Insight Through Computing PDF Download

Author: Charles F. Van Loan
Publisher: SIAM
ISBN: 0898716918
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 437

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Book Description
An introduction to computer-based problem-solving using the MATLAB® environment for undergraduates.

Author: Charles F. Van Loan
Publisher: SIAM
ISBN: 0898717647
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 437

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Book Description
This introduction to computer-based problem-solving using the MATLAB environment is highly recommended for students wishing to learn the concepts and develop the programming skills that are fundamental to computational science and engineering (CSE). Through a 'teaching by examples' approach, the authors pose strategically chosen problems to help first-time programmers learn these necessary concepts and skills. Each section formulates a problem and then introduces those new MATLAB language features that are necessary to solve it. This approach puts problem-solving and algorithmic thinking first and syntactical details second. Each solution is followed by a 'talking point' that concerns some related, larger issue associated with CSE. Collectively, the worked examples, talking points, and 300+ homework problems build intuition for the process of discretization and an appreciation for dimension, inexactitude, visualization, randomness, and complexity. This sets the stage for further coursework in CSE areas.

Author: Robert St. Amant
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199775303
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
In Computing for Ordinary Mortals, cognitive scientist and AI expert Robert St. Amant explains what he calls, "the really interesting part" of computing, which are the ideas behind the technology. They're powerful ideas, and the foundations for everything that computers do, but they are little discussed. This book will not tell you how to use your computer, but it will give you a conceptual tour of how it works. Some of the ideas, like modularity which are so embedded in what we do as humans, can also give us insight into our own daily activities, how we interact with other people, and in some cases even what's going on in our heads. Computing is all around us, and, to quote Richard Hamming, the influential mathematician and computer scientist, "The purpose of computing is insight, not numbers," and it is this insight that informs the entire book.

Author: Paul E. Ceruzzi
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262532037
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 468

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Book Description
From the first digital computer to the dot-com crash—a story of individuals, institutions, and the forces that led to a series of dramatic transformations. This engaging history covers modern computing from the development of the first electronic digital computer through the dot-com crash. The author concentrates on five key moments of transition: the transformation of the computer in the late 1940s from a specialized scientific instrument to a commercial product; the emergence of small systems in the late 1960s; the beginning of personal computing in the 1970s; the spread of networking after 1985; and, in a chapter written for this edition, the period 1995-2001. The new material focuses on the Microsoft antitrust suit, the rise and fall of the dot-coms, and the advent of open source software, particularly Linux. Within the chronological narrative, the book traces several overlapping threads: the evolution of the computer's internal design; the effect of economic trends and the Cold War; the long-term role of IBM as a player and as a target for upstart entrepreneurs; the growth of software from a hidden element to a major character in the story of computing; and the recurring issue of the place of information and computing in a democratic society. The focus is on the United States (though Europe and Japan enter the story at crucial points), on computing per se rather than on applications such as artificial intelligence, and on systems that were sold commercially and installed in quantities.

Author: John S. Conery
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1466572450
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 439

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Book Description
An Active Learning Approach to Teaching the Main Ideas in Computing Explorations in Computing: An Introduction to Computer Science and Python Programming teaches computer science students how to use programming skills to explore fundamental concepts and computational approaches to solving problems. Tbook gives beginning students an introduction to

Author: Gerald Farin
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 156881321X
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
This non-traditional introduction to the mathematics of scientific computation describes the principles behind the major methods, from statistics, applied mathematics, scientific visualization, and elsewhere, in a way that is accessible to a large part of the scientific community. Introductory material includes computational basics, a review of coordinate systems, an introduction to facets (planes and triangle meshes) and an introduction to computer graphics. The scientific computing part of the book covers topics in numerical linear algebra (basics, solving linear system, eigen-problems, SVD, and PCA) and numerical calculus (basics, data fitting, dynamic processes, root finding, and multivariate functions). The visualization component of the book is separated into three parts: empirical data, scalar values over 2D data, and volumes.

Author: Jane Margolis
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262250802
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 245

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Book Description
Understanding and overcoming the gender gap in computer science education. The information technology revolution is transforming almost every aspect of society, but girls and women are largely out of the loop. Although women surf the Web in equal numbers to men and make a majority of online purchases, few are involved in the design and creation of new technology. It is mostly men whose perspectives and priorities inform the development of computing innovations and who reap the lion's share of the financial rewards. As only a small fraction of high school and college computer science students are female, the field is likely to remain a "male clubhouse," absent major changes. In Unlocking the Clubhouse, social scientist Jane Margolis and computer scientist and educator Allan Fisher examine the many influences contributing to the gender gap in computing. The book is based on interviews with more than 100 computer science students of both sexes from Carnegie Mellon University, a major center of computer science research, over a period of four years, as well as classroom observations and conversations with hundreds of college and high school faculty. The interviews capture the dynamic details of the female computing experience, from the family computer kept in a brother's bedroom to women's feelings of alienation in college computing classes. The authors investigate the familial, educational, and institutional origins of the computing gender gap. They also describe educational reforms that have made a dramatic difference at Carnegie Mellon—where the percentage of women entering the School of Computer Science rose from 7% in 1995 to 42% in 2000—and at high schools around the country.

Author: Sherif Ghali
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1848001150
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
Computing is quickly making much of geometry intriguing not only for philosophers and mathematicians, but also for scientists and engineers. What is the core set of topics that a practitioner needs to study before embarking on the design and implementation of a geometric system in a specialized discipline? This book attempts to find the answer. Every programmer tackling a geometric computing problem encounters design decisions that need to be solved. This book reviews the geometric theory then applies it in an attempt to find that elusive "right" design.

Author: Matti Tedre
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1482217694
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
The identity of computing has been fiercely debated throughout its short history. Why is it still so hard to define computing as an academic discipline? Is computing a scientific, mathematical, or engineering discipline? By describing the mathematical, engineering, and scientific traditions of computing, The Science of Computing: Shaping a Discipline presents a rich picture of computing from the viewpoints of the field’s champions. The book helps readers understand the debates about computing as a discipline. It explains the context of computing’s central debates and portrays a broad perspective of the discipline. The book first looks at computing as a formal, theoretical discipline that is in many ways similar to mathematics, yet different in crucial ways. It traces a number of discussions about the theoretical nature of computing from the field’s intellectual origins in mathematical logic to modern views of the role of theory in computing. The book then explores the debates about computing as an engineering discipline, from the central technical innovations to the birth of the modern technical paradigm of computing to computing’s arrival as a new technical profession to software engineering gradually becoming an academic discipline. It presents arguments for and against the view of computing as engineering within the context of software production and analyzes the clash between the theoretical and practical mindsets. The book concludes with the view of computing as a science in its own right—not just as a tool for other sciences. It covers the early identity debates of computing, various views of computing as a science, and some famous characterizations of the discipline. It also addresses the experimental computer science debate, the view of computing as a natural science, and the algorithmization of sciences.

Author: John MacCormick
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691170665
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
An accessible and rigorous textbook for introducing undergraduates to computer science theory What Can Be Computed? is a uniquely accessible yet rigorous introduction to the most profound ideas at the heart of computer science. Crafted specifically for undergraduates who are studying the subject for the first time, and requiring minimal prerequisites, the book focuses on the essential fundamentals of computer science theory and features a practical approach that uses real computer programs (Python and Java) and encourages active experimentation. It is also ideal for self-study and reference. The book covers the standard topics in the theory of computation, including Turing machines and finite automata, universal computation, nondeterminism, Turing and Karp reductions, undecidability, time-complexity classes such as P and NP, and NP-completeness, including the Cook-Levin Theorem. But the book also provides a broader view of computer science and its historical development, with discussions of Turing's original 1936 computing machines, the connections between undecidability and Gödel's incompleteness theorem, and Karp's famous set of twenty-one NP-complete problems. Throughout, the book recasts traditional computer science concepts by considering how computer programs are used to solve real problems. Standard theorems are stated and proven with full mathematical rigor, but motivation and understanding are enhanced by considering concrete implementations. The book's examples and other content allow readers to view demonstrations of—and to experiment with—a wide selection of the topics it covers. The result is an ideal text for an introduction to the theory of computation. An accessible and rigorous introduction to the essential fundamentals of computer science theory, written specifically for undergraduates taking introduction to the theory of computation Features a practical, interactive approach using real computer programs (Python in the text, with forthcoming Java alternatives online) to enhance motivation and understanding Gives equal emphasis to computability and complexity Includes special topics that demonstrate the profound nature of key ideas in the theory of computation Lecture slides and Python programs are available at whatcanbecomputed.com