3 * [[http://www.extension.harvard.edu/ | Harvard Extension School]] -- Undergraduate courses of **Mathematics** and
4 **Educational Technologies**.
6 * [[http://www.unifi.it/ | Unviersità degli Studi di Firenze]] -- I attended only one term of
7 **Software Engineering** (computer Science exam **30/30 cum laude**).
8 In 1995, I dropped out to work for a startup in the emerging field of
11 * [[http://www.itcvolta.it/it/default.asp | Istituto Tecnico-Commerciale Alessandro Volta]] -- High-school diploma
12 in **Mathematics and Computer Science** with a rating of **56 out of 60**.
13 The track included good amounts of **Electric Engineering**.
15 === Non-formal studies and self-teaching ===
17 To compensate for the lack of good academic institutions in the '90s, I became a good customer of the local bookstores:
19 * **Compilers** -- textbooks such as CompilersPrinciplesTechniquesAndTools and several others.
21 * **Algorithms** -- many, including classics such as DonaldKnuth's bible TheArtOfComputerProgramming,
22 CambridgeUniversityPress's NumericalRecipes and NicholasWirth's ancient, but still brilliant,
23 "Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs".
25 * **Operating Systems** -- Too many to mention here, most of which were quite
26 theoretical and boring. My favorite will always be AdvancedProgrammingInTheUnixEnvironment.
28 * **Networking** -- Several books, including TcpIpIllustrated. RFCs and technical papers.
30 * **Programming Languages** -- All the obvious textbooks such as BjarneStroustrup's
31 SeePlusPlusProgrammingLanguage, and many others like the old SeeProgrammingLanguage,
32 ThinkingInJava, and dozens of C++ books.
34 * **Programming Techniques** -- Countless. Such as SeePlusPlusTemplateMetaprogramming
35 and the controversial ModernSeePlusPlusDesign by AndreiAlexandrescu.
36 My absolute favourite is Brian Kernighan's and Rob Pike's [[http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/tpop/ | The Practice of Programming]].
38 * **Software Architecture and Design** -- All the "must-read" classics such as
39 GangOfFour's DesignPatterns, UmlDistilled and UmlDesignPatterns.
41 * **Project Management** -- My favourites are TheMythicalManMonth and
42 [[http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?AntiPatternsBook|AntiPatterns]], but I've also read
43 [[http://www.amazon.com/Waltzing-Bears-Managing-Software-Projects/dp/0932633609|WaltzingWithBears]],
44 [[ExecutionPlainAndSimple]] and a few others.
46 * **Technical Writing** -- TheElementsOfStyle and DonaldKnuth's TheTexBook are my
47 favourites on the topics of stylish writing and typesetting.
49 * **Numerical Methods** -- I'm sorry to have quite a thin mathematical background.
50 Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading DonaldKnuth's ConcreteMathematics and
51 CambridgeUniversityPress' NumericalRecipes.
53 * **Database** -- Relational algebra, principles of schema normalization, SQL.