This 1989 book is about chaos, fractals and complex dynamics, and is addressed to all people who have some familiarity with computers and enjoy using them. The mathematics has been kept simple, with few formulae, yet the reader is introduced to and can learn about an area of current scientific research which was scarcely possible before the availability of computers. The introduction is achieved through the extensive use of computer graphics. The book is divided into two main parts: in the first the most interesting problems are described, with, in each case, a solution in the form of a computer program. A large number of exercises enable the reader to undertake his or her own experimental work. In the second part, example programs are given for specific machines and operating systems; details refer to MS-DOC and Turbo-Pascal, UNIX 4.2 BSD with Berkley Pascal and C. Other implementations of the graphics routines are given for Apple Macintosh, Apple IIE and IIGS and Atari ST.
This book addresses the issues raised by the rapid advance of information technology (IT). IT is singularly pervasive: its applications affect people in all walks of life in a way that few other technologies do. The author's thesis is that it would be wise to become well informed about the capabilities and limitations of IT in order to make rational decisions on its use. The book gives a sufficient, non-technical, description of IT for non-specialist readers to appraise its potential and to evaluate critically proposals for new uses. The impact of IT in particular areas is examined and the influence on people and communities is soberly assessed. The book ends with an agenda for all concerned. Murray Laver is a well-known and respected commentator on topics concerning computers. He provides a realistic overview of IT, steering a middle course between rosy utopias and bleak apocalyptic nightmares.
"Machines who think -- how utterly preposterous," huff beleaguered humanists,defending their dwindling turf. "Artificial Intelligence -- it's here and about to surpass our own,"crow techno-visionaries
Effective Documentation is a major sourcebook that offers technical writers, editors, teachers, and students of technical communication a wide variety of practical guidelines based on often hard to fi
The designer of a software system, like the architect of a building, needs to be aware of the construction techniques available and to choose the ones that are the most appropriate. This book provides the implementer of software systems with a guide to 25 different techniques for the complete development processes, from system definition through design and into production. The techniques are described against a common background of the traditional development path, its activities and deliverable items. In addition the concepts of metrics and indicators are introduced as tools for both technical and managerial monitoring and control of progress and quality. The book is intended to widen the mental toolkit of system developers and their managers, and will also introduce students of computer science to the practical side of software development. With its wide-ranging treatment of the techniques available and the practical guidance it offers, it will prove an important and valuable work.
This book, written entirely by hand, is an introduction to programming in Pascal. It starts with the fundamental concept of a stored program and works through to the manipulation of records in dynamic storage. The style of presentation is pictorial. This book may be used as a self-contained reference manual for Pascal to BS 6192 and ISO 7185. Besides defining the statements and structures of Pascal this book illustrates the use of such features in small but complete programs. These programs introduce fundamental techniques of programming such as symbol-state tables, bubble sort, quicksoft, stacks and queues, reverse Polish notation, linked lists, shortest-route technique, doubly linked rings, binary trees, hashing technique and other tools of the programmer's trade.
What makes people smarter than computers? These volumes by a pioneering neurocomputing group suggest that the answer lies in the massively parallel architecture of the human mind. They describe a new
Digital Halftoning addresses the problem of developing algorithms that best match the specific parameters of any target display device. It is the first significant study of the process of producing qu
Most industrial nations actively support research and development of advanced computer technology. They usually justify public expenditures on the basis of both economic and national security benefits
This textbook is an introduction to denotational semantics and its applications to programming languages. Dr Allison emphasizes a practical approach and the student is encouraged to write and test denotational definitions. The first section is devoted to the mathematical foundations of the subject and sufficient detail is given to illustrate the fundamental problems. The remainder of the book covers the use of denotational semantics to describe sequential programming languages such as Algol, Pascal and C. Throughout, numerous exercises, usually in Pascal, will help the student practise writing definitions and carry out simple applications. The book culminates in discussing an executable semantics of the logic-programming language Prolog. Being an introduction, advanced undergraduates in computer science and graduates new to the subject will find this a readily accessible account of one of the central topics of computer science.
This textbook is an introduction to the design and writing of computer programs. It leads the reader through all the stages of program construction from the original specifications through to the final program. The formal verification of intermediate versions of the program is studied in considerable detail. The authors show how, given the formal specification of a program, data structure and program structure diagrams are drawn and then converted into a procedural program in a program design language (PDL). They demonstrate the conversion of PDL into a variety of real programming languages including Pascal, FORTRAN, COBOL, and Assembler. The book also includes chapters on abstract data types, analysing existing programs, and a small case study. First-year undergraduates in computer science and graduates taking courses in computing will find this a comprehensive introduction to program construction.
With the increasing application of software in systems, especially safety- or even life-critical systems, it is no longer sufficient for the software developer to rely solely on testing the code produced. Testing must begin with the specification of requirements, continue on the design and finally on the implemented system. This book gives guidance on how testing can be carried out at each of the stages of software development. It does this by looking at the development process from four viewpoints: that of the intended user of the system, of its designers, of its programmers, and of the manager responsible for development. The product of each stage of development is individually examined to see how it can be checked for correctness and consistency with earlier specifications. References are given to techniques available to the software developer and there are many helpful checklists. The contributors are all members of the British Computer Society's Working Group on Testing, and betwe
The transition from sequential to parallel computation is an area of critical concern in today's computer technology, particularly in architecture, programming languages, systems, and artificial intel
This book may be used as a self-contained manual for BBC-BASIC, the main language of the BBC Microcomputer and Master Series Computers. Information is presented in a form handy for reference. Page 163, for example, tabulates all characters in the ASCII range; pages 124-5 summarize all information needed when composing screens of MODE 7 graphics. A quick reference to all functions and operators is given on page 179; the syntax of every statement and command of BBC-Basic is summarized on pages 180-1. But there is more to this book. How do you make a computer sort names into alphabetical order? Not as obvious as it might seem. Three different sorting techniques are explained by example in this book: bubble sort, monkey puzzle (more formally the 'binary tree') and Quicksort relies on 'recursion' - an important programming concept which is explained and demonstrated. Making coloured objects rebound around the walls of a squash court is another technique demonstrated; so is making voices sin
Turtle Geometry presents an innovative program of mathematical discovery thatdemonstrates how the effective use of personal computers can profoundly change the nature of astudent's contact with mathem
The question, "What is Cognitive Science?" is often asked but seldom answered to anyone's satisfaction. Until now, most of the answers have come from the new breed of philosophers of mind. This book,
This book is devoted to recursion in programming, the technique by which the solution to a problem is expressed partly in terms of the solution to a simpler version of the same problem. Ultimately the solution to the simplest version must be given explicitly. In functional programming, recursion has received its full due since it is quite often the only repetitive construct. However, the programming language used here is Pascal and the examples have been chosen accordingly. It makes an interesting contrast with the use of recursion in functional and logic programming. The early chapters consider simple linear recursion using examples such as finding the highest common factor of a pair of numbers, and processing linked lists. Subsequent chapters move up through binary recursion, with examples which include the Towers of Hanoi problem and symbolic differentiation, to general recursion. The book contains well over 100 examples.
To perform computer simulation successfully, two rather different sets of skills are required. One of these relates to programming: a simulation program should do what its author intends and do it efficiently. The other is concerned with the collection and analysis of data: statistical tools have to be used in order to obtain with a minimum of effort, accurate and reliable estimates for the desired performance measures. Dr Mitrani covers both of these aspects of the simulation method. The important topics of point and interval estimation, simulation efficiency and the analysis of simulation experiments are discussed in detail. This book, first published in 1982, will be useful to both undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses on simulation in departments of computer science, operations research and statistics in universities and polytechnics. It will be of benefit also to practitioners in the field.
BCPL is a simple systems programming language with a portable compiler that has been implemented on many machines from large mainframes to mini computers and microprocessors. The book provides an introduction to the language, paying particular attention to programming style. In addition, it covers the more machine-independent parts of the BCPL library and outlines various debugging aids that most implementations provide. The syntax analysis phase of the compiler is described in detail, giving a realistic example of a typical application of the language. This and other substantial examples given in the book will be of interest both to serious users of BCPL and to computer writers. There is a chapter concerned with the portability code generator design. The reference for BCPL appears as the final chapter.
