About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherMIT Press

ISBN-100262533510

ISBN-139780262533515

eBay Product ID (ePID)228915011

Product Key Features

Number of Pages208 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication NameTuring's Vision : the Birth of Computer Science

Publication Year2017

SubjectProgramming / Algorithms, Cultural Heritage, Computer Science, History, Computer Engineering, Science & Technology

TypeTextbook

AuthorChris Bernhardt

Subject AreaComputers, Biography & Autobiography

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height0.7 in

Item Weight7.6 Oz

Item Length11.1 in

Item Width5.4 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN2015-039955

Dewey Edition23

IllustratedYes

Dewey Decimal510.92 B

SynopsisAn accessible and fascinating exploration of how Alan Turing's mathematical theory gave rise to modern computer science and applications--from the desktops to cell phones In 1936, when he was just 24 years old, Alan Turing wrote a remarkable paper in which he outlined the theory of computation, laying out the ideas that underlie all modern computers. This groundbreaking and powerful theory now forms the basis of computer science. In Turing's Vision , Chris Bernhardt explains the theory for the general reader, beginning with its foundations and systematically building to its surprising conclusions. He also views Turing's theory in the context of mathematical history, other views of computation (including those of Alonzo Church), Turing's later work, and the birth of the modern computer. Turing wanted to show that there were problems that were beyond any computer's ability to solve; in particular, he wanted to find a decision problem that he could prove was undecidable. To explain Turing's ideas, Bernhardt examines 3 well-known decision problems to explore the concept of undecidability; investigates theoretical computing machines, including Turing machines; explains universal machines; and proves that certain problems are undecidable, including Turing's problem concerning computable numbers., An accessible and fascinating exploration of how Alan Turing's mathematical theory gave rise to modern computer science and applications-from the desktops to cell phones In 1936, when he was just 24 years old, Alan Turing wrote a remarkable paper in which he outlined the theory of computation, laying out the ideas that underlie all modern computers. This groundbreaking and powerful theory now forms the basis of computer science. In Turing's Vision , Chris Bernhardt explains the theory for the general reader, beginning with its foundations and systematically building to its surprising conclusions.He also views Turing's theory in the context of mathematical history, other views of computation (including those of Alonzo Church), Turing's later work, and the birth of the modern computer. Turing wanted to show that there were problems that were beyond any computer's ability to solve; in particular, he wanted to find a decision problem that he could prove was undecidable. To explain Turing's ideas, Bernhardt examines 3 well-known decision problems to explore the concept of undecidability; investigates theoretical computing machines, including Turing machines; explains universal machines; and proves that certain problems are undecidable, including Turing's problem concerning computable numbers., Turing's fascinating and remarkable theory, which now forms the basis of computer science, explained for the general reader. In 1936, when he was just twenty-four years old, Alan Turing wrote a remarkable paper in which he outlined the theory of computation, laying out the ideas that underlie all modern computers. This groundbreaking and powerful theory now forms the basis of computer science. In Turing's Vision , Chris Bernhardt explains the theory, Turing's most important contribution, for the general reader. Bernhardt argues that the strength of Turing's theory is its simplicity, and that, explained in a straightforward manner, it is eminently understandable by the nonspecialist. As Marvin Minsky writes, "The sheer simplicity of the theory's foundation and extraordinary short path from this foundation to its logical and surprising conclusions give the theory a mathematical beauty that alone guarantees it a permanent place in computer theory." Bernhardt begins with the foundation and systematically builds to the surprising conclusions. He also views Turing's theory in the context of mathematical history, other views of computation (including those of Alonzo Church), Turing's later work, and the birth of the modern computer. In the paper, "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem ," Turing thinks carefully about how humans perform computation, breaking it down into a sequence of steps, and then constructs theoretical machines capable of performing each step. Turing wanted to show that there were problems that were beyond any computer's ability to solve; in particular, he wanted to find a decision problem that he could prove was undecidable. To explain Turing's ideas, Bernhardt examines three well-known decision problems to explore the concept of undecidability; investigates theoretical computing machines, including Turing machines; explains universal machines; and proves that certain problems are undecidable, including Turing's problem concerning computable numbers.

LC Classification NumberQA29.T8A57 2016