by nsguy1350 » Sat Feb 11, 2012 6:32 pm
There are several books, and you can use any one of them. Any of the popular ones: Barron's, Kaplan, CliffNotes, whatever, just get one and use it. Nobody here is ever going to give you a specific textbook (well, in most cases), and many of us learned CS from school, not through self-study. You are aiming too specifically, just get a book, and don't waste time on trying to get a specific one. Get one, read it, and if you think you need more, get another one. You can ask CS questions here as well. Just go to a bookstore, a library, whatever, and look for the book that is the best deal; most reputable brand, best reviews, in-depth analysis, etc. If you REALLY want a specific name, get the Barrons Computer Science A (but AB is better, because it covers more topics, although it is no longer published, because AB is no longer taught). Do the practice programs, exercises, tests, whatever. If you think you want something more in-depth, get a normal, non-AP CS book, one such as "Big Java" that my CS teacher gave me. I'm not going to give you many exact titles, because I haven't read 500 CS books, and figured out which ones are the best, and neither has anyone else. One last thing; you do not need to know any specific AP Case study, such as Gridworld. Go over pure Java topics, nothing weird.
2013 District 1/Region:
NS - 319/355
MA - 340/332
CA - 294/287
SC - 344/292
CS - 212/124 (fail)