Talking with Computers
Explorations in the Science and Technology of Computing

Lively essays exploring topics from digital logic and machine language to artificial intelligence and searching the World Wide Web.

Thomas Dean (Author)

9780521834254, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 15 March 2004

316 pages, 31 b/w illus. 4 tables
25.4 x 17.8 x 1.9 cm, 0.77 kg

'This type of good sense permeates what is a broad and very readable introduction to aspects of computing, suitable for a fresher or someone considering degree-level study.' The Times Higher Education Supplement

In this lively series of essays, Tom Dean explores interesting fundamental topics in computer science with the aim of showing how computers and computer programs work and how the various subfields of computer science are connected. Along the way, he conveys his fascination with computers and enthusiasm for working in a field that has changed almost every aspect of our daily lives. The essays touch on a wide range of topics, from digital logic and machine language to artificial intelligence and searching the World Wide Web, considering such questions as: • How can a computer learn to recognize junk email? • What happens when you click on a link in a browser? • How can you program a robot to do two things at once? • Are there limits on what computers can do? The author invites readers to experiment with short programs written in several languages. Through these interactions he grounds the models and metaphors of computer science and makes the underlying computational ideas more concrete. The accompanying web site http://www.cs.brown.edu/~tld/talk/ provides easy access to code fragments from the book, tips on finding and installing software, links to online resources, exercises and sample lectures.

1. Talking with computers
2. The shell game
3. Keeping track of your stuff
4. Don't sweat the syntax
5. Computational muddles
6. Getting oriented
7. Thanks for sharing
8. You've got (junk) mail
9. Modern architecture
10. Do robots sleep
11. Under the hood
12. Analyze this
13. Forest for the trees
14. Searching the wild web
15. Darwin's dangerous algorithm
16. Ain't nobody here but us machines.

Subject Areas: Human-computer interaction [UYZ], Computer science [UY], Ethical & social aspects of IT [UBJ]