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Feynman Lectures on Computation

Feynman Lectures on Computation is based on a series of lectures given by Richard Feynman in the early 1980's. Note that it isn't a comprehensive look at computer science in the model of his Lectures on physics. Its more like 'A physicist looks at computation'. Rather than taking the 'black box' view of computers, Feynman clearly wants to know whats in those boxes and how it works. So whilst you might think that the lectures in this book would be out of date, I would say that they still contains much of interest, which is presented in Feynman's usual (reasonably) easy to read style.

The book starts off by examining at the basics of computers such as logic gates and how to make them from transistors. This is followed by chapters on the theory of computation - Turing machines and the like - and on information theory. Feynman then looks at issues related to the thermodynamics of computation. The next chapter is on quantum mechanical computers, but its interesting to note that the idea here is to do classical computation on the scale of atoms, rather than to get exponential speedup. The last chapter examines the physics of actual computers, in particular VLSI technology.

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Paperback 320 pages
ISBN: 0738202967
Salesrank: 91387
Weight:1 lbs

Published: 2000 Westview Press

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Paperback 320 pages
ISBN: 0140284516
Salesrank: 111869

Published: 1999 Penguin Books Ltd

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Paperback 320 pages
ISBN: 0738202967
Salesrank: 253280
Weight:1 lbs

Published: 2000 Westview Press

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Product Description
When, in 1984–86, Richard P. Feynman gave his famous course on computation at the California Institute of Technology, he asked Tony Hey to adapt his lecture notes into a book. Although led by Feynman, the course also featured, as occasional guest speakers, some of the most brilliant men in science at that time, including Marvin Minsky, Charles Bennett, and John Hopfield. Although the lectures are now thirteen years old, most of the material is timeless and presents a “Feynmanesque” overview of many standard and some not-so-standard topics in computer science such as reversible logic gates and quantum computers.

Product Description

When, in 1984–86, Richard P. Feynman gave his famous course on computation at the California Institute of Technology, he asked Tony Hey to adapt his lecture notes into a book. Although led by Feynman, the course also featured, as occasional guest speakers, some of the most brilliant men in science at that time, including Marvin Minsky, Charles Bennett, and John Hopfield. Although the lectures are now thirteen years old, most of the material is timeless and presents a “Feynmanesque” overview of many standard and some not-so-standard topics in computer science such as reversible logic gates and quantum computers.

Not a quasi-coffee table "physics for poets" text *****
This series of lectures, Like Feynmans physics lectures, start from the very beginning and proceed quickly. Read each chapter several times before moving on to the next. This is not a quasi coffee table "physics for poets" text. Feyman assumes you will actually work out the problems he presents, follow the logical flow of how a computer circuit works, etc. However, if you do work through each chapter, the insights are astounding. The subject matter of this books touches on information theory (Shannon et al), quantum computing, infophysics, etc. If you have a passing interest in these subjects, read this book. It will make all of these subjects much more clear.

Not a quasi-coffee table "physics for poets" text *****

This series of lectures, Like Feynmans physics lectures, start from the very beginning and proceed quickly. Read each chapter several times before moving on to the next.

This is not a quasi coffee table "physics for poets" text. Feyman assumes you will actually work out the problems he presents, follow the logical flow of how a computer circuit works, etc.

However, if you do work through each chapter, the insights are astounding. The subject matter of this books touches on information theory (Shannon et al), quantum computing, infophysics, etc. If you have a passing interest in these subjects, read this book. It will make all of these subjects much more clear.

A Feynman look at computers and computing ****
There is an amazing amount of material in this small volume, and it is presented in Feynman's very clear style. It covers to some depth many of the topics of a computer science education, but also includes a lot of material from physics and engineering related to how semiconductor chips of the early eightys operate. The early chapters explain how a computer does a few simple operations, and how longer and longer sequences of simple operations accomplish more complex tasks. Feynman continues with a look at the details of the operations, as implemented in gates, decoders, flip flops, and other bits of hardware. He continues with several topics from computer science, such as finite state machines, Turing machines, computability, and a little bit about computer languages. Then he jumps back to bits and the representation of information, including data compression, error detection and error correction. The last sections deal with physics, such as the thermodynamics of computation, and quantum mechanics of computation. I suspect most readers will find some sections much more interesting than others. Some places I wished there was a way to give six or seven stars. A few times I wondered if I should skim the remainder of the chapter or just skip it entirely. I read on and found a section I was glad I had not missed.

A Feynman look at computers and computing ****

There is an amazing amount of material in this small volume, and it is presented in Feynman's
very clear style. It covers to some depth many of the topics of a computer science education,
but also includes a lot of material from physics and engineering related to how semiconductor
chips of the early eightys operate.

The early chapters explain how a computer does a few simple operations, and how longer and longer
sequences of simple operations accomplish more complex tasks. Feynman continues with a look at
the details of the operations, as implemented in gates, decoders, flip flops, and other bits of
hardware. He continues with several topics from computer science, such as finite state machines,
Turing machines, computability, and a little bit about computer languages. Then he jumps back to
bits and the representation of information, including data compression, error detection and error
correction.

The last sections deal with physics, such as the thermodynamics of computation, and quantum mechanics
of computation.

I suspect most readers will find some sections much more interesting than others. Some places I
wished there was a way to give six or seven stars. A few times I wondered if I should skim the
remainder of the chapter or just skip it entirely. I read on and found a section I was glad I
had not missed.

Mostly brilliant ****
Of course, 'brilliant' is what you'd expect from Feynman. These lectures, originally presented in 1983-6, capture a number of the most fundamental, esoteric concepts in computing. Since Feynman is doing the explaining, however, the ideas come across clear and strong. Chapter 3, on the basic theory of computation, introduces not only the Turing machine, but also the basic idea of what things can and can not possibly be computed and why. He also explains the "universal" machine, and the meaning of universality that mathematically steps up from any one machine to all machines. The next chapters discuss coding theory. That has body of knowledge has since become pervasive in our every-day lives, even if it's never visible. After that two chapters present the physical limits to computation, and how computation can approach those limits using quantum mechanics. This includes the superfically odd idea of reversible computation. I say odd because, for example, knowing that two numbers add up to six doesn't tell you whether the two were five and one, zero and six, or some other combination. You normally can't run addition backwards from the sum to the summands, so standard addition is said to be irreversible. Reversibility gives amazing properties to a system, however, and things like the Toffoli gates show how it can be implemented. The only disappointments in this book come from the very beginning and very end. The beginning describes what a computer is, as if the reader had never heard of computers before. I guess that basic level is still needed, but is no longer needed at the college level. The very end describes silicon technology, as it was known in the early 1980s. Despite some fascinating bits of device physics and some heavy editing, that discussion has aged with the rapidity you'd expect from Moore's law. And in a few places, the older discussions of biological systems have aged poorly. Still, his explorations of the physical limits to computation as just as fresh and salient as ever. I recommend this to anyone with a beginner's interest in the foundations of coding, computing, and quantum computation. //wiredweird

Mostly brilliant ****

Of course, 'brilliant' is what you'd expect from Feynman. These lectures, originally presented in 1983-6, capture a number of the most fundamental, esoteric concepts in computing. Since Feynman is doing the explaining, however, the ideas come across clear and strong.

Chapter 3, on the basic theory of computation, introduces not only the Turing machine, but also the basic idea of what things can and can not possibly be computed and why. He also explains the "universal" machine, and the meaning of universality that mathematically steps up from any one machine to all machines. The next chapters discuss coding theory. That has body of knowledge has since become pervasive in our every-day lives, even if it's never visible. After that two chapters present the physical limits to computation, and how computation can approach those limits using quantum mechanics.

This includes the superfically odd idea of reversible computation. I say odd because, for example, knowing that two numbers add up to six doesn't tell you whether the two were five and one, zero and six, or some other combination. You normally can't run addition backwards from the sum to the summands, so standard addition is said to be irreversible. Reversibility gives amazing properties to a system, however, and things like the Toffoli gates show how it can be implemented.

The only disappointments in this book come from the very beginning and very end. The beginning describes what a computer is, as if the reader had never heard of computers before. I guess that basic level is still needed, but is no longer needed at the college level. The very end describes silicon technology, as it was known in the early 1980s. Despite some fascinating bits of device physics and some heavy editing, that discussion has aged with the rapidity you'd expect from Moore's law. And in a few places, the older discussions of biological systems have aged poorly.

Still, his explorations of the physical limits to computation as just as fresh and salient as ever. I recommend this to anyone with a beginner's interest in the foundations of coding, computing, and quantum computation.

//wiredweird

I like this book *****
Yes, I think you can teach the theory of computation from this book. And you can learn it from this book. Some of the material isn't all that recent, but much of it doesn't need to be. 35 years ago, if one were teaching a course on the theory of computation, I'd have recommended Minsky's book (it came out in 1967). That was a great text. Nowadays, there are numerous choices. But one could still use books that originally came out well before Feynman's notes, such as Lewis & Papadimitriou or Hopcroft, Motwani, and Ullman. The question boils down to the quality of what is in the book, as well as what material it has that other books do not, and what material it is missing that most other texts have. This book is quite readable and preserves much of Feynman's teaching style. So let's look at what it is missing. First, it doesn't talk much about real neurons. Of course, even Minsky doesn't dwell much on that, and other computation books avoid that topic too. But now, there's a more serious omission. Feynman spends something like two pages on grammars! If you were using Lewis and Papadimitriou (first edition) there would be a chapter of over 70 pages on context-free languages alone. As a teacher or a student, would you really want to miss all that? No, as a student, you would have to read up on all that material elsewhere. And as a teacher, you would have to use another book or write your own notes. That material is too much a part of most required curricula. But that doesn't take away from the value of the book when it comes to the rest of the material. And the final four chapters, which discuss coding and information theory, reversible computation and the thermodynamics of computing, quantum mechanical computers, and some physical aspects of computation, are all useful material that you often won't see in other computation texts. As a student, I'd read the book. As a teacher, I'd recommend it to my students. But as either, I wouldn't expect to use it as the only textbook.

I like this book *****

Yes, I think you can teach the theory of computation from this book. And you can learn it from this book. Some of the material isn't all that recent, but much of it doesn't need to be.

35 years ago, if one were teaching a course on the theory of computation, I'd have recommended Minsky's book (it came out in 1967). That was a great text. Nowadays, there are numerous choices. But one could still use books that originally came out well before Feynman's notes, such as Lewis & Papadimitriou or Hopcroft, Motwani, and Ullman.

The question boils down to the quality of what is in the book, as well as what material it has that other books do not, and what material it is missing that most other texts have.

This book is quite readable and preserves much of Feynman's teaching style. So let's look at what it is missing. First, it doesn't talk much about real neurons. Of course, even Minsky doesn't dwell much on that, and other computation books avoid that topic too. But now, there's a more serious omission. Feynman spends something like two pages on grammars! If you were using Lewis and Papadimitriou (first edition) there would be a chapter of over 70 pages on context-free languages alone. As a teacher or a student, would you really want to miss all that?

No, as a student, you would have to read up on all that material elsewhere. And as a teacher, you would have to use another book or write your own notes. That material is too much a part of most required curricula.

But that doesn't take away from the value of the book when it comes to the rest of the material. And the final four chapters, which discuss coding and information theory, reversible computation and the thermodynamics of computing, quantum mechanical computers, and some physical aspects of computation, are all useful material that you often won't see in other computation texts.

As a student, I'd read the book. As a teacher, I'd recommend it to my students. But as either, I wouldn't expect to use it as the only textbook.

Dissapointing is correct ***
We physicists want a readable book on computability, degrees of computational complexity, and the like. Feynman would have been the writer to provide us with that. We're fortunate to have anything at all of what Feynman thought about the subject, but this book (taken from Feynman's rough lecture notes) does not do the job. E.g., in the first chapter we're presented with a description of RPF's joy in discovery and corresponding philosophy of how to understand anything: don't read about it, just work it out by yourself in umpteen different ways (nothing new about Feynman there!), but the examples provided of how Feynman actullally worked it out can be compared with some of Arnol'd's presentations of how he worked out mechanics problems in his text on Classical Mechanics (state the problem, then state the final result). So we still need a SYSTEMATIC 'written-for physicists' text on computability. Neverthless, we can be grateful to Hey and Allen for putting together these stimulating Feynman fragments for us, especially since they stem from his last days of life as a physicist. By the way, Feynman certainly would not have agreed with S. Weinberg's extreme reductionist philisophy that asserts that once we've understood quantum theory and quarks then we've understood physics/nature, that 'the rest is mere detail'. On the other hand, he surely would have horselaughed the holists who proclaim that reductionism is dead, that physics will become more like 'poetry'. The lie in the latter nonsense is exposed by the entire field of genetics and cell biology, which is where the 'real' complexity in nature is to be found. Every physics student should be required to take a good class in molecular biolgy these days, a subject that's a lot more important and a lot more interesting than string theory (which, as Feynman more or less said, has degenerated into mere philosophy in the absence of experiments to test the ideas) .

Dissapointing is correct ***

We physicists want a readable book on computability, degrees of computational complexity, and the like. Feynman would have been the writer to provide us with that. We're fortunate to have anything at all of what Feynman thought about the subject, but this book (taken from Feynman's rough lecture notes) does not do the job. E.g., in the first chapter we're presented with a description of RPF's joy in discovery and corresponding philosophy of how to understand anything: don't read about it, just work it out by yourself in umpteen different ways (nothing new about Feynman there!), but the examples provided of how Feynman actullally worked it out can be compared with some of Arnol'd's presentations of how he worked out mechanics problems in his text on Classical Mechanics (state the problem, then state the final result). So we still need a SYSTEMATIC 'written-for physicists' text on computability. Neverthless, we can be grateful to Hey and Allen for putting together these stimulating Feynman fragments for us, especially since they stem from his last days of life as a physicist.

By the way, Feynman certainly would not have agreed with S. Weinberg's extreme reductionist philisophy that asserts that once we've understood quantum theory and quarks then we've understood physics/nature, that 'the rest is mere detail'. On the other hand, he surely would have horselaughed the holists who proclaim that reductionism is dead, that physics will become more like 'poetry'. The lie in the latter nonsense is exposed by the entire field of genetics and cell biology, which is where the 'real' complexity in nature is to be found. Every physics student should be required to take a good class in molecular biolgy these days, a subject that's a lot more important and a lot more interesting than string theory (which, as Feynman more or less said, has degenerated into mere philosophy in the absence of experiments to test the ideas) .

A stimulating insight into Feynman's views on 'Computation' *****
A series of audio-taped lectures given at the Californian Institute of Technology (CalTech) from 1984 to 1986, supplemented by Feynman's own notebooks and contemporaneous lecture notes, provides the source material from which this book derives. Its title, which could equally accurately have been rendered "Lectures on the limits of Computation", hints at the interdisciplinary nature of the book (covering Physics, Mathematics, Quantum Mechanics, Electronics... etc.!). The interesting Forewords provided by the Editors (detailing the book's progeny) and by Feynman himself (hinting at his often iconoclastic approach: e.g. "Computer Science" isn't really a Science - it's more closely related to Engineering) preface some fascinating Chapters which follow. Since Feynman's modus operandi is to think things through for oneself, he urges his students to do the same: in many Chapters there are Problems (which are indeed non-trivial exercises for the reader); but beware, no 'solutions' are provided! The first Chapter is a short 'low-key' Introduction to Computers which introduces logical operations such as AND, XOR and NOT. The second Chapter, Computer Organization (sic) develops these primitive ideas and presents generic (wiring-diagram) implementations of these logical operations or gates. Feynman identifies a minimum, sufficient, set of logic diagrams - labelling them as AND, NOT, FANOUT and EXCHANGE. Using these primitives alone, any logic operation can be generated. The interesting concept of 'reversibility of a computation' is introduced here and dealt with more fully in Chapters five and six (q.v.). The heart of the book (and the three Chapters which this reviewer most enjoyed) follow: Chapter three, The Theory of Computation (in which Feynman talks about Turing Machines - or, as Feynman has it, 'Mr. Turing's machine' - and analyses the so-called 'Halting' Problem. It includes an interesting discussion too about the differences between TMs and Finite State Machines). Chapter four is Coding and Information Theory: the premise being, echoing the (understated) theme of the book, what happens when computer components fail randomly? How can internal computation signals survive intact to allow a calculation to proceed? Chapter five Reversible Computation and the Thermodynamics of Computing is a fascinating, if at times anti-intuitive, lecture on what computation actually is in terms of the entropy of the system. Chapter six (reprinted in full from 'Optics News', February 1985) requires the reader to have some pre-knowledge of Quantum Mechanics: it's entitled Quantum Mechanical Computers and draws further on the theme of computational reversibility, among other related topics. Chapter seven on the Physical Aspects of Computers has been somewhat overtaken by technology (as the editors' opening Caveat explains); Feynman here discusses nMOS chips which, since the mid-nineteen eighties, have been superseded by CMOS technology. This is a chapter that describes the physics of semi-conductors and indeed touches on their manufacture. An Afterword: Memories of Richard Feynman, written by co-editor Tony Hey, relates some illuminating personal anecdotes about "Dick" Feynman whilst the former was at CalTech as a postgraduate student fresh from Oxford. With numerous clear labelled diagrams and equations, and many helpful footnotes, concluding with a Suggested Reading section and a full Index, this enjoyable book can be recommended to those involved in any aspect of "Computer Science". The editors have done a stalwart job in bringing to the public domain, in a well-presented and readable way, the 'limits of computation' as viewed with the clarity of a "Feynmanesque" lens.

A stimulating insight into Feynman's views on 'Computation' *****

A series of audio-taped lectures given at the Californian Institute of Technology (CalTech) from 1984 to 1986, supplemented by Feynman's own notebooks and contemporaneous lecture notes, provides the source material from which this book derives. Its title, which could equally accurately have been rendered "Lectures on the limits of Computation", hints at the interdisciplinary nature of the book (covering Physics, Mathematics, Quantum Mechanics, Electronics... etc.!).

The interesting Forewords provided by the Editors (detailing the book's progeny) and by Feynman himself (hinting at his often iconoclastic approach: e.g. "Computer Science" isn't really a Science - it's more closely related to Engineering) preface some fascinating Chapters which follow. Since Feynman's modus operandi is to think things through for oneself, he urges his students to do the same: in many Chapters there are Problems (which are indeed non-trivial exercises for the reader); but beware, no 'solutions' are provided!

The first Chapter is a short 'low-key' Introduction to Computers which introduces logical operations such as AND, XOR and NOT. The second Chapter, Computer Organization (sic) develops these primitive ideas and presents generic (wiring-diagram) implementations of these logical operations or gates. Feynman identifies a minimum, sufficient, set of logic diagrams - labelling them as AND, NOT, FANOUT and EXCHANGE. Using these primitives alone, any logic operation can be generated. The interesting concept of 'reversibility of a computation' is introduced here and dealt with more fully in Chapters five and six (q.v.).

The heart of the book (and the three Chapters which this reviewer most enjoyed) follow: Chapter three, The Theory of Computation (in which Feynman talks about Turing Machines - or, as Feynman has it, 'Mr. Turing's machine' - and analyses the so-called 'Halting' Problem. It includes an interesting discussion too about the differences between TMs and Finite State Machines). Chapter four is Coding and Information Theory: the premise being, echoing the (understated) theme of the book, what happens when computer components fail randomly? How can internal computation signals survive intact to allow a calculation to proceed?

Chapter five Reversible Computation and the Thermodynamics of Computing is a fascinating, if at times anti-intuitive, lecture on what computation actually is in terms of the entropy of the system. Chapter six (reprinted in full from 'Optics News', February 1985) requires the reader to have some pre-knowledge of Quantum Mechanics: it's entitled Quantum Mechanical Computers and draws further on the theme of computational reversibility, among other related topics.

Chapter seven on the Physical Aspects of Computers has been somewhat overtaken by technology (as the editors' opening Caveat explains); Feynman here discusses nMOS chips which, since the mid-nineteen eighties, have been superseded by CMOS technology. This is a chapter that describes the physics of semi-conductors and indeed touches on their manufacture.

An Afterword: Memories of Richard Feynman, written by co-editor Tony Hey, relates some illuminating personal anecdotes about "Dick" Feynman whilst the former was at CalTech as a postgraduate student fresh from Oxford. With numerous clear labelled diagrams and equations, and many helpful footnotes, concluding with a Suggested Reading section and a full Index, this enjoyable book can be recommended to those involved in any aspect of "Computer Science". The editors have done a stalwart job in bringing to the public domain, in a well-presented and readable way, the 'limits of computation' as viewed with the clarity of a "Feynmanesque" lens.

Dissapointing ***
I find this book dissapointing. It doesn't compare with the insight, clarity, and beauty found in the famous "Feynman lectures in physics". Basically what Feynman does in this book is simplify and coaches one though complex Computer Science/ Information Theory Concepts. The book may have the small size of a novel, but I find it to be more like a textbook; because it has many equations (even exercises in the first chapter), and also one has to be quite attentive while reading. I'm not saying this is a bad book, only that, if you liked the "Feynman lectures in physics" it doesn't automatically mean you'll like this book. This book is different, obviously in the sense that it doesn't deal much with physics, and secondly in the fact that it is not passionatly written, I think. Why is this book so expensive anyways? Now that you got my warning. I can definitely recomend this book for people intereseted in things like: -theoretical limits of computers (enthropy, energy) -physical realizations of logic gates (transistors) -quantum computers

Dissapointing ***

I find this book dissapointing. It doesn't compare with the insight, clarity, and beauty found in the famous "Feynman lectures in physics". Basically what Feynman does in this book is simplify and coaches one though complex Computer Science/ Information Theory Concepts. The book may have the small size of a novel, but I find it to be more like a textbook; because it has many equations (even exercises in the first chapter), and also one has to be quite attentive while reading. I'm not saying this is a bad book, only that, if you liked the "Feynman lectures in physics" it doesn't automatically mean you'll like this book. This book is different, obviously in the sense that it doesn't deal much with physics, and secondly in the fact that it is not passionatly written, I think. Why is this book so expensive anyways?
Now that you got my warning. I can definitely recomend this book for people intereseted in things like:
-theoretical limits of computers (enthropy, energy)
-physical realizations of logic gates (transistors)
-quantum computers

a Feynman jewel *****
This book is not easy, but like his physics lecture, the effort in following his lectures and working out the questions and problems that he poses make this, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful, albeit difficult and terse, books on computation I have come across in a long time. Certainly belongs in the library of anyone who is serious about the theoretical aspects of computation.

a Feynman jewel *****

This book is not easy, but like his physics lecture, the effort in following his lectures and working out the questions and problems that he poses make this, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful, albeit difficult and terse, books on computation I have come across in a long time. Certainly belongs in the library of anyone who is serious about the theoretical aspects of computation.

Richard Feynman,Tony Hey and Robin Allen

Feynman Lectures on Computation