Algorithmics: The Spirit of Computing (2nd Edition) [Paperback]

David Harel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 23, 1992 | ISBN-10: 0201504014 | ISBN-13: 978-0201504019 | Edition: 2

Providing a thorough, well-written and thoughtful study of the fundamental theoretical ideas of computing and examining how to design accurate and efficient algorithms, this book is ideal for an introductory course emphasizing theory rather than programming

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

From a Review of the Previous Edition

"The book is a veritable tour de force. Harel writes with verve, clarity, and imagination.

Through the use of tantalizing questions and aptly chosen and often amusing examples, transmits to the reader the excitement and intellectual satisafaction of computer science research. Without the use of formal mathematics and without any sacrifice of intellectual integrity, he conveys to the general reader the profound principles on which computer science is founded and which hitherto were only accessible in abstruse and esoteric textbooks and papers.

This is scientific writing at its best."

Dr. Stan Scott, Queen's University, Belfast
Times Higher Education Supplement

0201504014B04062001

About the Author

About David Harel

David Harel is a professor and chairman of the Applied Mathematics and Computer Science Department at the Weizmann Institute of Science and he is one of the founders of Ad-Cad, Inc. Renowned for outstanding research in several areas of computer science, Dr. Harel is ideally qualified to convey a thorough understanding of the science of computing to the inquiring reader.

0201504014AB04062001

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Pearson Education; 2 edition (January 23, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201504014
• ISBN-13: 978-0201504019
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #764,059 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book!, April 24, 2003

By 

Scorn ""No joke movement"" (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Algorithmics: The Spirit of Computing (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

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

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 'Theoretical Computer Science at 10,000 feet', November 5, 2001

By 

Optimistix (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Algorithmics: The Spirit of Computing (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

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.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An easy-to-read, for-all-readers algorithms book, September 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Algorithmics: The Spirit of Computing (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

This is a truly magnificent book. It comprehensively covers most of the topics in the analysis and design of alogorithms with no mathematical burden to hamper you from getting through this subjet. Later on, you will most probably need a more intensive and mathmetical-analysis oriented book but be sure this second book will be far more easy to go through after you have have finished the "Algorithmics" book. Enjoy it.