewhat unusual book: An introduction to programming for novice programmers, but using a language, Raku, that is an uncommon choice for introductory programming classes. Most CS-101 classes as of this writing (2023) use Python, and indeed this book started as an adaptation of a similarly titled open-access textbook, "Think Python", but using Raku as the language instead. So what one thinks of this book will largely depend on what one thinks of that choice. Given the choice, however, it's a very well written book! The use of Raku does allow for some fairly advanced material to be encountered without too much ceremony, since Raku tends towards being concise, with a lot of built-in functionality and less boilerplate than many languages. A potential classroom user might want to compare it with "Think Python" and consider the similarities and differences between the presentation of intro programming in the two languages.