B&N is pretty up to date in the computer section actually. For example, I normally see No Starch Press "The Rust Programming Language (2nd edition)" and "Rust for Rustaceans" and lots of their python books and some that I was also interested in like "The Art of 64-bit Assembly" and "Understanding the Machine." They also have a lot of security books proportion-wise. But the section is smaller than I like and leans toward the mainstream of course.
What I find however, is nothing like it used to be, at least in certain locations. I'm sure it varies by location but I miss the one closest to Redmond (Microsoft) which (at least when I went there around 2000) had multiple full rows of computer books including highly technical ones that you don't see anymore in person.
Uh, where are you seeing "Rust for Rustaceans" and "The Art of 64-Bit Assembly" at a Barnes & Noble? I just wandered into a B&N store in Cupertino after shopping at a Guitar Center, and their technology section was basically a shelf of Excel guides and XYZ for Dummies.
I'm actually surprired there's a narrative of "B&N is coming back." Their stores, what few times I've had the misfortune of wandering inside in recent years, are still excruciatingly beige, useless, and (in the words of the TLA) "crucifyingly boring."
This is the flip side of the current CEO's focus on letting local stores make their own decisions. When the decisions align with your interests (like my store's excellent manga focus), it's great! When they don't, like your example of the Cupertino store, it's pretty terrible.
Both major B&N stores in Austin have had both of those titles within the last month. They all tend to be relatively overstocked on No Starch Press stuff (not to say they don't produce good books), but understocked on basically anything else.
The best I've encountered is Foyles in London, though even that had cut back substantially prior to the pandemic when I was last there.
What I find however, is nothing like it used to be, at least in certain locations. I'm sure it varies by location but I miss the one closest to Redmond (Microsoft) which (at least when I went there around 2000) had multiple full rows of computer books including highly technical ones that you don't see anymore in person.