GATE GUIDE

What to study ?In this section i will list some textbooks which you can follow during your preparation , you need not limit to these only and go ahead with some more books that you like . 1 . Mathematical Logic: Propositional Logic; First Order Logic. Set Theory & Algebra: Sets; Relations; Functions; Groups; Partial Orders; Lattice; Boolean Algebra. Textbook : " Discrete Mathematics " by Tremblay and Manohar . 2 . Probability: Conditional Probability; Mean, Median, Mode and Standard Deviation; Random Variables; Distributions; uniform, normal, exponential, Poisson, Binomial . Textbook : " Probability , statistics and queuing theory " by S.C.Gupta & V.K.Kapoor 3 . Combinatorics: Permutations; Combinations; Counting; Summation; generating functions; recurrence relations; asymptotics. Textbook : " Intermediate Mathematics " , S.Chand publications , authors : B.V.Sastry and K.Venkateswarlu ( if i remember )

" Higher Engineering Mathematics " by B.S.Grewal for generating functions and recurrence relations . ( Bessel's formula , Lagrangian Polynomial ) " Introduction to algorithms " - Cormen etal ( CLRS ) for recurrence relations and asymptotics 4 . Graph Theory: Connectivity; spanning trees; Cut vertices & edges; covering; matching; independent sets; Colouring; Planarity; Isomorphism Textbook : " Intoduction to Graph Theory " by Narsing Deo 5 . Linear Algebra: Algebra of matrices, determinants, systems of linear equations, Eigen values and Eigen vectors. Textbook : " Higher Engineering Mathematics " by B.S.Grewal 6 . Numerical Methods: LU decomposition for systems of linear equations; numerical solutions of non linear algebraic equations by Secant, Bisection and Newton-Raphson Methods; Numerical integration by trapezoidal and Simpson's rules. Textbook : " Numerical Methods " - by S.S.Sastry 7 . Calculus: Limit, Continuity & differentiability, Mean value Theorems, Theorems of integral calculus, evaluation of definite & improper integrals, Partial derivatives, Total derivatives, maxima & minima. Textbook : " Intermediate Mathematics " , S.chand publications , authors : B.V.Sastry , K.Venkateswarlu ( if i remember ) 8 . Formal Languages and Automata Theory: Regular languages and finite automata, Context free languages and Push-down automata, Recursively enumerable sets and Turing machines, Un-decidability; Textbook : " Formal Languages and Automata theory " , J.D.Ullman etal

9 . Analysis of Algorithms and Computational Complexity: Asymptotic analysis (best, worst, average case) of time and space, Upper and lower bounds on the complexity of specific problems, NP-completeness. Textbook : " Introduction to algorithms " - Cormen etal ( CLRS ) " Computer Algorithms " - Horowitz and Sahani A very good textbook on " Algorithms " coming soon from Dr.M.N.Seetaramanth ( Tata Mc Graw Hill publications ) 10 . Digital Logic: Logic functions, Minimization, Design and synthesis of Combinational and Sequential circuits; Number representation and Computer Arithmetic (fixed and floating point); Textbook : " Digital Logic circuits and Design " by Morris Mano 11 . Computer Organization: Machine instructions and addressing modes, ALU and Data-path, hardwired and micro-programmed control, Memory interface, I/O interface (Interrupt and DMA mode), Serial communication interface, Instruction pipelining, Cache, main and secondary storage. Textbook : " Computer Organisation " by Morris Mano " Computer Architecture " by Briggs and 2 chinese authors ( blue cover pad ) { for pipelining } 12 . Data structures: Notion of abstract data types, Stack, Queue, List, Set, String, Tree, Binary search tree, Heap, Graph; Textbook : " Data structures " Schaumm's outline series " Data structures in PASCAL " by Horowitz and Sahani " Data structures and Algorithms " by Weiss etal

" Introduction to algorithms " - Cormen etal ( CLRS ) 13 . Programming Methodology: C programming, Program control (iteration, recursion, Functions), Scope, Binding, Parameter passing, Elementary concepts of Object oriented, Functional and Logic Programming Textbook : " Programming with C " - Byron Gottfried , Schaumm's outline series " Principles of Programming Languages " by Robert W Sebesta , Addison Wesley " Programming with C++ " - Balaguruswamy 14 . Algorithms for problem solving: Tree and graph traversals, Connected components, Spanning trees, Shortest paths; Hashing, Sorting, Searching; Design techniques (Greedy, Dynamic Programming, Divide-andconquer);

Textbook : " Data structures " Schaumm's outline series " Data structures in PASCAL " by Horowitz and Sahani " Computer Algorithms " - Horowitz and Sahani " Data structures and Algorithms " by Weiss etal " Introduction to algorithms " - Cormen etal ( CLRS ) 15 . Compiler Design: Lexical analysis, Parsing, Syntax directed translation, Runtime environment, Code generation, Linking (static and dynamic);

Textbook : " Principles of Compiler Design " , Aho , Ullman etal . " Systems Programming " by John . J . Donovan 16 . Operating Systems: Classical concepts (concurrency, synchronization, deadlock), Processes, threads and Inter-process communication, CPU scheduling, Memory management, File systems, I/O systems, Protection and security. Textbook : " Operating system concepts " by Abraham Silberschatz and Peter Galvin " Advanced Unix Programming " by W. Richard . Stevens " Advanced Unix Programming " by N.B.Venkateswarlu , BPB publications 17 . Databases: Relational model (ER-model, relational algebra, tuple calculus), Database design (integrity constraints, normal forms), Query languages (SQL), File structures (sequential files, indexing, B+ trees), Transactions and concurrency control; Textbook : " Database Management systems " - Raghu RamaKrishnan " Database system concepts " - Silberschatz , Korth , Sudarshan " Database systems " - C.J.Date { normalisation is very lucidly written } " Principles of Database Systems " - J.D.Ullman { This is a very good book }

18 . Computer Networks: ISO/OSI stack, sliding window protocol, LAN Technologies (Ethernet, Token ring), TCP/UDP, IP, Basic concepts of switches, gateways, and routers. Textbook : " Computer Networks " - Tenenbaum " Data communications and Networking " - William Stallings

Some more important books : " Multiple choice questions " - Timothy . J . Williams , TMH publications " Gate Question Papers " - G.K.Publishers { follow it only for questions , answers are all wrong in it }

How to study ?I will tell you three golden words told by my teacher Dr. M.N.Seetaramanath garu to me when he took me into his hands . Read the subject by posing questions " What " , " How " and " Why " ( In telugu we say " enduku " , " emiti " , " ela " ) . My another teacher Dr.N.B.Venkateswarlu always stress to analyze the things by working out on the paper and don't take anything for granted , then things would be fine for you and life will be smooth . I promise you that these words are very powerful . * I tell you these Brilliant tutorial materials and all will not help you . follow standard textbooks , read the concepts , understand them , think about how they would be useful and can be applied practically ( what , how , why ) . Try to work out the exercise problems given at the back of each

chapter in the textbook ( once again not all , only those which you feel like useful for your preparation , there is no point in wasting your time over 3 starred problems ) . Read two different subjects in parallel so that you wont feel bored . Try to answer the questions related to a subject after you finish studying it from both " Multiple choice questions " book by williams and questions from all the previous papers related to that subject . This would give you some insight on the GATE questions and build your confidence as well . ** Another thing is that don't worry whether i can do well in GATE as my percentage in university exams is very less , for people who think like that let me clarify your university percentage has nothing to do with GATE both of them are entirely different ball games all together . The student with good basics , understanding , application will definitely succeed irrespective of the percentage . one more thing is , don't worry even if it was too late to start the preparation for one reason or the other , i tell you 2 months is more than enough for the preparation of the CS paper even if you have not studied much for your university exams . *** One important note to the undergraduates , see you believe it or not these 4 years of your B.Tech are the best days of your entire life so enjoy them to the fullest , bunking the classes and going to movies , roaming with friends , going to second show movies , playing cricket , getting ragged by the seniors and ragging your juniors etc ... . Studies is only part of life , it is not everything in life , there are many more beautiful things in life so , don't miss them ( you cannot reuse time unlike space right )

Author: D V Janardhan Rao

In case of any queries mail to the author ( dvjrao@cse.iitk.ac.in )

Acknowledgements: Dr. N.B. Venkateswarlu garu , Dr. M.N. Seetaramanath garu