“Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach,” by Stuart Russell (professor of computer science at UC Berkeley) and Peter Norvig (head of research at Google) is the best-known and most-used textbook about artificial intelligence, and for good reason; it’s a great book! The first edition of this book was my guide to the field when I was switching over from physics research to computer science.
I feel almost embarrassed to recommend it, because I suspect nearly everybody interested in AI already knows about it. So I’m going to tell you about a couple related resources that are maybe not as well-known.
First, there is the online code repository to the algorithms in the book, in Java, Python, and Lisp. Many of the algorithms are useful beyond AI, so you may find for example that the search or optimization algorithm that you are interested in has already been written for you. I personally have used the Python code, and it’s really model code from which you can learn good programming style.
Second, if you haven’t ever visited Peter Norvig’s web-site, you really should. I particularly recommend his essays “Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years,” “Solving Every Sudoku Puzzle,” and “The Gettysburg Powerpoint Presentation.”
Nerd Wisdom 