Reddit reviews Discrete Mathematics and Functional Programming

It depends on what you already know.

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Do you have any prior programming experience? If not, start there. My no. 1 recommendation here would be Allen B. Downey's free Think Python book. Others might come along and recommend something like SICP, which is a good book, but perhaps a bit hard for an absolute beginner. Downey also has a version of his book that uses Java, so if you know for a fact that this is the language your introductory programming class will be using, then that could be a better option (Python is a simpler language, which makes it easier for you to focus on the actual concepts rather than the language itself, but if you know that you'll be using Java, you might as well kill two birds with one stone).

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If you do have prior programming experience, you have all sorts of options:

• You could learn a functional language, like a Lisp (Clojure, Racket, Scheme, LFE, ...) or something in the (extended) ML family (Standard ML, OCaml, F#, Haskell, Elm, ...).
  
• Or, you could go the other way and learn something low-level, like C. You could even learn about C and Lisp at the same time by building your own.
  
• Or learn a logic programming language, like Prolog.
  
• Or, if you really want to understand object-oriented programming (and how languages like Java managed to stuff it up), you could learn Smalltalk.
  
• If you don't know what a unit test is or how to write one, you should learn.
  
• Learn about data structures and algorithms. As a CS student, you'll be learning about them at some stage anyway, so there's no harm in starting early. Some people might recommended CLRS for this, but for someone just starting out, I'd recommend something a bit friendlier, such as this series of videos from Princeton (presented by Robert Sedgewick, author of one of the most popular books on the subject). If you'd prefer a book, this free one from Allen B. Downey (who also wrote the introductory programming text I recommended earleir) looks quite good.
  
• Work your way through NAND2Tetris. It will take way longer than a month, but it will definitely set you apart from the rest of the class. Even if you don't do this now, you should definitely plan to do it at some point.
  
• Learn about databases. Again, you'll have to study them eventually, so why not start early? You could start by trying to build something that uses a database, like a simple todo utility.
  
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  Regardless of whether or not you have programmed before, I would also recommend doing the following:
  
  
• Learn some basic Unix skills. It doesn't have to be too much – just enough to be able to sit down at the command line and have a vague idea of what you're doing is fine for now. You'll learn more as you use it more. That said, if you really want to dive in and learn how everything works, then something like How Linux Works could be a good read.
  
• Learn some discrete mathematics. As a CS student, you'll be required to learn it at some stage – it's the mathematical backbone of CS, much like calculus is to physics – so you might as well start early. This free, book-length set of notes from MIT is very well-regarded (but don't expect to get through it all in a month!). There is also a set of video lectures if you prefer. If you're keen on learning functional programming, another option could be to integrate that with your discrete maths studies by reading Thomas VanDrunen's Discrete Mathematics and Functional Programming (if the physical book is a bit expensive for you, there's also a cheaper ebook version available).
  
• For bonus points: learn to use either Vim or Emacs. There probably isn't a massive practical advantage to using these this early in your career (although they could certainly come in handy later), but if other students see you writing code in one of them, you'll look like an absolute badass. Your teachers will probably be quietly impressed, too.
  
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  if you have any questions about my above suggestions, let me know, and I'll see if I can point you in the right direction.
  
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  Good luck!