Martin Erwig – författare

How Hansel and Gretel, Sherlock Holmes, the movie Groundhog Day, Harry Potter, and other familiar stories illustrate the concepts of computing.

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.

Understand the key principles of programming languages

Programming languages are the tools needed to let algorithms run on electronic computers. As they form the linguistic interface between humans and machines, the understanding of programming languages is essential for being able to control machine behavior. Programming Language Fundamentals offers a precise, comprehensive introduction to the principles that are the basis of most programming languages. Explaining both functional programming and logic programming, it presents a broad perspective on programming and constitutes an indispensable introduction to the foundations of programming languages.

Programming Language Fundamentals readers will also find:

Programming Language Fundamentals is ideal for undergraduate students in computer science, as well as researchers and practitioners working with programming languages who are looking to broaden their understanding of the field.

Understand the key principles of programming languages

Programming languages are the tools needed to let algorithms run on electronic computers. As they form the linguistic interface between humans and machines, the understanding of programming languages is essential for being able to control machine behavior. Programming Language Fundamentals offers a precise, comprehensive introduction to the principles that are the basis of most programming languages. Explaining both functional programming and logic programming, it presents a broad perspective on programming and constitutes an indispensable introduction to the foundations of programming languages.

Programming Language Fundamentals readers will also find:

Programming Language Fundamentals is ideal for undergraduate students in computer science, as well as researchers and practitioners working with programming languages who are looking to broaden their understanding of the field.