justjavac/free-programming-books-zh_CN

A Chinese-language fork of the free-programming-books concept — curated, free, Chinese-translated programming books across major languages and platforms.

What it is

A long-running, community-maintained list of free programming books in Chinese. Spans web (HTML/CSS/JS, React, Vue, Angular), mobile (iOS, Android, React Native, Swift, Kotlin), languages (Python, Java, Go), and general computer-science topics. Companion to the multilingual EbookFoundation/free-programming-books project but Chinese-focused and independently maintained. GPL-3.0 licensed.

Key features

Books indexed by language and platform — Web (React/Vue/Angular), iOS, Android, Python, JavaScript, Swift, Kotlin, etc.
Chinese translations of canonical programming references where available.
PDF and online-reading links — most entries are downloadable.
GPL-3.0 license — strong copyleft for derivative compilations.
11-year-old project with continuous contribution.

Tech stack

Markdown content only.
No build tooling; all content lives in README.md and sub-directory markdown files.

When to reach for it

You're a Chinese-speaking learner who wants a curated, free-to-read book list.
You're a teacher / mentor in a Chinese-language program needing translated reference materials.
You're studying the Chinese OSS-curation tradition — this is one of the foundational repos.

When not to reach for it

You're not comfortable reading Chinese — the books and curation are Chinese-language.
You want recent material — last push July 2024 puts the list in dormant maintenance; new books may not be reflected.
You want a license-clean redistribution — GPL-3.0 pulls derivative directories into the same copyleft.

Maturity signal

117k stars, 28k forks, GPL-3.0, last push July 2024 — entered a dormant phase. The 5,861 watcher count is high and stable. Content ages well (classical programming references stay relevant); the dormancy is mostly about not adding new entries rather than abandonment. Downstream consumers should treat this as a stable snapshot rather than a live-updating reference.

Alternatives

EbookFoundation/free-programming-books — multilingual parent project; Chinese is one of many tracks.
521xueweihan/HelloGitHub — Chinese-language monthly OSS digest with broader scope.
CyC2018/CS-Notes — Chinese-language CS notes for interview prep.

Notes

The fork relationship with EbookFoundation/free-programming-books predates the formal Chinese sub-tracks that the parent project now ships; this repo's independent lineage is partly historical. GPL-3.0 is the recurring gotcha for redistribution — most awesome-list-style projects use CC-BY-4.0 or MIT; the GPL choice here is deliberate.

Wiki: justjavac/free-programming-books-zh_CN