Undergraduate Topics in Computer Science – serie

This easy-to-understand textbook introduces the mathematical language and problem-solving tools essential to anyone wishing to enter the world of computer and information sciences. Specifically designed for the student who is intimidated by mathematics, the book offers a concise treatment in an engaging style.The thoroughly revised third edition features a new chapter on relevance-sensitivity in logical reasoning and many additional explanations on points that students find puzzling, including the rationale for various shorthand ways of speaking and ‘abuses of language’ that are convenient but can give rise to misunderstandings. Solutions are now also provided for all exercises.Topics and features: presents an intuitive approach, emphasizing how finite mathematics supplies a valuable language for thinking about computation; discusses sets and the mathematical objects built with them, such as relations and functions, as well as recursion and induction; introduces core topics of mathematics, including combinatorics and finite probability, along with the structures known as trees; examines propositional and quantificational logic, how to build complex proofs from simple ones, and how to ensure relevance in logic; addresses questions that students find puzzling but may have difficulty articulating, through entertaining conversations between Alice and the Mad Hatter; provides an extensive set of solved exercises throughout the text.This clearly-written textbook offers invaluable guidance to students beginning an undergraduate degree in computer science. The coverage is also suitable for courses on formal methods offered to those studying mathematics, philosophy, linguistics, economics, and political science. Assuming only minimal mathematical background, it is ideal for both the classroom and independent study.

As our society grows ever more reliant on computers, so it also becomes more vulnerable to computer crime. Cyber attacks have been plaguing computer users since the 1980s, and computer security experts are predicting that smart telephones and other mobile devices will also become the targets of cyber security threats in the future.Developed from the author's successful Springer guide to Foundations of Computer Security, this accessible textbook/reference is fully updated and enhanced with resources for students and tutors.Topics and features: examines the physical security of computer hardware, networks, and digital data; introduces the different forms of rogue software (or malware), discusses methods for preventing and defending against malware, and describes a selection of viruses, worms and Trojans in detail; investigates the important threats to network security, and explores the subjects of authentication, spyware, and identity theft; discusses issues of privacy and trust in the online world, including children's privacy and safety; includes appendices which discuss the definition, meaning, and history of the term hacker, introduce the language of "l33t Speak", and provide a detailed virus timeline; provides numerous exercises and examples throughout the text, in addition to a Glossary of terms used in the book; supplies additional resources at the associated website, http://www.DavidSalomon.name/, including an introduction to cryptography, and answers to the exercises.Clearly and engagingly written, this concise textbook is an ideal resource for undergraduate classes on computer security. The book is mostly non-mathematical, and is suitable for anyone familiar with the basic concepts of computers and computations.

The use of mathematical methods in the development of software is essential when reliable systems are sought; in particular they are now strongly recommended by the official norms adopted in the production of critical software. Program Verification is the area of computer science that studies mathematical methods for checking that a program conforms to its specification. This text is a self-contained introduction to program verification using logic-based methods, presented in the broader context of formal methods for software engineering.The idea of specifying the behaviour of individual software components by attaching contracts to them is now a widely followed approach in program development, which has given rise notably to the development of a number of behavioural interface specification languages and program verification tools. A foundation for the static verification of programs based on contract-annotated routines is laid out in the book. These can be independently verified, which provides a modular approach to the verification of software.The text assumes only basic knowledge of standard mathematical concepts that should be familiar to any computer science student. It includes a self-contained introduction to propositional logic and first-order reasoning with theories, followed by a study of program verification that combines theoretical and practical aspects - from a program logic (a variant of Hoare logic for programs containing user-provided annotations) to the use of a realistic tool for the verification of C programs (annotated using the ACSL specification language), through the generation of verification conditions and the static verification of runtime errors.

The design and implementation of programming languages, from Fortran and Cobol to Caml and Java, has been one of the key developments in the management of ever more complex computerized systems. Introduction to the Theory of Programming Languages gives the reader the means to discover the tools to think, design, and implement these languages.It proposes a unified vision of the different formalisms that permit definition of a programming language: small steps operational semantics, big steps operational semantics, and denotational semantics, emphasising that all seek to define a relation between three objects: a program, an input value, and an output value. These formalisms are illustrated by presenting the semantics of some typical features of programming languages: functions, recursivity, assignments, records, objects, ... showing that the study of programming languages does not consist of studying languages one after another, but is organized around the features that arepresent in these various languages. The study of these features leads to the development of evaluators, interpreters and compilers, and also type inference algorithms, for small languages.

Logic is a branch of philosophy, mathematics and computer science. It studies the required methods to determine whether a statement is true, such as reasoning and computation.Proofs and Algorithms: Introduction to Logic and Computability is an introduction to the fundamental concepts of contemporary logic - those of a proof, a computable function, a model and a set. It presents a series of results, both positive and negative, - Church's undecidability theorem, Gödel’s incompleteness theorem, the theorem asserting the semi-decidability of provability - that have profoundly changed our vision of reasoning, computation, and finally truth itself.Designed for undergraduate students, this book presents all that philosophers, mathematicians and computer scientists should know about logic.

This textbook is a systematic guide to the steps in setting up a Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) improvement initiative.  Readers will learn the project management practices necessary to deliver high-quality software solutions to the customer on time and on budget.  The text also highlights how software process improvement can achieve specific business goals to provide a tangible return on investment. Topics and features: supplies review questions, summaries and key topics for each chapter, as well as a glossary of acronyms; describes the CMMI model thoroughly, detailing the five maturity levels; provides a broad overview of software engineering; reviews the activities and teams required to set up a CMMI improvement initiative; examines in detail the implementation of CMMI in a typical organization at each of the maturity levels; investigates the various tools that support organizations in improving their software engineering maturity; discusses the SCAMPI appraisal methodology.

It provides a thorough introduction to the concepts of PR and a systematic account of the major topics in PR besides reviewing the vast progress made in the field in recent times.

Pervasive Computing is an important area in current computer science research and industrial development. Sensing and Systems in Pervasive Computing brings together these issues in a practical form for the undergraduate or postgraduate -- describing the core ideas and providing programming exercises which explore these issues.

Multicore Programming Using the ParC Language discusses the principles of practical parallel programming using shared memory on multicore machines. It uses a simple yet powerful parallel dialect of C called ParC as the basic programming language. Designed to be used in an introductory course in parallel programming and covering basic and advanced concepts of parallel programming via ParC examples, the book combines a mixture of research directions, covering issues in parallel operating systems, and compilation techniques relevant for shared memory and multicore machines.Multicore Programming Using the ParC Language provides a firm basis for the ‘delicate art’ of creating efficient parallel programs. Students can exercise parallel programming using a simulation software, which is portable on PC/Unix multicore computers, to gain experience without requiring specialist hardware. Students can also help to cement their learning by completing the great many challenging and exciting exercises which accompany each chapter.

This textbook presents the fundamental concepts and methods for understanding and working with images and video in an unique, easy-to-read style which ensures the material is accessible to a wide audience. Exploring more than just the basics of image processing, the text provides a specific focus on the practical design and implementation of real systems for processing video data. Features: includes more than 100 exercises, as well as C-code snippets of the key algorithms; covers topics on image acquisition, color images, point processing, neighborhood processing, morphology, BLOB analysis, segmentation in video, tracking, geometric transformation, and visual effects; requires only a minimal understanding of mathematics; presents two chapters dedicated to applications; provides a guide to defining suitable values for parameters in video and image processing systems, and to conversion between the RGB color representation and the HIS, HSV and YUV/YCbCr color representations.

This textbook presents a detailed introduction to the essentials of networking and communications technologies. Revised and updated, this new edition retains the step-by-step approach of the original, organised to help those without a strong knowledge of the subject matter. Features: provides chapter-ending summaries and review questions, an Appendix on TCP/IP packet formats and an expanded Glossary; supplies supplementary material at the associated Springer website, including teaching slides, solutions to the end-of-chapter questions and supplementary exercises with solutions; presents a greater emphasis on mobile computing and network security, and extended coverage of IPv6 (NEW); discusses networking models and standards, local area and wide area networks, network protocols, TCP/IP-based networks, network management and wireless communications; examines grid and cloud computing, microblogging, mobile ad hoc networks, near-field communication, Power over Ethernet and the Ground Positioning System (NEW).

This textbook provides a practical perspective on autonomic computing. Through the combined use of examples and hands-on projects, the book enables the reader to rapidly gain an understanding of the theories, models, design principles and challenges of this subject while building upon their current knowledge. Features: provides a structured and comprehensive introduction to autonomic computing with a software engineering perspective; supported by a downloadable learning environment and source code that allows students to develop, execute, and test autonomic applications at an associated website; presents the latest information on techniques implementing self-monitoring, self-knowledge, decision-making and self-adaptation; discusses the challenges to evaluating an autonomic system, aiding the reader in designing tests and metrics that can be used to compare systems; reviews the most relevant sources of inspiration for autonomic computing, with pointers towards more extensive specialty literature.

Features: provides an introduction to the basic notation and mathematical concepts for describing an image and the key concepts for mapping an image into an image; explains the topologic and geometric basics for analysing image regions and distributions of image values and discusses identifying patterns in an image;

This book provides an introduction to the essential concepts in programming languages, using operational semantics techniques. It presents alternative programming language paradigms and gives an in-depth analysis of the most significant constructs in modern imperative, functional and logic programming languages.

This book provides insights drawn from the authors’ extensive experience in teaching Puzzle-based Learning. Practical advice is provided for teachers and lecturers evaluating a range of different formats for varying class sizes. Features: suggests numerous entertaining puzzles designed to motivate students to think about framing and solving unstructured problems; discusses models for student engagement, setting up puzzle clubs, hosting a puzzle competition, and warm-up activities; presents an overview of effective teaching approaches used in Puzzle-based Learning, covering a variety of class activities, assignment settings and assessment strategies; examines the issues involved in framing a problem and reviews a range of problem-solving strategies; contains tips for teachers and notes on common student pitfalls throughout the text; provides a collection of puzzle sets for use during a Puzzle-based Learning event, including puzzles that require probabilistic reasoning, and logic and geometry puzzles.

highlights the patterns which frequently appear when writing programs, reinforcing the application of these patterns for problem-solving through practice exercises; introduces the use of a debugger tool to inspect a program, enabling students to discover for themselves how programs work and enhance their understanding;

This classroom-tested textbook provides an accessible introduction to the design, formal modeling, and analysis of distributed computer systems.

This book explains and explores the principal techniques of Data Mining, the automatic extraction of implicit and potentially useful information from data, which is increasingly used in commercial, scientific and other application areas. It focuses on classification, association rule mining and clustering.Each topic is clearly explained, with a focus on algorithms not mathematical formalism, and is illustrated by detailed worked examples. The book is written for readers without a strong background in mathematics or statistics and any formulae used are explained in detail.It can be used as a textbook to support courses at undergraduate or postgraduate levels in a wide range of subjects including Computer Science, Business Studies, Marketing, Artificial Intelligence, Bioinformatics and Forensic Science.As an aid to self-study, it aims to help general readers develop the necessary understanding of what is inside the 'black box' so they can use commercial data mining packages discriminatingly, as well as enabling advanced readers or academic researchers to understand or contribute to future technical advances in the field.Each chapter has practical exercises to enable readers to check their progress. A full glossary of technical terms used is included.Principles of Data Mining includes descriptions of algorithms for classifying streaming data, both stationary data, where the underlying model is fixed, and data that is time-dependent, where the underlying model changes from time to time - a phenomenon known as concept drift. The expanded fourth edition gives a detailed description of a feed-forward neural network with backpropagation and shows how it can be used for classification.

John Vince explains a comprehensive range of mathematical techniques and problem-solving strategies associated with computer games, computer animation, special effects, virtual reality, CAD and other areas of computer graphics in this completely revised and expanded seventh edition.The first five chapters cover a general introduction, number sets, algebra, trigonometry and coordinate systems, which are employed in the following chapters on determinants, vectors, matrix algebra, complex numbers, geometric transforms, quaternion algebra, quaternions in space, interpolation, statistics, curves and patches, analytical geometry and barycentric coordinates. Following this, the reader is introduced to the relatively new subject of geometric algebra, followed by two chapters that introduce differential and integral calculus. Finally, there are chapters on Fourier analysis and Worked examples.Mathematics for Computer Graphics covers all of the key areas of the subject, including:• Number sets• Algebra• Trigonometry• Complex numbers• Coordinate systems• Determinants• Vectors• Quaternions• Matrix algebra• Geometric transforms• Interpolation• Curves and surfaces• Analytic geometry• Statistics• Barycentric coordinates• Geometric algebra• Differential calculus• Integral calculus• Fourier analysisThis seventh edition contains approximately 200 worked examples and over 350 colour illustrations, which are central to the author’s descriptive writing style. Mathematics for Computer Graphics provides a sound understanding of the mathematics required for computer graphics software and setting the scene for further reading of more advanced books and technical research papers.

Software errors can lead to catastrophic consequences, from financial losses to threats to human safety. As a result, rigorous methods for software development and validation have become increasingly critical. Program verification, a key area of formal methods, provides mathematical tools and techniques to ensure that software behaves as intended. This book provides a comprehensive introduction to program verification, combining theoretical foundations with practical applications using real-world tools. It offers a self-contained overview of propositional logic and first-order reasoning with theories, followed by a study of Hoare-style program logic with annotations and the generation of verification conditions. The use of Frama-C’s WP plug-in for verifying C programs annotated with the ACSL specification language, including safety properties, is also covered. This revised and expanded second edition incorporates recent advances in formal methods and program verification, integrating new techniques, tools, and exercises to equip readers with the skills necessary for rigorous software development.Rigorous Software Development is ideal for computer science students, researchers in formal methods, and software engineers seeking a deeper understanding of program verification techniques and tools. It equips readers with the knowledge needed to apply rigorous methods in practice while providing a solid foundation for the evolving landscape of modern software engineering.

Semantics will have an important role to play in the future development of software systems and domain specific languages, and there is a real need for an introductory book that presents the fundamental ideas behind these approaches; stresses their relationship by formulating and proving the relevant theorems; and illustrates the applications of semantics in computer science. This book investigates the relationship between the various methods and describes some of the main ideas used, illustrating these via interesting applications. Historically important application areas are used together with some exciting potential applications including: Validating prototype implementations of programming languages. Verifying program analyses that are part of more advanced implementations of programming languages. Verifying security analyses. Verifying useful program properties including information about execution time.

1.1 Introduction Object-oriented programming has opened a great many perspectives on the concept of software and has been hailed as part of the solution to the so-called “software crisis”. It has given the possibility that software components can be constructedandreusedwithconsiderablymorecredibility.Therearenowmany case studies in which the reuse of object-oriented components has been made and analysed. Object-oriented programming relates the programming activity to that of modelling or simulation; objects are identi?ed by a correspondence with the objects found in the application area of the program and are used to model those domain operations. Object-oriented programming also opens the prospect of more ?exible software that is able to respond dynamically to the needs of the application at runtime. It is very easy to think that object-oriented programming can be performed in only one way. The prevalence of C++ and Java suggests that they are the onlywaytoapproachtheproblemofwhatanobject-orientedprogrammingl- guage should look like. There are many approaches to this way of programming andC++andJavaexemplifyjustoneofthesedi?erentapproaches.Indeed,the wayinwhichtheconceptoftheobjectisinterpreteddi?ersbetweenapproaches and between languages. The two main approaches found in object-oriented programming languages are, respectively, class-based and prototype-based languages. Class-based l- guages are exempli?ed by Smalltalk [34], C++ [75, 74] and Java [47]. This 2 1. Introduction approach is based upon the identi?cation of common properties of objects and their description in terms of a de?nitional structure called a class. The objects manipulated by class-based programs are the result of instantiating classes.

Distributed processing has a strong theoretical foundation, but many day-to-day practitioners make limited use of the advantages this theory can give them. The result includes unreliable systems with obscure and intermittent failures, that can cost time, money and in extreme cases, lives. Reliable construction of distributed and concurrent systems must incorporate theory in practice.This book provides a concise presentation of the theory closely linked to the practical realisation of these concepts. Practical presentation is given with examples from C, Java and Eiffel in this comprehensive textbook which contains all the elements needed for a complete development of a distributed system. Theoretical models of concurrency are linked with practical realisation of systems, providing an integrated approach to the field.Written with undergraduates in mind, especially relevant for intermediate level students, this textbook will prove a comprehensive guide to the topic. Example code will be provided on a website.

OSP 2 is both an implementation of a modern operating system and a flexible environment for generating implementation projects appropriate for an introductory course in operating system design.

Compression is an option naturally selected when faced with problems of high costs or restricted space. This book offers readers a succinct and reader-friendly foundation to the most important topics in the field of data compression.Divided into two parts, Part I presents the basic approaches to data compression and describes a few popular techniques and methods that are commonly used to compress data. The reader discovers essential concepts, such as variable-length and prefix codes, statistical distribution and run-length codes. Part II concentrates on advanced techniques, such as arithmetic coding, orthogonal transforms, subband transforms and Burrows-Wheeler transform.Complete and clear, this book will be the perfect reference for advanced undergraduates in computer science and requires a minimum of mathematics. An author-maintained website provides readers with errata and auxiliary material.

A Concise Introduction to Languages, Machines and Logic provides an accessible introduction to three key topics within computer science: formal languages, abstract machines and formal logic. Written in an easy-to-read, informal style, this textbook assumes only a basic knowledge of programming on the part of the reader.The approach is deliberately non-mathematical, and features: - Clear explanations of formal notation and jargon, - Extensive use of examples to illustrate algorithms and proofs, - Pictorial representations of key concepts, - Chapter opening overviews providing an introduction and guidance to each topic, - End-of-chapter exercises and solutions, - Offers an intuitive approach to the topics.This reader-friendly textbook has been written with undergraduates in mind and will be suitable for use on course covering formal languages, formal logic, computability and automata theory. It will also make an excellent supplementary text for courses on algorithm complexity and compilers.

This book provides a modern, algorithmic introduction to digital image p- cessing, designed to be used both by learners desiring a ?rm foundation on which to build and practitioners in search of critical analysis and modern - plementations of the most important techniques. This updated and enhanced paperbackedition ofourcomprehensivetextbookDigital Image Processing: An Algorithmic Approach Using Java packages the original material into a series of compactvolumes, therebysupporting a ?exiblesequenceofcoursesindigital image processing. Tailoring the contents to the scope of individual semester courses is also an attempt to provide a?ordable (and "backpack-compatible") textbooks without comprimising the quality and depth of content. Oneapproachtolearninganewlanguageistobecomeconversantinthecore vocabulary and to start using it right away. At ?rst, you may only know how to ask for directions, order co?ee, and so on, but once you become con?dent with the core, you will start engaging others in "conversations" and rapidly learn how to get things done. This step-by-step approach works equally well in many areas of science and engineering. In this ?rst volume, ostentatiously titled Fundamental Techniques,wehave attemptedtocompilethecore"vocabulary" ofdigitalimageprocessing,starting from the basic concepts and elementary properties of digital images through simple statistics and point operations, fundamental ?ltering techniques, loc- ization of edges and contours, and basic operations on color images. Mastering these most commonly used techniques and algorithms will enable you to start being productive right away.

This easy-to-follow textbook is the second of 3 volumes which provide a modern, algorithmic introduction to digital image processing, designed to be used both by learners desiring a firm foundation on which to build, and practitioners in search of critical analysis and modern implementations of the most important techniques. It extends the introductory material presented in the first volume (Fundamental Techniques) with additional techniques that form part of the standard image processing toolbox. The textbook presents a critical selection of algorithms, illustrated explanations and concise mathematical derivations, for readers to gain a deeper understanding of the topic. It also encourages the reader to actively construct and experiment with the algorithms to develop their understanding for how to use these methods in the real world. This reader-friendly text will equip undergraduates with a deeper understanding of the topic as well as being valuable for further developing knowledge for self-study.

Overview and Goals The agile approach for software development has been applied more and more extensively since the mid nineties of the 20th century. Though there are only about ten years of accumulated experience using the agile approach, it is currently conceived as one of the mainstream approaches for software development. This book presents a complete software engineering course from the agile angle. Our intention is to present the agile approach in a holistic and compreh- sive learning environment that fits both industry and academia and inspires the spirit of agile software development. Agile software engineering is reviewed in this book through the following three perspectives: l The Human perspective, which includes cognitive and social aspects, and refers to learning and interpersonal processes between teammates, customers, and management. l The Organizational perspective, which includes managerial and cultural aspects, and refers to software project management and control. lThe Technological perspective, which includes practical and technical aspects, and refers to design, testing, and coding, as well as to integration, delivery, and maintenance of software products. Specifically, we explain and analyze how the explicit attention that agile software development gives these perspectives and their interconnections, helps viii Preface it cope with the challenges of software projects. This multifaceted perspective on software development processes is reflected in this book, among other ways, by the chapter titles, which specify dimensions of software development projects such as quality, time, abstraction, and management, rather than specific project stages, phases, or practices.