AI Application Programming (Charles River Media Programming) [Paperback]

M. Tim Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 27, 2003 | Series: Charles River Media Programming

This book demystifies the techniques associated with the field of artificial intelligence and covers a wide variety of techniques currently defined as "AI." Many books on artificial intelligence provide tutorials for AI methods, but the applications are restricted to toy problems that have little relevance in the real world. AI Application Programming covers theory, but teaches developers how these techniques can be applied in their own designs. The book is split by AI subfields (statistical methods, symbolic methods, etc.) to further refine the methods and applications for the reader. Each chapter provides a detailed discussion of the source code used.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

M. Tim Jones has been developing software since 1986. He has designed prototype AI systems using genetic algorithms for satellite attitude determination and mobile agents for distributed asset tracking. He has also published articles on embedded systems, network protocols, and AI for Dr. Dobb's Journal, Embedded Systems Programming, and Embedded Linux Journal. He currently works as a Senior Principal Software Engineer.

Product Details

• Paperback: 363 pages
• Publisher: Charles River Media; Bk&CD-Rom edition (March 27, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584502789
• ISBN-13: 978-1584502784
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,929,626 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm M. Tim Jones, embedded firmware engineer and author. My interests include artificial intelligence, networking protocols and embedded Linux.

I started my career in 1984, building onboard firmware for geosynchronous communications satellites, and today develop protocol firmware for embedded networking and storage products at Emulex, Corp.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great, in depth, recursively precise!, January 5, 2004

By 

T. Fitzpatrick "Thornite" (Mid-State NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: AI Application Programming (Charles River Media Programming) (Paperback)

I enjoyed working through this text, but not without some re-visiting of my calculus classes and trigonometry brush-ups.
All in all a very good book, and also a great Graduate level reference for the inner workings of actual Artificial Intelligence algorithms.
If you are well prepared, this book is to the point, and well worth the read. Prepare for a visit to College-level Physics theorems, as many algorithms given require a working knowledge of the advanced principles of the science.

Hope this helps-

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The book has its values, but also got serious problems, September 14, 2006

By 

Oliver (NC, US) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: AI Application Programming (Programming Series) (Charles River Media Programming) (Paperback)

Most of other reviewer think highly of this book. I also agree, to a certain extent, that the book's is valuable and fill in the gap between "talks" and "walks".

However, there are two things I have to point out: One, the editing/basic correctness check of this book is kinda terrible. For example, P72 on Particle Swarm Optimization, the 4.2 formula is obviously WRONG and not consistent with the rest of discussion. Also on P74, the position vector calculation is wrong as well: it also seems the author/editor cut & copy two blocks of text.

Second, I don't like is the lack of explaination on certain important notations and equations, which is very important to be at least "self-contained" for such a "cover everything" book. For example, P210 on reinforcement learning, Equation 9.2 has a general explaination of what it is, but non of those notation/symbols in the equation make sense in the context.

So, in general, be aware its pro and cons.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great second edition of an applied book on AI, January 20, 2006

By 

calvinnme - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: AI Application Programming (Programming Series) (Charles River Media Programming) (Paperback)

Scientists started the field of AI research in the 1950's with the now largely failed quest to produce machines that think. However, they did open the door to making improved individual products that can "learn" how to do their limited jobs better, and they also opened the door to the use of AI in games and in recommender systems such as you see here on Amazon.
This book is the second edition of the successful book by Tim Jones on different facets of AI, how they can be used, and how to write programs that implement the necessary algorithms. The book begins with a short but insightful chapter on the history of AI, followed by a series of chapters, each covering a specific AI technique. The last chapter covers the state of AI today. Each chapter begins with a short description of the technique covered, sometimes including parallels to the real world that are behind the algorithmic choices of the technique. Next, the algorithm is described, and a sample implementation is given and discussed. Last, the author presents examples of problems that can be solved by the given technique. This book basically replaces the first edition, as everything in that book is in this one plus the A* pathfinding algorithm, particle swarm optimization, classifier systems, reinforcement learning, and natural language processing. For several of the techniques variations and tuning opportunities are presented, allowing the reader/programmer to easily adapt the technique to a different problem of a similar type. There are also plenty of illustrations and diagrams, making the material easier to absorb. I highly recommend that you purchase this second edition, even if you already have the first edition. It is a worthwhile upgrade. The author assumes that the reader has already been exposed to the basic ideas of artificial intelligence and is proficient at programming in C. I notice that Amazon does not show the table of contents for the 2nd edition, so I do that here.
1. History of AI
2. Pathfind and the A-Star Algorithm **
3. Simulated Annealing
4. Particle Swarm Optimization **
5. Introduction to Adaptive Resonance Theory (ART1)
6. Classifier Systems **
7. Ant Algorithms
8. Introduction to Neural Networks and the BackPropagation Algorithm
9. Introduction to Reinforcement Learning **
10. Introduction to Genetic Algorithms
11. Artificial Life
12. Introduction to Rules-Based Systems
13. Introduction to Fuzzy Logic
14. Natural Language Processing **
15. The Bigram Model
16. Agent-Based Software
17. AI Today
** Denotes a totally new chapter