This 1997 book examines recent changes in the design of intelligent machines. New computer models of vision and navigation in animals suggest a different way to build machines. Cognition is viewed not just in terms of high-level 'expertise,' but in the ability to find one's way around the world, to learn new ways of seeing things, and to coordinate activity. This approach is called situated cognition. Situated Cognition differs from other purely philosophical treatises in that Clancey, an insider who has built expert systems for twenty years, explores the limitations of existing computer programs and compares them to human memory and learning capabilities. Clancey examines the implications of 'situated action' from the perspective of artificial intelligence specialists interested in building robots.
Harness the power of shells . . . for the Internet and beyondCompletely revised and updated to include the latest developments in Internet and business applications, UNIX Shell Programming, Fourth Edi
Is computerised production transforming work roles, as recent debates about flexible specialisation and post-Fordist manufacturing suggest? This book focuses on the key case of metalworking batch production in Britain, Italy, Japan and the USA. Looking at technological, political and social developments from a comparative perspective, it suggests that comprehensive factory principles never fully replaced workshop organisation. Drawing on empirical case studies of flexible manufacturing systems, Bryn Jones offers a new distinction between the bureaucratic bias of Taylorism and the product standardisation approach of Fordism, and questions whether computerised production is transcending Fordism. Instead of the often predicted models of deskilled, centrally controlled work, or a decentralised craft renaissance, he shows a greater likelihood of national variations between factory and workshop principles continuing into the contemporary age of computerisation.
This 1997 book is a self-contained tutorial on Z, a formal notation for modelling, specifying and designing computer systems and software, for experienced professionals and serious students in programming and software engineering. It presents realistic case studies emphasising safety-critical systems, with examples drawn from embedded controls, real-time and concurrent programming, computer graphics, games, text processing, databases, artificial intelligence, and object-oriented programming. It motivates the use of formal methods and discusses practical issues concerning how to apply them in real projects. It also teaches how to apply formal program derivation and verification to implement Z specifications in real programming languages with examples in C. The book includes exercises with solutions, reference materials, and a guide to further reading.
Mathematica® in the Laboratory is a hands-on guide which shows how to harness the power and flexibility of Mathematica in the control of data-acquisition equipment and the analysis of experimental data. It explains how to use Mathematica to import, manipulate, visualise and analyse data from existing files. The generation and export of test data are also covered. The control of laboratory equipment is dealt with in detail, including the use of Mathematica's MathLink® system in instrument control, data processing, and interfacing. Many practical examples are given, which can either be used directly or adapted to suit a particular application. The book sets out clearly how Mathematica can provide a truly unified data-handling environment, and will be invaluable to anyone who collects or analyses experimental data, including astronomers, biologists, chemists, mathematicians, geologists, physicists and engineers. The book is fully compatible with Mathematica 3.0.
Virtual Culture marks a significant intervention in the current debate about access and control in cybersociety exposing the ways in which the Internet and other computer-mediated communication techn
Semiotics is the science of signs: graphical, such as pictures; verbal (writing or sounds); or others such as body gestures and clothes. Computer semiotics studies the special nature of computer-based signs and how they function in use. This 1991 book is based on ten years of empirical research on computer usage in work situations and contains material from a course taught by the author. It introduces basic traditional semiotic concepts and adapts them so that they become useful for analysing and designing computer systems in their symbolic context of work. It presents a novel approach to the subject, rich in examples, in that it is both theoretically systematic and practical. The author refers to and reinterprets techniques already used so that readers can deepen their understanding. In addition, it offers new techniques and a consistent perspective on computer systems that is particularly appropriate for new hardware and software (e.g. hypermedia) whose main functions are presentatio
Netizens, one of the first books detailing the Internet, looks at the creation and development of this participatory global computer network. The authors conducted online research to find out what mak
In the Spring of 1996, international leaders in business, law, government, and education gathered at Harvard University to discuss the impact of the Internet, one of the most potent technological inno
Surfin' the Net! is an abbreviated, easy-to-understand reference for everyone who uses or is thinking of using the Internet. Surfin' the Net! provides the information you'll need to get connected and
Tucking a few JavaScript statements in among the HTML code that makes up your Web pages makes a dramatic difference. Enhanced, more interactive navigation buttons, user input validation, and scrolling
Significant amounts of our time and energy are devoted to creating, managing, and avoiding information. Computers and telecommunications technology have extended our regard for information and are driving changes in how we learn, work, and play. One result of these developments is that skills and strategies for storing and retrieving information have become more essential and more pervasive in our culture. This book considers how electronic technologies have changed these skills and strategies and augmented the fundamental human activity of information seeking. The author makes a case for creating new interface designs that allow the information seeker to choose what strategy to apply according to their immediate needs. Such systems may be designed by providing information seekers with alternative interface mechanisms for displaying and manipulating multiple levels of representation for information objects. Information Seeking in Electronic Environments is essential reading for researc
Computational learning theory is a subject which has been advancing rapidly in the last few years. The authors concentrate on the probably approximately correct model of learning, and gradually develop the ideas of efficiency considerations. Finally, applications of the theory to artificial neural networks are considered. Many exercises are included throughout, and the list of references is extensive. This volume is relatively self contained as the necessary background material from logic, probability and complexity theory is included. It will therefore form an introduction to the theory of computational learning, suitable for a broad spectrum of graduate students from theoretical computer science and mathematics.
Type It Right! the little black book for your computer describes everything you'll need to know to create correctly-typed documents! Type It Right! represents a compilation of information and advice f
Mathematicians from Leibniz to Hilbert have sought to mechanise the verification of mathematical proofs. Developments arising out of Gödel's proof of his incompleteness theorem showed that no computer program could automatically prove true all the theorems of mathematics. In practice, however, there are a number of sophisticated automated reasoning programs that are quite effective at checking mathematical proofs. Now in paperback, this book describes the use of a computer program to check the proofs of several celebrated theorems in metamathematics including Gödel's incompleteness theorem and the Church–Rosser theorem. The computer verification using the Boyer–Moore theorem prover yields precise and rigorous proofs of these difficult theorems. It also demonstrates the range and power of automated proof checking technology. The mechanisation of metamathematics itself has important implications for automated reasoning since metatheorems can be applied by labour-saving devices to simpli
The SUPERMEN"After a rare speech at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, in 1976, programmers in the audience had suddenly fallen silent when Cray offered to answer quest
A clear, informative look at the scientific principles behind modern mircoelectronics technology traces the history of the microchip, discusses its varied of functions, and speculates about the future
Now in paperback, Topology via Logic is an advanced textbook on topology for computer scientists. Based on a course given by the author to postgraduate students of computer science at Imperial College, it has three unusual features. First, the introduction is from the locale viewpoint, motivated by the logic of finite observations: this provides a more direct approach than the traditional one based on abstracting properties of open sets in the real line. Second, the methods of locale theory are freely exploited. Third, there is substantial discussion of some computer science applications. Although books on topology aimed at mathematics exist, no book has been written specifically for computer scientists. As computer scientists become more aware of the mathematical foundations of their discipline, it is appropriate that such topics are presented in a form of direct relevance and applicability. This book goes some way towards bridging the gap.
The new edition of this successful and established textbook retains its two original intentions of explaining how to program in the ML language, and teaching the fundamentals of functional programming. The major change is the early and prominent coverage of modules, which are extensively used throughout. In addition, the first chapter has been totally rewritten to make the book more accessible to those without experience of programming languages. The main features of new Standard Library for the revised version of ML are described and many new examples are given, while references have also been updated. Dr Paulson has extensive practical experience of ML and has stressed its use as a tool for software engineering; the book contains many useful pieces of code, which are freely available (via the Internet) from the author. He shows how to use lists, trees, higher-order functions and infinite data structures. Many illustrative and practical examples are included.. Efficient functional imp
