The Cartoon Guide to.. Programming?

April 21, 2006

I recently found a link to a series of Larry Gonick's mathematical cartoons that were originally published in Discover magazine:

• Beauty and the Beasts (neural nets)
• Prime Time (cryptography)
• Proof Positive? (probabalistic proofs)
• Lumps, with Mother Nature (chaotic mixing)
• Speed (relativity)
• The Solution (traveling salesman's problem)
• Filler Up! (space-filling solids)
• The Bowerbird's Dilemma (game theory)
• El Topo (DNA topology)
• Portrait of a Problem (protein-folding energy landscsapes)
• It's the Pits (wavelets)

It's great stuff. Here's a sample panel from the one on cryptography:

I've followed Larry Gonick's work for ages. He's famous for his easy to grasp, beautifully illustrated treatment of complex topics – as exemplified in the series of books he's published:

• Cartoon History of the Universe Vol I (1990)
• Cartoon History of the Universe Vol II (1994)
• Cartoon History of the Universe Vol III (2002)
• Cartoon History of the Modern World Vol I (ETA late 2006)
• Cartoon History of the United States (1991)
• Cartoon Guide to Chemistry (2005)
• Cartoon Guide to the Computer (1983)
• Cartoon Guide to the Environment (1996)
• Cartoon Guide to Genetics (1991)
• Cartoon Guide to (non)Communication (1993)
• Cartoon Guide to Physics (1992)
• Cartoon Guide to Sex (1999)
• Cartoon Guide to Statistics (1994)

Although I made fun of the Learn ASP.NET in 24 Hours meme, I am a big fan of learning subjects in cartoon form. You learn more when you're having fun doing it.