Customer Reviews

The Most Complex Machine: A Survey of Computers and Computing

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The book is provides a very good introduction to the field of computer science. Eck's writing is fairly clear and comprehensible. However, the book falters in structure, using incredibly long footnotes that at times occupy over half a page. It seems as if the author hurriedly wrote half of the book and then, upon realizing his omission of the other half, threw in the rest as footnotes.

Eck has devoted a web page to this book that more than compensates for its minor flaws. On the site are found wonderful labs and java applets that are used to drill home the lessons in the book. And they do, effectively.

Overall, a good introduction for anyone interested in gaining exposure to the field. Can be used for self-education.

Two suggestions to Dr. Eck:

1. Re-release this book in a more readable format. The footnotes require constant branching and disrupt the flow of the text.

2. Release the source code to your applets. It would prove very beneficial to your readers to be able to see how you actually implement xComputer and the like in Java.

This reference discusses the principles behind computer science. It is clearly and simply written, and suitable for the general reader.

The book explains with great clarity -in a succesion of layers- how to manage complex things from "structured simple components". A lot of insights of great utility for any person interested in gaining knowledge on the computers architecture, software engineering and cognitive science. Maybe introductory for computer science students but very deep for other knowledge areas interested in understanding how can complexity and machines that exhibit "intelligent" behaviour can be constructed.

The book doesn't explain too much in an easy way.