Preliminary Reading

If you have been offered a place on the MSc in Financial Computing, there are three areas of preliminary reading that you could pursue:

1. Basic understanding of investment banking and the capital markets. Read ALL THREE of the following:

• The Unofficial Guide to Investment Banking, by Deutsche Bank.

• All you need to know about the City - who does what and why in London's financial markets, by Christopher Stoakes (Longtail Publishing Limited, 2007). This contains great background information on roles and jargon in the City.

• Financial Markets & Institutions, by Frederic S. Mishkin and Stanley G. Eakins (5th Edition, Pearson Education, 2006) (or similar book).

2. Mathematics for computing. Read ONE of the following:

• (Schaum's Outline of) Essential Computer Mathematics, by Seymour Lipschutz (Schaum's Outlines Series, 1987). 
• Discrete Mathematics for Computing, by Peter Grossman (Grassroots Series, Palgrave Macmillan, 2002). 
• Discrete Mathematics for Computing, by John E. Munro (Chapman & Hall, 1993). 
• Discrete Mathematics for Computer Scientists, by John Truss (Addison Wesley, 1999).

3. Learning to program in Java:

• Choose ANY simple Java programming text book, install Java on your computer at home and try out some very simple programs. The MSc Financial Computing assumes you do have some basic prior programming experience, so please do pay attention to this before you arrive.  
• Books students and staff have found useful in the past include:
  • “Developing Java Software” by Winder and Roberts
  • “Head first Java”, by Kathy Sierra
  • “Effective Java”, by Joshua Bloch,
  • “Beginning Android Application Development”, by Wei-Meng Lee