The New Turing Omnibus: Sixty-Six Excursions in Computer Science

No other volume provides as broad, as thorough, or as accessible an introduction to the realm of computers as A. K. Dewdney'sThe Turing Omnibus.

Updated and expanded,The Turing Omnibusoffers 66 concise, brilliantly written articles on the major points of interest in computer science theory, technology, and applications. New for this tour: updated information on algorithms, detecting primes, noncomputable functions, and self-replicating computers--plus completely new more >>

No other volume provides as broad, as thorough, or as accessible an introduction to the realm of computers as A. K. Dewdney'sThe Turing Omnibus.

Updated and expanded,The Turing Omnibusoffers 66 concise, brilliantly written articles on the major points of interest in computer science theory, technology, and applications. New for this tour: updated information on algorithms, detecting primes, noncomputable functions, and self-replicating computers--plus completely new sections on the Mandelbrot set, genetic algorithms, the Newton-Raphson Method, neural networks that learn, DOS systems for personal computers, and computer viruses.Preface
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ALGORITHMSCooking Up Programs
FINITE AUTOMATAThe Black Box
SYSTEMS OF LOGICBoolean Bases
SIMULATIONThe Monte Carlo Method
GÖDEL'S THEOREMLimits on Logic
GAME TRESSThe Minimax Method
THE COMSKY HIERARCHYFour Computers
RANDOM NUMBERSThe Chaitin-Kolmogoroff Theory
MATHEMATICAL RESEARCHThe Mandelbrot Set
PROGRAM CORRECTNESSUltimate Debugging
SEARCH TRESSTraversal and Maintenance
ERROR-CORRECTING CODEPictures from Space
BOOLEAN LOGICExpressions and Circuits
REGULAR LANGUAGEPumping Words
TIME AND SPACE COMPLEXITYThe Big-0 Notation
GENETIC ALGORITHMSSolutions That Evolve
THE RANDOM ACCESS MACHINEAn Abstract Computer
SPINAL CURVESSmooth Interpolation
COMPUTER VISIONPolyhedral Scenes
KARNAUGH MAPSCircuit Minimization
THE NEWTON-RAPHSON METHODFinding Roots
MINIMUM SPANNING TREESA Fast Algorithm
GENERATIVE GRAMMARSLindenmayer Systems
RECURSIONThe Sierpinski Curve
FAST MULTIPLICATIONDivide and Conquer
NONDETERMINISMAutomata That Guess Correctly
PERCEPTIONSA Lack of Vision
ENCODERS AND MULTIPLEXERSManipulating Memory
CAT SCANNINGCross-Sectional X-Rays
TIE PARTITION PROBLEMA Pseudo-fast Algorithm
TURING MACHINESThe Simplest Computers
THE FAST FOURIER TRANSFORMRedistributing Images
ANALOG COMPUTATIONSpaghetti Computers
SATISFIABILITYA Central Problem
SEQUENTIAL SORTINGA Lower Bound on Speed
NEURAL NETWORKS THAT LEARNConverting Coordinates
PUBLIC KEY CRYPTOGRAPHYIntractable Secrets
SEQUENTIAL CIRCUITSA Computer Memory
NONCOMPUTABLE FUNCTIONSThe Busy Beaver Problem
HEAPS AND MERGESThe Fastest Sorts of Sorts
NP-COMPLETENESSWall of Intractability
NUMBER SYSTEMS FOR COMPUTINGChinese Arithmetic
STORAGE BY HASHINGThe Key Is the Address
CELLULAR AUTOMATAThe Game of Life
COOK'S THEOREMNuts and Bolts
SELF-REPLICATING COMPUTERSCodd's Machine
STORING IMAGESA Cat in a Quad Tree
THE SCRAMA Simplified Computer
SHANNON'S THEORYThe Elusive Codes
DETECTING PRIMESAn Algorithm that Almost Always Works
UNIVERSAL TURING MACHINESComputers as Programs
TEXT COMPRESSIONHuffman Coding
DISK OPERATING SYSTEMSBootstrapping the Computer
NP-COMPLETE PROBLEMSThe Tree of Intractability
ITERATION AND RECURSIONThe Towers of Hanoi
VLSI COMPUTERSCircuits in Silicon
LINEAR PROGRAMMINGThe Simplex Method
PREDICATE CALCULUSThe Resolution Method
THE HALTING PROBLEMThe Uncomputable
COMPUTER VIRUSESA Software Invasion
SEARCHING STRINGSThe Boyer-Moore Algorithm
PARALLEL COMPUTINGProcessors with Connections
THE WORD PROBLEMDictionaries as Programs
LOGIC PROGRAMMINGPrologue to Expertise
RELATIONAL DATABASESDo-It-Yourself Queries
CHURCH'S THESISAll Computers Are Created Equal

Index"Wonderfully concise discussions . . . full of wit . . . It << less