Once Upon an Algorithm

319 sidor

På English

Publicerades 25 januari 2017

ISBN:: 978-0-262-03663-4
OCLC-nummer:: 965754167
Finna ID:: abo.9913262223405972

"Picture a computer scientist, staring at a screen and clicking away frantically on a keyboard, hacking into a system, or perhaps developing an app. Now delete that picture. In Once Upon an Algorithm, Martin Erwig explains computation as something that takes place beyond electronic computers, and computer science as the study of systematic problem solving. Erwig points out that many daily activities involve problem solving. Getting up in the morning, for example: You get up, take a shower, get dressed, eat breakfast. This simple daily routine solves a recurring problem through a series of well-defined steps. In computer science, such a routine is called an algorithm. Erwig illustrates a series of concepts in computing with examples from daily life and familiar stories. Hansel and Gretel, for example, execute an algorithm to get home from the forest. The movie Groundhog Day illustrates the problem of unsolvability; Sherlock Holmes manipulates data structures …

"Picture a computer scientist, staring at a screen and clicking away frantically on a keyboard, hacking into a system, or perhaps developing an app. Now delete that picture. In Once Upon an Algorithm, Martin Erwig explains computation as something that takes place beyond electronic computers, and computer science as the study of systematic problem solving. Erwig points out that many daily activities involve problem solving. Getting up in the morning, for example: You get up, take a shower, get dressed, eat breakfast. This simple daily routine solves a recurring problem through a series of well-defined steps. In computer science, such a routine is called an algorithm. Erwig illustrates a series of concepts in computing with examples from daily life and familiar stories. Hansel and Gretel, for example, execute an algorithm to get home from the forest. The movie Groundhog Day illustrates the problem of unsolvability; Sherlock Holmes manipulates data structures when solving a crime; the magic in Harry Potter's world is understood through types and abstraction; and Indiana Jones demonstrates the complexity of searching. Along the way, Erwig also discusses representations and different ways to organize data; "intractable" problems; language, syntax, and ambiguity; control structures, loops, and the halting problem; different forms of recursion; and rules for finding errors in algorithms. This engaging book explains computation accessibly and shows its relevance to daily life. Something to think about next time we execute the algorithm of getting up in the morning" -- From the publisher.

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Laage recenserade Once upon an Algorithm av Martin Erwig

Review of 'Once upon an Algorithm' on 'Goodreads'

3 stjärnor

Excellent idea, but lacking in execution.
The idea of using stories as examples of algorithms is good, but I feel that the author tends to get too focused on the details of the algorithms discussed and therefore risks losing the intended audience.

The accompanying PDF is mostly useless if you're not listening to the audiobook near a computer or has a hard copy accessible at all times where you can refer to it directly. I'm listening to the audiobook while driving which makes this impossible. Most of the diagrams are just listed with number and no accompanying text. A simple paragraph explaining each example or diagram would make it useful as a reminder/lookup at a later time as well.

Using the concept of music as a language is a good idea and a natural for an audiobook - and completely squandered as not a single note is played. I understand …

Excellent idea, but lacking in execution.
The idea of using stories as examples of algorithms is good, but I feel that the author tends to get too focused on the details of the algorithms discussed and therefore risks losing the intended audience.

The accompanying PDF is mostly useless if you're not listening to the audiobook near a computer or has a hard copy accessible at all times where you can refer to it directly. I'm listening to the audiobook while driving which makes this impossible. Most of the diagrams are just listed with number and no accompanying text. A simple paragraph explaining each example or diagram would make it useful as a reminder/lookup at a later time as well.

Using the concept of music as a language is a good idea and a natural for an audiobook - and completely squandered as not a single note is played. I understand that reproducing an entire song would probably require hefty licensing fees, but it should be possible to use a 10 or 15 second sample under the fair use doctrine. Or choose a song which is in the public domain - though that would of course de-couple it from the Wizard of Oz.

Ämnen

Computer algorithms
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