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1645 results in Computing: general interest

Page 25 of 83

Calendrical Calculations
  • 3rd edition
  • Nachum Dershowitz, Edward M. Reingold
  • Published online:
    05 February 2014
    Print publication:
    10 December 2007
  • A valuable resource for working programmers, as well as a fount of useful algorithmic tools for computer scientists, this new edition of the popular calendars book expands the treatment of the previous edition to new calendar variants: generic cyclical calendars and astronomical lunar calendars as well as the Korean, Vietnamese, Aztec, and Tibetan calendars. The authors frame the calendars of the world in a completely algorithmic form, allowing easy conversion among these calendars and the determination of secular and religious holidays. LISP code for all the algorithms are available on the Web.

The Quest for Artificial Intelligence
  • Nils J. Nilsson
  • Published online:
    05 August 2013
    Print publication:
    30 October 2009
  • Artificial intelligence (AI) is a field within computer science that is attempting to build enhanced intelligence into computer systems. This book traces the history of the subject, from the early dreams of eighteenth-century (and earlier) pioneers to the more successful work of today's AI engineers. AI is becoming more and more a part of everyone's life. The technology is already embedded in face-recognizing cameras, speech-recognition software, Internet search engines, and health-care robots, among other applications. The book's many diagrams and easy-to-understand descriptions of AI programs will help the casual reader gain an understanding of how these and other AI systems actually work. Its thorough (but unobtrusive) end-of-chapter notes containing citations to important source materials will be of great use to AI scholars and researchers. This book promises to be the definitive history of a field that has captivated the imaginations of scientists, philosophers, and writers for centuries.

Passages from the Life of a Philosopher
  • Charles Babbage
  • Published online:
    05 October 2012
    Print publication:
    12 October 2011
    First published in:
    1864
  • The mathematician and engineer Charles Babbage (1791–1871) is best remembered for his 'calculating machines', which are considered the forerunner of modern computers. Over the course of his life he wrote a number of books based on his scientific investigations, but in this volume, published in 1864, Babbage writes in a more personal vein. He points out at the beginning of the work that it 'does not aspire to the name of autobiography', though the chapters sketch out the contours of his life, beginning with his family, his childhood and formative years studying at Cambridge, and moving through various episodes in his scientific career. However, the work also diverges into his observations on other topics, as indicated by chapter titles such as 'Street Nuisances' and 'Wit'. Babbage's colourful recollections give an intimate portrait of the life of one of Britain's most influential inventors.

Computing and Language Variation

How to Think About Algorithms
  • Jeff Edmonds
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    19 May 2008
  • This textbook, for second- or third-year students of computer science, presents insights, notations, and analogies to help them describe and think about algorithms like an expert, without grinding through lots of formal proof. Solutions to many problems are provided to let students check their progress, while class-tested PowerPoint slides are on the web for anyone running the course. By looking at both the big picture and easy step-by-step methods for developing algorithms, the author guides students around the common pitfalls. He stresses paradigms such as loop invariants and recursion to unify a huge range of algorithms into a few meta-algorithms. The book fosters a deeper understanding of how and why each algorithm works. These insights are presented in a careful and clear way, helping students to think abstractly and preparing them for creating their own innovative ways to solve problems.

Computational Linguistics
  • An Introduction
  • Ralph Grishman
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    06 November 1986
  • In spite of the rapid growth of interest in the computer analysis of language, this book provides an integrated introduction to the field. Inevitably, when many different approaches are still being considered, a straightforward work of synthesis would be neither possible nor practicable. Nevertheless, Ralph Grishman provides a valuable survey of various approaches to the problems of syntax analysis, semantic analysis, text analysis and natural language generation, while considering in greater detail those that seem to him most productive. The book is written for readers with some background in computer science and finite mathematics, but advanced knowledge of programming languages or compilers is not necessary and nor is a background in linguistics. The exposition is always clear and students will find the exercises and extensive bibliography supporting the text particularly helpful.

Formal Semantics
  • An Introduction
  • Ronnie Cann
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    26 February 1993
  • This book provides a clear and accessible introduction to formal, and especially Montague, semantics within a linguistic framework. It presupposes no previous background in logic, but takes the student step-by-step from simple predicate/argument structures and their interpretation through to Montague's intentional logic. It covers all the major aspects, including set theory, propositional logic, type theory, lambda abstraction, traditional and generalised quantifiers, inference, tense and aspect, possible worlds semantics, and intensionality. Throughout the emphasis is on the use of logical tools for linguistic semantics, rather than on purely logical topics, and the introductory chapter situates formal semantics within the general framework of linguistic semantics. It assumes some basic knowledge of linguistics, but aims to be as non-technical as possible within a technical subject. Formal Semantics will be welcomed by students of linguistics, artificial intelligence and cognitive science alike.

The Cambridge Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics
  • Edited by Luciano Floridi
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    15 April 2010
  • Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have profoundly changed many aspects of life, including the nature of entertainment, work, communication, education, healthcare, industrial production and business, social relations and conflicts. They have had a radical and widespread impact on our moral lives and hence on contemporary ethical debates. The Cambridge Handbook of Information and Computer Ethics, first published in 2010, provides an ambitious and authoritative introduction to the field, with discussions of a range of topics including privacy, ownership, freedom of speech, responsibility, technological determinism, the digital divide, cyber warfare, and online pornography. It offers an accessible and thoughtful survey of the transformations brought about by ICTs and their implications for the future of human life and society, for the evaluation of behaviour, and for the evolution of moral values and rights. It will be a valuable book for all who are interested in the ethical aspects of the information society in which we live.

A Practical Introduction to Denotational Semantics
  • L. Allison
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    30 January 1987
  • This textbook is an introduction to denotational semantics and its applications to programming languages. Dr Allison emphasizes a practical approach and the student is encouraged to write and test denotational definitions. The first section is devoted to the mathematical foundations of the subject and sufficient detail is given to illustrate the fundamental problems. The remainder of the book covers the use of denotational semantics to describe sequential programming languages such as Algol, Pascal and C. Throughout, numerous exercises, usually in Pascal, will help the student practise writing definitions and carry out simple applications. The book culminates in discussing an executable semantics of the logic-programming language Prolog. Being an introduction, advanced undergraduates in computer science and graduates new to the subject will find this a readily accessible account of one of the central topics of computer science.

Computational Linguistics and Formal Semantics
  • Edited by Michael Rosner, Roderick Johnson
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    30 October 1992
  • This 1992 collection takes the exciting step of examining natural language phenomena from the perspective of both computational linguistics and formal semantics. Computational linguistics has until now been primarily concerned with the construction of computational models for handling the complexities of linguistic form, but has not tackled the questions of representing or computing meaning. Formal semantics, on the other hand, has attempted to account for the relations between forms and meanings, without necessarily attending to computational concerns. The book introduces the reader to the two disciplines and considers the prospects for the more unified and comprehensive computational theory of language which might obtain from their amalgamation. Of great interest to those working in the fields of computation, logic, semantics, artificial intelligence and linguistics generally.

Computability and Logic
  • 5th edition
  • George S. Boolos, John P. Burgess, Richard C. Jeffrey
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    17 September 2007
  • Computability and Logic has become a classic because of its accessibility to students without a mathematical background and because it covers not simply the staple topics of an intermediate logic course, such as Godel's incompleteness theorems, but also a large number of optional topics, from Turing's theory of computability to Ramsey's theorem. This 2007 fifth edition has been thoroughly revised by John Burgess. Including a selection of exercises, adjusted for this edition, at the end of each chapter, it offers a simpler treatment of the representability of recursive functions, a traditional stumbling block for students on the way to the Godel incompleteness theorems. This updated edition is also accompanied by a website as well as an instructor's manual.

Concurrent Programming
  • C. R. Snow
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    20 February 1992
  • This textbook is designed as a first book on concurrent programming for computer science undergraduates, and provides a comprehensive introduction to the problems of concurrency. Concurrency is of vital importance in many areas of computer science, particularly in operating systems. It is also increasingly being taught in undergraduate courses. The book builds on the student's familiarity with sequential programming in a high level language, which will make it very accessible to computer science students. The book is concerned mainly with the high level aspects of concurrency, which will be equally applicable to traditional time sliced or more recent truly parallel systems.

Talking with Computers
  • Explorations in the Science and Technology of Computing
  • Thomas Dean
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    15 March 2004
  • In this lively series of essays, Tom Dean explores interesting fundamental topics in computer science with the aim of showing how computers and computer programs work and how the various subfields of computer science are connected. Along the way, he conveys his fascination with computers and enthusiasm for working in a field that has changed almost every aspect of our daily lives. The essays touch on a wide range of topics, from digital logic and machine language to artificial intelligence and searching the World Wide Web, considering such questions as:How can a computer learn to recognize junk email?What happens when you click on a link in a browser?How can you program a robot to do two things at once?Are there limits on what computers can do?The author invites readers to experiment with short programs written in several languages. Through these interactions he grounds the models and metaphors of computer science and makes the underlying computational ideas more concrete. The accompanying web site http://www.cs.brown.edu/~tld/talk/ provides easy access to code fragments from the book, tips on finding and installing software, links to online resources, exercises and sample lectures.

Computability and Logic
  • 4th edition
  • George S. Boolos, John P. Burgess, Richard C. Jeffrey
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    04 March 2002
  • This fourth edition of one of the classic logic textbooks has been thoroughly revised by John Burgess. The aim is to increase the pedagogical value of the book for the core market of students of philosophy and for students of mathematics and computer science as well. This book has become a classic because of its accessibility to students without a mathematical background, and because it covers not simply the staple topics of an intermediate logic course such as Godel's Incompleteness Theorems, but also a large number of optional topics from Turing's theory of computability to Ramsey's theorem. John Burgess has now enhanced the book by adding a selection of problems at the end of each chapter, and by reorganising and rewriting chapters to make them more independent of each other and thus to increase the range of options available to instructors as to what to cover and what to defer.

Program Construction
  • R. G. Stone, D. J. Cooke
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    05 February 1987
  • This textbook is an introduction to the design and writing of computer programs. It leads the reader through all the stages of program construction from the original specifications through to the final program. The formal verification of intermediate versions of the program is studied in considerable detail. The authors show how, given the formal specification of a program, data structure and program structure diagrams are drawn and then converted into a procedural program in a program design language (PDL). They demonstrate the conversion of PDL into a variety of real programming languages including Pascal, FORTRAN, COBOL, and Assembler. The book also includes chapters on abstract data types, analysing existing programs, and a small case study. First-year undergraduates in computer science and graduates taking courses in computing will find this a comprehensive introduction to program construction.

Free Logic
  • Selected Essays
  • Karel Lambert
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    31 October 2002
  • Free logic is an important field of philosophical logic that first appeared in the 1950s. J. Karel Lambert was one of its founders and coined the term itself. The essays in this collection (written over a period of 40 years) explore the philosophical foundations of free logic and its application to areas as diverse as the philosophy of religion and computer science. Amongst the applications on offer are those to the analysis of existence statements, to definite descriptions and to partial functions. The volume contains a proof that free logics of any kind are non-extensional and then uses that proof to show that Quine's theory of predication and referential transparency must fail. The purpose of this collection is to bring an important body of work to the attention of a new generation of professional philosophers, computer scientists and mathematicians.

Psychological Aspects of Cyberspace
  • Theory, Research, Applications
  • Edited by Azy Barak
  • Published online:
    05 June 2012
    Print publication:
    28 April 2008
  • Hundreds of millions of people across the world use the Internet every day. Its functions vary, from shopping and banking to chatting and dating. From a psychological perspective, the Internet has become a major vehicle for interpersonal communication that can significantly affect people's decisions, behaviors, attitudes and emotions. Moreover, its existence has created a virtual social environment in which people can meet, negotiate, collaborate and exchange goods and information. Cyberspace is not just a technical device but a phenomenon which has reduced the world to a proverbial global village, fostering collaborations and international cooperations; thus reducing the barriers of geographical distance and indigenous cultures. Azy Barak and a team of prominent social scientists review a decade of scientific investigations into the social, behavioral and psychological aspects of cyberspace, collating state-of-the-art knowledge in each area. Together they develop emerging conceptualizations and envisage directions and applications for future research.

Alan M. Turing
  • Centenary Edition
  • Sara Turing
  • Foreword by Martin Davis, Lyn Irvine
  • Afterword by John Turing
  • Published online:
    05 April 2012
    Print publication:
    22 March 2012
  • 'In a short life he accomplished much, and to the roll of great names in the history of his particular studies added his own.' So is described one of the greatest figures of the twentieth century, yet Alan Turing's name was not widely recognised until his contribution to the breaking of the German Enigma code became public in the 1970s. The story of Turing's life fascinates and in the years since his suicide, Turing's reputation has only grown, as his contributions to logic, mathematics, computing, artificial intelligence and computational biology have become better appreciated. To commemorate the centenary of Turing's birth, this republication of his mother's biography is enriched by a new foreword by Martin Davis and a never-before-published memoir by Alan's older brother. The contrast between this memoir and the original biography reveals tensions and sheds new light on Turing's relationship with his family, and on the man himself.

  • 12 - Relaxation

  • Sara Turing
  • Foreword by Martin Davis, Lyn Irvine
  • Afterword by John Turing
  • Book:
    Alan M. Turing
    Published online:
    05 April 2012
    Print publication:
    22 March 2012, pp 106-113

  • Summary

    Alan was a very hard worker, but when he relaxed he did so thoroughly, running, walking or cultivating his garden. On his short visits to Guildford in the vacations he always put in a good deal of work, yet he found leisure for walks with me and long discussions. Despite the great mental disparity between us we never lacked topics of conversation. I have never ceased to wonder at this ability on his part to share his interests and to step outside those realms of profound thought in which he lived. He interspersed with work a good deal of light-hearted fun. A sample of this was the Treasure Hunt at Leicester, when some of the clues were of Alan's invention. Thus he prepared, for each competitor, a bottle containing red liquid, either malodorous (labeled “The Libation”) or drinkable (“The Potion”): when the bottle was emptied the next clue was revealed – written in red ink on the back of the label. As another clue he made up the word “perplication.” Over his copy of Les Faux Amis ou les Trahisons du Vocabulaire Anglais he put a convincing dust cover inscribed with the title, “Dictionary of Uncommon French Words.” He then inserted the word “perplication” with an explanation in French involving references to Maimonides and treasure hunters. This done, he prevailed on a bookseller to place it on one of his shelves. Alan was particularly pleased with this clue.

Page 25 of 83