Last updated: October 2026
This guide lists the standard books for Computer Science and IT for the ISRO Scientist/Engineer exam and GATE CSE, subject by subject. The ISRO Computer Science paper is wider than GATE: roughly one question in five comes from areas such as software engineering, artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing, so this guide includes books for those areas as well.
Please note: These are suggestions based on widely used standard texts. Syllabus and editions change, so confirm the syllabus in the current notification on isro.gov.in and use the latest edition where one exists.
In this guide
1. How to use a standard book
- Treat reference books like dictionaries. Do not read them cover to cover. Use them for the topics your lectures left unclear and for the unsolved problems at the end of each chapter.
- Prefer workbooks and previous year questions to long textbook reading. For EE and ECE, time spent solving problems pays more than time spent reading theory.
- One main book per subject. Do not buy three books for the same subject.
- Finish every chapter by solving its ISRO questions on the ISRO CSE PYQ page.
2. What the ISRO CSE paper asks
In the 2023 and 2025 papers together, the 160 technical questions were distributed as follows (counted from the subject tags on CMB Space; related tags are combined).
| Subject | Approximate questions (2023 + 2025) |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | about 18 |
| Databases | about 14 |
| Digital Logic and Computer Organization | about 17 |
| Theory of Computation | about 12 |
| Algorithms and Data Structures | about 19 |
| Computer Networks | about 13 |
| Cryptography, network security and cyber security | about 13 |
| Software Engineering | about 11 |
| Artificial Intelligence and machine learning | about 8 |
| Big Data and Cloud Computing | about 11 |
| Compiler Design | about 7 |
| Discrete Mathematics, graph theory, mathematics | about 14 |
| Programming and others | about 3 |
The 2025 paper also had 15 aptitude questions. Software engineering, artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing and cyber security together account for about one in five of the technical questions, and they are not part of the usual GATE CSE syllabus. Plan time for them separately. Practise the full papers on the ISRO CSE PYQ page.
3. Subject-wise standard books
| Subject | Main books | Also useful |
|---|---|---|
| Data Structures | Seymour Lipschutz (Schaum’s Outline); Narasimha Karumanchi | - |
| Algorithms | CLRS (Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest, Stein); Sahni | - |
| Programming in C | Kernighan and Ritchie (K&R); Balagurusamy; Yashavant Kanetkar | - |
| Computer Organization | Carl Hamacher (pipelining); Paul Chaudhuri (I/O and memory); M. Morris Mano | Hennessy and Patterson |
| Operating Systems | Galvin (Silberschatz et al.); William Stallings; Tanenbaum | - |
| Databases | Korth (relational algebra); Navathe (indexing); C.J. Date | Elmasri and Navathe |
| Computer Networks | Forouzan (simplest language); Tanenbaum; Kurose and Ross | - |
| Theory of Computation | Peter Linz (best for problems); Ullman; Mishra and Chandrashekharan | Sipser |
| Compiler Design | Aho, Ullman, Sethi (the Dragon Book) | - |
| Discrete Mathematics | Kenneth Rosen; Seymour Lipschutz; C.L. Liu; Narsingh Deo (graph theory) | - |
| Digital Logic | M. Morris Mano; R.P. Jain | - |
| Software Engineering (ISRO) | Roger Pressman, Software Engineering: A Practitioner’s Approach | Rajib Mall; Pankaj Jalote |
| Artificial Intelligence (ISRO) | Russell and Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach | NPTEL lectures |
| Cryptography and network security (ISRO) | William Stallings, Cryptography and Network Security; Forouzan | - |
| Big Data and Cloud Computing (ISRO) | Tom White, Hadoop: The Definitive Guide; Thomas Erl, Cloud Computing: Concepts, Technology and Architecture | Official documentation and NPTEL |
4. Real ISRO questions and the chapter to read
| Question (open it on CMB Space) | Subject | Where to read |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 Q53: MOD-16 ripple counter from state 1001 to 0000 | Digital Logic | Morris Mano, counters |
| 2025 Q35: wrong default gateway; which OSI layer | Computer Networks | Forouzan, network layer |
| 2025 Q47: two accounts A and B and concurrent transactions | Databases | Korth, transactions and concurrency |
| 2025 Q28: hexadecimal constants matching a regular expression | Theory of Computation | Peter Linz, regular expressions |
| 2025 Q46: E-R diagram with relationships R1 and R2 | Databases | Korth or Navathe, E-R model |
| 2023 Q14: header overhead in a 5-layer protocol hierarchy | Computer Networks | Tanenbaum or Forouzan, layering |
| 2023 Q53: bounded-buffer problem, which synchronization primitive | Operating Systems | Galvin, process synchronization |
| 2023 Q75: what CAPTCHA protects against | Cyber Security | Stallings, authentication |
5. Free resources
- NPTEL (nptel.ac.in) has full IIT lecture courses on almost every subject in the table. Good picks include courses on data structures, databases, operating systems and networks.
- GATE Overflow (gateoverflow.in) is a free question-and-answer site for GATE CS previous year questions with discussion.
- Previous year questions: ISRO CSE papers 2007 to 2025.
- Related guides: Standard Books for ISRO and GATE (all branches) and How to Prepare for ISRO ICRB 2026.
- Discussion and doubts: the Computer Science community channel.
Frequently asked questions
Is the ISRO CSE syllabus the same as GATE CSE?
Largely, but not entirely. ISRO also asks about software engineering, artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing and cyber security, which are not part of the usual GATE CSE syllabus.
Which book is best for Theory of Computation?
Peter Linz is recommended for problem solving. Sipser and Ullman are good alternatives for deeper theory.
Which book is simplest for Computer Networks?
Forouzan is written in the simplest language. Kurose and Ross and Tanenbaum are good for depth.