Reviews from Amazon

Algorithmics : the spirit of computing

The ubiquity of computers means that most people who get into programming won't have been through a formal computer science course. However, if you are such a programmer, then you may well want to find out more about the subject. Algorithmics : the spirit of computing by David Harel provides an excellent resource for this purpose, and it would also be a useful introduction for those thinking of taking a computer science course. The book gives a wide ranging overview of computation and algorithms, but goes into more detail than most popular accounts of the subjects. It has exercises for each chapter, with solutions at the end, as well as copious notes for those wanting to study the topics further.

The book starts with a look at the nature of programming and the different types of programming languages. It then moves on to algorithmics proper - computational complexity, intractible and undecidable problems. It goes into a bit more detail than Harel's lighter book Computers Ltd, but still doesn't get excessively technical. In the second edition this was where the book stopped, but the third has been considerably extended, with chapters on other forms of computing such as probabilistic algorithms, quantum computing and cryptography. There is also a look at issues of software engineering, and the book finished with a discussion of computer intelligence.

Amazon.com info

Paperback 536 pages
ISBN: 0321117840
Salesrank: 513853
Weight:2.12 lbs

Published: 2004 Addison Wesley

Marketplace:New from $74.53:Used from $44.50

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Amazon.co.uk info

Paperback 536 pages
ISBN: 0321117840
Salesrank: 18557
Weight:2.12 lbs

Published: 2004 Addison Wesley

Amazon price £45.45

Marketplace:New from £44.33:Used from £40.00

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Amazon.ca info

Paperback 536 pages
ISBN: 0321117840
Salesrank: 558304
Weight:2.12 lbs

Published: 2004 Addison Wesley

Amazon price CDN$ 104.86

Marketplace:New from CDN$ 85.85:Used from CDN$ 87.59

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Product Description
This book presents the concepts, methods, and results that are fundamental to the science of computing. The book begins with the basic ideas of algorithms such as the structure and the methods of data manipulation, and then moves on to demonstrate how to design an accurate and efficient algorithm. Inherent limitations to algorithmic design are also discussed throughout the second part of the text. The third edition features an introduction to the object-oriented paradigm along with new approaches to computation. Anyone interested in being introduced to the theory of computer science.

Product Description

This book presents the concepts, methods, and results that are fundamental to the science of computing. The book begins with the basic ideas of algorithms such as the structure and the methods of data manipulation, and then moves on to demonstrate how to design an accurate and efficient algorithm. Inherent limitations to algorithmic design are also discussed throughout the second part of the text. The third edition features an introduction to the object-oriented paradigm along with new approaches to computation. Anyone interested in being introduced to the theory of computer science.

A great book! *****
This book is the most amazing book on algorithms I've read. The concepts are so well explained that moving to "An introduction to Algorithms by Cormen, Rivest" will be very easy. I come from a non-computer science background. When I started my coursework in Computer Science I was intimidated with Cormen - (although that IS THE MOST AUTHORITATIVE and a complete text!) until I found Harel. Harel covers ALL the key aspects of algorithms and quite a bit of Data Structs too. He explains all the concepts in a non-mathematical, yet intellectually stimulating manner.One can literally read through the book in single day and gain insight into the most difficult topics like, unsolvable problems, hard problems, NP and NP complete problems. On a side note - I pity those reviewers who returned the masterpiece and took objection to Bible quotes. Please grow up and look at what the book has to offer instead of taking objection to such insignificant embellishments

A great book! *****

This book is the most amazing book on algorithms I've read. The concepts are so well explained that moving to "An introduction to Algorithms by Cormen, Rivest" will be very easy.

I come from a non-computer science background. When I started my coursework in Computer Science I was intimidated with Cormen - (although that IS THE MOST AUTHORITATIVE and a complete text!) until I found Harel.

Harel covers ALL the key aspects of algorithms and quite a bit of Data Structs too. He explains all the concepts in a non-mathematical, yet intellectually stimulating manner.One can literally read through the book in single day and gain insight into the most difficult topics like, unsolvable problems, hard problems, NP and NP complete problems.

On a side note - I pity those reviewers who returned the masterpiece and took objection to Bible quotes. Please grow up and look at what the book has to offer instead of taking objection to such insignificant embellishments

Very interesting read *****
This is a book about solving problems, finding the limits of the kinds of problems we can solve, and those we will never solve, and how we solve them. It is also a book about the essential results of computer science, and will give the reader a better understanding of what computers can do, and why some problems in computer science are much harder then they appear. As far as I know, this is the only book that distills the essence of computer science, and presents it in a format suitable for the average reader. This is computer science's answer to Stephen Hawkings "A Brief History of Time".

Very interesting read *****

This is a book about solving problems, finding the limits of the kinds of problems we can solve, and those we will never solve, and how we solve them. It is also a book about the essential results of computer science, and will give the reader a better understanding of what computers can do, and why some problems in computer science are much harder then they appear.

As far as I know, this is the only book that distills the essence of computer science, and presents it in a format suitable for the average reader. This is computer science's answer to Stephen Hawkings "A Brief History of Time".

Content OK, Religion NOT *
I know this may be a computing classic since one tends to find this title on reading lists, but frankly I regret having bought it. I am not troubled by the contents of the book or the way Mr Harel describes them, however, I do strongly object to the fact that he continuously bothers the reader with bible quotations that seem to be growing on every second page like a malignant cancer. This may not offend you if you are Jewish or Christian, but short of that it is an annoyance of global proportions. If I want to read the Bible I will take a copy of the Bible and read it, but if I take a book about Algorithmics I don't want to be forced to combat missionaries. I will return this book asap!

Content OK, Religion NOT *

I know this may be a computing classic since one tends to find this title on reading lists, but frankly I regret having bought it. I am not troubled by the contents of the book or the way Mr Harel describes them, however, I do strongly object to the fact that he continuously bothers the reader with bible quotations that seem to be growing on every second page like a malignant cancer. This may not offend you if you are Jewish or Christian, but short of that it is an annoyance of global proportions. If I want to read the Bible I will take a copy of the Bible and read it, but if I take a book about Algorithmics I don't want to be forced to combat missionaries. I will return this book asap!

'Theoretical Computer Science at 10,000 feet' *****
As the author says, the members of the research community of Computer Science have done their discipline a disservice by not making any special efforts to write accessible accounts of the field, as a result of which the 'layman' still has little idea of what goes on 'under the hood', so to say. He has therefore undertaken the challenging task of presenting the basic ideas underpinning Computer Science in a way that's easy for the general reader to grasp. He sets out to present the essential notions of Algorithms and data structures, Turing machines, Finite state machines, Decidability, Computability, Complexity, NP-completeness, Correctness, Parallel algorithms, Probabilistic algorithms, and more with a minimum of mathematics and yet without sacrificing intellectual rigour - and most admirably, succeeds in doing so. David Harel is a big name in Theoretical Computer Science, one of the leading researchers, and chairman of the Applied Mathematics and Computer Science Department at the Weizmann Institute of Science. What made my mind up about reading this book were the strongly encouraging remarks on the back cover by Aho & Hopcroft, two of the foremost authors and researchers in the field, who've written some great textbooks themselves. This book presents all the basic fundamental ideas of the theory of computation, using as little maths as possible. Yet, the intellectual rigour is never compromised, which means that the reader truly gets a flavour of how a Computer Scientist thinks, and how much fun it can be. It also shows you how certain problems cannot be solved cheaply while others cannot be solved at all (solved exactly, that is), no matter how much 'computing power' you have - ie theory proves the existence of certain fundamental limits on the problems that we can hope to solve. The writing is exceptionally good - like a true master of his subject, Harel makes concepts seem easy to grasp, though you may find that later on, you realize it was quite a subtle notion that was discussed. The illustations are a great help, and occasional humour provides relief from all the thinking you'll be doing! Even though it's written for the general reader, it is also useful for programmers, systems analysts and designers, software engineers and students, since Harel cuts to the core of the concepts and offers valuable insights into the theory that they might already know. All in all, this book covers amazing ground and is a great introduction to algorithms and the theory of computation. For probing further, you'll need mathematics and textbooks, but this an excellent starting point.

'Theoretical Computer Science at 10,000 feet' *****

As the author says, the members of the research community of Computer
Science have done their discipline a disservice by not making any
special efforts to write accessible accounts of the field, as a result
of which the 'layman' still has little idea of what goes on 'under the
hood', so to say.

He has therefore undertaken the challenging task of presenting the basic
ideas underpinning Computer Science in a way that's easy for the general
reader to grasp. He sets out to present the essential notions of
Algorithms and data structures, Turing machines, Finite state machines,
Decidability, Computability, Complexity, NP-completeness, Correctness,
Parallel algorithms, Probabilistic algorithms, and more with a minimum
of mathematics and yet without sacrificing intellectual rigour - and
most admirably, succeeds in doing so.

David Harel is a big name in Theoretical Computer Science, one of the
leading researchers, and chairman of the Applied Mathematics and
Computer Science Department at the Weizmann Institute of Science.
What made my mind up about reading this book were the strongly encouraging
remarks on the back cover by Aho & Hopcroft, two of the foremost authors
and researchers in the field, who've written some great textbooks themselves.

This book presents all the basic fundamental ideas of the theory of computation,
using as little maths as possible. Yet, the intellectual rigour is never
compromised, which means that the reader truly gets a flavour of how a
Computer Scientist thinks, and how much fun it can be.

It also shows you how certain problems cannot be solved cheaply while others
cannot be solved at all (solved exactly, that is), no matter how much
'computing power' you have - ie theory proves the existence of certain
fundamental limits on the problems that we can hope to solve.

The writing is exceptionally good - like a true master of his subject,
Harel makes concepts seem easy to grasp, though you may find that later
on, you realize it was quite a subtle notion that was discussed.
The illustations are a great help, and occasional humour provides relief
from all the thinking you'll be doing!

Even though it's written for the general reader, it is also useful for
programmers, systems analysts and designers, software engineers and
students, since Harel cuts to the core of the concepts and offers
valuable insights into the theory that they might already know.

All in all, this book covers amazing ground and is a great introduction
to algorithms and the theory of computation. For probing further, you'll
need mathematics and textbooks, but this an excellent starting point.

'The Essence of Theoretical Computer Science' *****
As the author says, the members of the research community of Computer Science have done their discipline a disservice by not making any special efforts to write accessible accounts of the field, as a result of which the 'layman' still has little idea of what goes on 'under the hood', so to say. He has therefore undertaken the challenging task of presenting the basic ideas underpinning Computer Science in a way that's easy for the general reader to grasp. He sets out to present the essential notions of Algorithms and data structures, Turing machines, Finite state machines, Decidability, Computability, Complexity, NP-completeness, Correctness, Parallel algorithms, Probabilistic algorithms, and more with a minimum of mathematics and yet without sacrificing intellectual rigour - and most admirably, succeeds in doing so. David Harel is a big name in Theoretical Computer Science, one of the leading researchers, and chairman of the Applied Mathematics and Computer Science Department at the Weizmann Institute of Science. What made my mind up about reading this book were the strongly encouraging remarks on the back cover by Aho & Hopcroft, two of the foremost authors and researchers in the field, who've written some great textbooks themselves. This book presents all the basic fundamental ideas of the theory of computation, using as little maths as possible. Yet, the intellectual rigour is never compromised, which means that the reader truly gets a flavour of how a Computer Scientist thinks, and how much fun it can be. It also shows you how certain problems cannot be solved cheaply while others cannot be solved at all (solved exactly, that is), no matter how much 'computing power' you have - ie theory proves the existence of certain fundamental limits on the problems that we can hope to solve. The writing is exceptionally good - like a true master of his subject, Harel makes concepts seem easy to grasp, though you may find that later on, you realize it was quite a subtle notion that was discussed. The illustations are a great help, and occasional humour provides relief from all the thinking you'll be doing! Even though it's written for the general reader, it is also useful for programmers, systems analysts and designers, software engineers and students, since Harel cuts to the core of the concepts and offers valuable insights into the theory that they might already know. All in all, this book covers amazing ground and is a great introduction to algorithms and the theory of computation. For probing further, you'll need mathematics and textbooks, but this an excellent starting point.

'The Essence of Theoretical Computer Science' *****

Detailed, but heavy going ***
It's certainly true that this book goes into a lot of detail about computer science theory. Unfortunately, it is almost all theory, often with little attention paid to the relevance of the topics covered. It can also be rather heavy and hard to follow at times. Overall, I'd say it would be of interest to those studying computer science theory, but perhaps not of much value to those more interested in practical applications.

Detailed, but heavy going ***

It's certainly true that this book goes into a lot of detail about computer science theory. Unfortunately, it is almost all theory, often with little attention paid to the relevance of the topics covered. It can also be rather heavy and hard to follow at times. Overall, I'd say it would be of interest to those studying computer science theory, but perhaps not of much value to those more interested in practical applications.

David Harel and Yishai Feldman

Algorithmics : the spirit of computing