Customer Reviews

Feedback Control of Computing Systems

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The major drawback is the way the book is written. It is written more as a PHD thesis, rather as a book. Example: The authors in chapter 5 are referring to equation (y(k)=ay(k-1)+bu(k-1)) which is in chapter 2, rather than inserting this simple equation in chapter 5. I have to go back and forth between various chapters and by the time I return back, I loose my concentration.
This book is pain to read, because I have to flip the pages rather than have a continuous flow.
Also the book is expensive.

Computer Scientist often have to look for other areas of science in order to deal with important problems in the discipline. This book is a readable and interesting introduction to and application of Control Theory.

It is not conceived to be (yet another, but good) introduction to Control Theory and lacks many of the interesting techniques that were developped in Electrical Engineering. The examples (such as control of an Apache web server) that run through the book are approximated as linear control problems and solved as such. What might be a lack of theory is in fact an advantage for the reader who not only quickly learns about control theory, but also how to apply it to computer systems where an analytical analysis of system behavior is often beyond our grasp.

It appears to me that quite a number of problems in distributed systems, operating systems, and other branches have a control aspect to them, but that most computer scientists lack the background to understand the problematics. This book (in my opinion) therefore feels an important lacuna. I would imagine of course that in some cases deeper study of control theory is needed.

The only draw-back is the very high price.