Giorgio Ausiello - Böcker

International Federation for Information Processing The IFIP series publishes state-of-the-art results in the sciences and technologies of information and communication. The scope of the series includes: foundations of computer science; software theory and practice; education; computer applications in technology; communication systems; systems modeling and optimization; information systems; computers and society; computer systems technology; security and protection in information processing systems; artificial intelligence; and human-computer interaction. Proceedings and post-proceedings of refereed international conferences in computer science and interdisciplinary fields are featured. These results often precede journal publication and represent the most current research. The principal aim of the IFIP series is to encourage education and the dissemination and exchange of information about all aspects of computing. For more information about the 300 other books in the IFIP series, please visit www.springer.com. For more information about IFIP, please visit www.ifip.org.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of 5th International Conference on Theoretical Computer Science held in Milano, Italy in 2008. The IFIP series publishes state-of-the-art results in the sciences and technologies of information and communication. The scope of the series includes: foundations of computer science; software theory and practice; education; computer applications in technology; communication systems; systems modeling and optimization; information systems; computers and society; computer systems technology; security and protection in information processing systems; artificial intelligence; and human-computer interaction. Proceedings and post-proceedings of refereed international conferences in computer science and interdisciplinary fields are featured. These results often precede journal publication and represent the most current research. The principal aim of the IFIP series is to encourage education and the dissemination and exchange of information about all aspects of computing.

This book explains the development of theoretical computer science in its early stages, specifically from 1965 to 1990. The author is among the pioneers of theoretical computer science, and he guides the reader through the early stages of development of this new discipline. He explains the origins of the field, arising from disciplines such as logic, mathematics, and electronics, and he describes the evolution of the key principles of computing in strands such as computability, algorithms, and programming.But mainly it's a story about people – pioneers with diverse backgrounds and characters came together to overcome philosophical and institutional challenges and build a community. They collaborated on research efforts, they established schools and conferences, they developed the first related university courses, they taught generations of future researchers and practitioners, and they set up the key publications to communicate and archive their knowledge.The book is a fascinating insight into the field as it existed and evolved, it will be valuable reading for anyone interested in the history of computing.

This book explains the development of theoretical computer science in its early stages, specifically from 1965 to 1990. The author is among the pioneers of theoretical computer science, and he guides the reader through the early stages of development of this new discipline. He explains the origins of the field, arising from disciplines such as logic, mathematics, and electronics, and he describes the evolution of the key principles of computing in strands such as computability, algorithms, and programming.But mainly it's a story about people – pioneers with diverse backgrounds and characters came together to overcome philosophical and institutional challenges and build a community. They collaborated on research efforts, they established schools and conferences, they developed the first related university courses, they taught generations of future researchers and practitioners, and they set up the key publications to communicate and archive their knowledge.The book is a fascinating insight into the field as it existed and evolved, it will be valuable reading for anyone interested in the history of computing.

This volume contains the proceedings of ICALP 89, held at Stresa, Italy, July 11-15, 1989. ICALP 89 is the 16th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages and Programming in a series of meetings sponsored by the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science (EATCS). It is a broadly based conference covering all aspects of theoretical computer science including topics such as computability, automata theory, formal language theory, analysis of algorithms, computational complexity, mathematical aspects of programming language definition, logic and semantics of programming languages, foundations of logic programming, theorem proving, software specification, computational geometry, data types and data structures, theory of data bases and knowledge based systems, cryptography, VLSI structures, parallel and distributed computing, models of concurrency and robotics.

This book is an up-to-date documentation of the state of the art in combinatorial optimization, presenting approximate solutions of virtually all relevant classes of NP-hard optimization problems. The well-structured wealth of problems, algorithms, results, and techniques introduced systematically will make the book an indispensible source of reference for professionals. The smooth integration of numerous illustrations, examples, and exercises make this monograph an ideal textbook.

To examine, analyze, and manipulate a problem to the point of designing an algorithm for solving it is an exercise of fundamental value in many fields. With so many everyday activities governed by algorithmic principles, the power, precision, reliability and speed of execution demanded by users have transformed the design and construction of algorithms from a creative, artisanal activity into a full-fledged science in its own right. This book is aimed at all those who exploit the results of this new science, as designers and as consumers.  The first chapter is an overview of the related history, demonstrating the long development of ideas such as recursion and more recent formalizations such as computability. The second chapter shows how the design of algorithms requires appropriate techniques and sophisticated organization of data. In the subsequent chapters the contributing authors present examples from diverse areas – such as routing and networking problems, Web search, information security, auctions and games, complexity and randomness, and the life sciences – that show how algorithmic thinking offers practical solutions and also deepens domain knowledge. The contributing authors are top-class researchers with considerable academic and industrial experience; they are also excellent educators and communicators and they draw on this experience with enthusiasm and humor. This book is an excellent introduction to an intriguing domain and it will be enjoyed by undergraduate and postgraduate students in computer science, engineering, and mathematics, and more broadly by all those engaged with algorithmic thinking.

N COMPUTER applications we are used to live with approximation. Var­ I ious notions of approximation appear, in fact, in many circumstances. One notable example is the type of approximation that arises in numer­ ical analysis or in computational geometry from the fact that we cannot perform computations with arbitrary precision and we have to truncate the representation of real numbers. In other cases, we use to approximate com­ plex mathematical objects by simpler ones: for example, we sometimes represent non-linear functions by means of piecewise linear ones. The need to solve difficult optimization problems is another reason that forces us to deal with approximation. In particular, when a problem is computationally hard (i. e. , the only way we know to solve it is by making use of an algorithm that runs in exponential time), it may be practically unfeasible to try to compute the exact solution, because it might require months or years of machine time, even with the help of powerful parallel computers. In such cases, we may decide to restrict ourselves to compute a solution that, though not being an optimal one, nevertheless is close to the optimum and may be determined in polynomial time. We call this type of solution an approximate solution and the corresponding algorithm a polynomial-time approximation algorithm. Most combinatorial optimization problems of great practical relevance are, indeed, computationally intractable in the above sense. In formal terms, they are classified as Np-hard optimization problems.

This book will help readers design and construct algorithms to solve problems. It features many application examples.

This proceedings contains contributions on topics such as the models of computation, analysis and design of sequential and parallel algorithms, data structures and their applications, approximating algorithms and probabilistic analysis, and computational complexity.

This book explores the tight relationship that existed between application needs and computational problem-solving methods during the Middle Ages, particularly the period between the 9th and 15th centuries. It was a time of great cultural and economic evolution, starting with the blooming phase of Arab science and continuing with the acquisition of Hindu-Arabic computation methods (based on the decimal positional number system) in Western Europe.The aim is to show, by means of suitable examples, how in the Middle Ages mathematics and computation were tightly related to the solution of everyday life problems. These ranges from religious problems like computing the date of Easter to land measurement and financial computations, as well as handling various volumes and managing agricultural resources.In particular, during the late medieval centuries when the economy saw a substantial upswing, merchants' activity required strong computational skills to solve a great variety of problems. It is such need that led to the creation of the so called 'abacus schools' that the sons of merchants, primarily Italians but also from other European regions, attended during their boyhood to learn computing techniques.