# cracked.guide vs Teach Yourself CS

> Teach Yourself CS and cracked.guide compared: nine subjects with one book and lecture each, versus one dated path through interpreters and Knuth.

**Teach Yourself CS** (teachyourselfcs.com) recommends one book and one lecture series for each of nine core subjects, about 100 to 200 hours each. **cracked.guide** takes two of those ideas, compilers and algorithms, and turns them into one dated schedule with checks. Teach Yourself CS is the better map of the whole field; cracked.guide is a deeper, scheduled route through part of it.

## At a glance

| | Teach Yourself CS | cracked.guide |
| --- | --- | --- |
| What it is | Nine subjects, each with a recommended book and video lectures | A dated 145-week path: Crafting Interpreters, then TAOCP Vols 1 to 4B, with NeetCode 150 and a Play track of programming games |
| Time | 100 to 200 hours per subject, per the guide | About 8 to 12 hours a week for 145 weeks (or half pace, 290) |
| Cost | Free guide; some books cost money | Free site; books and games extra (Crafting Interpreters is free online) |
| Audience | Working programmers without a CS background | Programmers who want depth (Week 0 for those newer to it) |
| Structure | A reading list in a suggested order | A date on every week, a guide for every chapter and section |
| Checks | None built in | Book test suite on GitHub Actions, LeetCode profile, MIX programs graded in the browser |

## Overlap

Teach Yourself CS recommends [Crafting Interpreters](https://cracked.guide/crafting-interpreters) for languages and compilers, the same book cracked.guide uses for its first 28 weeks. For algorithms it recommends Skiena's The Algorithm Design Manual, a practical, broad book; cracked.guide uses Knuth instead, which is slower and far deeper.

## Which to pick

Pick **Teach Yourself CS** if you want to cover architecture, operating systems, networking, databases and distributed systems too. Its subject list is excellent and its advice is sound. Pick **cracked.guide** if you want someone to tell you exactly what to do this week, and to verify it, for the compilers-and-algorithms core. Many people will want both, in either order.

## Questions

### How long does Teach Yourself CS take?

The guide suggests 100 to 200 hours per subject across nine subjects, so roughly 900 to 1,800 hours.

### Does Teach Yourself CS include Knuth?

Not as its main algorithms book; it recommends The Algorithm Design Manual by Steven Skiena.

## Sources

- [Teach Yourself Computer Science](https://teachyourselfcs.com/)

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Source: https://cracked.guide/vs/teach-yourself-cs
cracked.guide: A free, dated 145-week path to getting genuinely cracked at programming.