[rickhanlonii]

I don't think I was clear enough. I'm not saying that textbooks are the best resource for the concepts, but that they're the best resource for the course work.

The comment I replied to said that people can be excused because they "don't know enough to know what you don't know well enough". But the textbook is exactly that information. Most CS courses plan the lectures, notes, homework, tests, etc off the textbook. So the textbook tells you enough to know what you don't know well enough so you can look it up on mailing lists or pick it up in lecture.