It's difficult to take a programming class without owning a computer and they are expensive too.

High fixed costs relating to an academic activity do not provide indicators to the ethics of the people who produce the required items.

Yes but the professor is not the only provider of the required computer.

Serious question: Is it common for professors to require the purchase of their own titles for a class?

For a site promoting entreprenuers and innovation the attitude towards this textbook writer seems odd. At least he's contributing something to society to earn his wealth..

The base tickets are far more than $100. You also need to factor in the cost of tuition, transportation to and from, and the opportunity cost of having classes take up your time.

Or, to put in another way, you are not mandated to attend a class where the professor will charge you to see a certain sports team play. Somewhere along the way, you made a choice that brought you to this mandate.

If my professor had mandated that I see a certain sports team play, I probably wouldn't have taken the class.

As a free-market type would say or as Stephen Covey would say, take responsibility for your decisions. If you don't like the mandates that come with a certain class, don't take that class.

Imagine this purely hypothetical situation for a minute: some classes are actually required for your major, and even though you are having exorbitant textbook prices extorted from you, it's still not enough to warrant quitting the major entirely.

Just because people can technically choose to avoid the situation entirely by dropping out or altering their life's course by switching majors doesn't justify ripping students off, or any other such small evils.