Overview

"This textbook discusses the most fundamental and puzzling questions about the foundations of computing. In 23 lecture-sized chapters it provides an exciting tour through the most important results in the field of computability and time complexity, including the Halting Problem, Rice's Theorem, Kleene's Recursion Theorem, the Church-Turing Thesis, Hierarchy Theorems, and Cook-Levin's Theorem. Each chapter contains classroom-tested material, including examples and exercises. Links between adjacent chapters provide a coherent narrative. Fundamental results are explained lucidly by means of programs written in a simple, high-level imperative programming language, which only requires basic mathematical knowledge. Throughout the book, the impact of the presented results on the entire field of computer science is emphasised. Examples range from program analysis to networking, from database programming to popular games and puzzles.  Numerous biographical footnotes about the famous scientists who developed the subject are also included. ""Limits of Computation"" offers a thorough, yet accessible, introduction to computability and complexity for the computer science student of the 21st century. "

Full Product Details

Author:   Bernhard Reus
Publisher:   Springer International Publishing AG
Imprint:   Springer International Publishing AG
Edition:   1st ed. 2016
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 1.90cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   6.232kg
ISBN:  

9783319278872

ISBN 10:   3319278878
Pages:   348
Publication Date:   04 April 2016
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

"Foreword.- Limits? What Limits?.- Part I Computability.- Problems and Effective Procedures.- The WHILE-Language.- Semantics of WHILE.- Extensions of WHILE.- Programs As Data Objects.- A Self-Interpreter for WHILE.- An Undecidable (Non-computable) Problem.- More Undecidable Problems.- Self-referencing Programs.- The Church-Turing Thesis.- Part II Complexity.- Measuring Time Usage.- Complexity Classes.- Robustness of P.- Hierarchy Theorems.- Famous Problems in P.- Common Problems not Known to be in P.- The One-Million-Dollar Question.- How Hard is a Problem?.- Complete Problems.- How to Solve NP-complete Problems?.- Part III Emerging New Models of Computation - ""going nano"".- Molecular Computing.- Quantum Computing.- Appendix A: Further Reading - Computability and Complexity Textbooks.- Glossary.- Index."

Reviews

The book under review is a textbook intended to provide the material for an introductory course on the classic theory of algorithms and modern complexity theory for senior undergraduate computer science students. ... the book is a good, concise introduction to the fields of computability and complexity for students, and a good reference for working professionals in all areas of computer science and mathematics. (M. I. Dekhtyar, Mathematical Reviews, November, 2016)

Author Information

Dr. Bernhard Reus is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Informatics at the University of Sussex, with 15 years experience in teaching computability and complexity. 

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