Reviews (4)

The future history of programming
I'm not a professional reviewer. But I program a lot, and for a living. After more than 15 years of experience in algorithm development and user interface design, to name some extremes, I get the feeling that "traditional" computer programming languages like C (C++, C#, Objective C) and Pascal (Modula, Oberon, ADA)
Very, very good.
An unexpectedly good book. The best book available on Lisp implementation
This is an excellent book on Lisp implementation. You'll get a lot out of it, whether you areinterested in writing compilers and interpreters (for Lisp or any language) or whether you just want to see how Lisp works.Itis the modern day successor to Allen's "Anatomy of Lisp". ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Languages    2. Computers    3. Computers - Languages / Programming    4. Programming - Software Development    5. Programming Languages - General    6. Programming Languages - LISP    7. Computers / Programming / Software Development    8. High level programming languages    9. LISP (Computer program language)   

Subjects:  1. Education    2. Education / Teaching    3. Formal Language Theory    4. General    5. Specific Teaching Methods    6. Teaching Methods & Materials - General    7. Teaching Methods & Materials - Reading    8. Education / General   

Reviews (5)

GreatBook As Far As It Goes
I have used this to get a good background in the topics covered, especially inference theory, and in general I found it to be great book which fills a market gap.The only sins I see are sins of omission.I personally would have enjoyed seeing a more task driven organization.I seem to need these methods periodically but I never seem to need the same method twice.Also, many of the techniques are heavily iterative, i.e., monte carlo, neural networks, etc.This is fine but much of what I do is in the context of simulations where 100,000 step iterative methods don't work so well because of resource constraints.Historically, that has been the problem with many of these methods.They are useful for relatively small domains but don't necessarily work that well for "real" problems. That is probably why more task oriented books are not available.Of course the author is following the outline of the current research into the subject manner which in turn is largely determined by "interesting" and "doable" problems.The real progess in this field will come when the problems are formulated more by what is needed in the nontraditional domains of application. A good example of a useful compression (and identification in some cases) technique that is not covered is Principal Component Analysis.Technically, it is in none of the technique domains covered in this book, but it would have been nice to see some of the methods in the book compared with PCA.The author does make the statement at one point that image recognition is an interesting problem for which the method being discussed at the time is used.Nevertheless, this is a great overview of the subject manner and is very entertaining.That in the long run probably explains the problem: it is a textbook.

A must have...
Uniting information theory and inference in an interactive and entertaining way, this book has been a constant source ofinspiration, intuition and insight for me. It is packed full of stuff - its contents appear to grow the more I look - but the layering of the material means the abundance of topics does not confuse.
Good value text on a spread of interesting and useful topics
I am a PhD student in computer science. Over the last year and a half this book has been invaluable (and parts of it a fun diversion).
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Subjects:  1. Algorithms (Computer Programming)    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computers    4. Computers - General Information    5. Data Modeling & Design    6. Information Theory    7. Neural Networks    8. Programming - General    9. Applications of Computing    10. Computer Programming    11. Computers / Application Software / General    12. Electronics & Communications Engineering    13. Theoretical methods   

Reviews (2)

An excellent overview
In just a decade, Bayesian networks have went from being a mere academic curiosity to a highly useful field with myriads of applications. Indeed, the applications of Bayesian networks are wide-ranging and include disparate fields such as network engineering, bioinformatics, medical diagnostics, and intelligent troubleshooting. This book gives a fine overview of the subject, and after reading it one will have an in-depth understanding of both the underlying foundations and the algorithms involved in using Bayesian networks. The reader will have to look elsewhere for applications of Bayesian networks, since they are only discussed briefly in the book. Due to space constraints, only the first four chapters will be reviewed here. Enjoying this book enormously
Rarely do I find myself reading a technical bookRead more

Subjects:  1. Artificial Intelligence - General    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computers    4. Computers - General Information    5. Neural Networks    6. Computer Communications & Networking    7. Computers / Neural Networks   

Reviews (4)

Our biases over-ride our rational appraisal. An important volume from Kahneman and Tversky.
In this volume Daniel Kahneman and the late Amos Tversky gathered together 35 authoritative papers that demonstrate through well-designed experiments and through observation the hard-wired biases and heuristics that influence (or define) the way humans go about making choices when the outcomes are from certain.
Prospect theory is a subset of Keynes'stheory of probability
The essays contained in this book show convincingly that the standard decision theoretic model taught world wide since the mid 1940's,the subjective expected utility model based on the subjective approach to probability of Ramsey,De Finetti,and Savage,is not supported by the experimental evidence.The essays successfully show how the use of Prospect Theory accounts for the underweighting(subadditive-subproportional) and overweighting(superadditive-superproportional)of decision weights(non linear"probabilities").Three basic judgmental heuristic operations are preformed by decision makers in the real world.These operations are intuitive and based on the perceptions of the decision maker.The first heuristic that decision makers use in making probability evaluations is called representativeness.Judgments of probability are based on what is perceived as similar.The second heuristic is the availability heuristic.It,like the third heuristic,specifies that decision makers concentrate only on that evidence,upon which the probabilities will be estimated,that is most easily obtained or is immediately available.The third heuristic is called the anchoring heuristic.Decision makers use only that evidence that comes first.Tversky and Kahneman,as well as all of the other essay authors,argue that their experimental evidence demonstrates or shows that decision makers do not understand the mathematical laws of probability(additivity of probabilities,addition principle,multiplication principle,marginal probability,conditional probability,joint probability).They also do not understand basic statistical concepts(regression to the mean of a probability distribution).In 1921,in his A Treatise on Probability(TP),J M Keynes pointed out that the purely mathematical conception of probability was a very small subset of what he called the logical theory of probability.In order to apply the purely mathematical laws of probability correctly,a decision maker had to have a complete sample space of all possible outcomes specified in advance.An equivalent assumption is that the decision maker knows for certain what the particular probability distribution is.Secondly,probability preferences would have to be specified by a complete order that was linear or proportional.Any decision situation that did not satisfy these conditions had a weight of evidence less than one.Keynes specified a variable,w,called the weight of the evidence,that measured the completeness of the relevant,potential evidence that was available to the decision maker.It was defined on the unit interval between 0 and 1,just like Ellsberg's rho variable that would serve as a measure of the ambiguity of the evidence.The existence of ambiguity automaticaly will lead to violations of the purely mathematical laws of probability.Contrary to Kahneman and Tversky,Ellsberg,like Keynes before him,argued that these calculations are not erroneous and the decision makers are not irrational or biased.The claims made by Tversky, Kahneman and their many followers(Shiller,for example),that the subjects in their experiments are probabilistically and statistically illiterate,makes no sense because the problems that are presented to the experimental subjects do not allow the subjects to unambiguously define a unique probability distribution or a complete sample space of all possible outcomes(someexamples are the blue-green taxi cab problem,the rare Asian disease problem,the battlefield problem,the Linda-bankteller problem,and the lawyer-engineer problem).Let us now turn to the representativeness heuristic.The representativeness heuristic turns out to be none other than Keynes's degree of similarity or likeness or resemblance discussed by Keynes in chapter 3 and Part III of the TP.The anchoring and availability heuristics are identical to the statement that the weight of the evidence is less than 1 for a real world decision maker.Keynes showed that decision makers would usually be able to use interval estimates(upper-lower probabilities) only.You automatically will violate the mathematical laws of probability,which only hold in the limiting case where w=1,given linear probability preferences.Keynes also showed this in his examples of his conventional coefficient of weight and risk,c.The answers obtained when one applies the c coefficient will be sub and super additive.Keynes ,however,would argue that these are not biases or errors,but correct calculations obtained with incomplete information.The vast majority of decision makers are attempting to reason probabilistically without the benefit of knowing a unique probability distribution,a complete sample space,or being able to specify a complete order over all outcomes.They are rational.Tversky and Kahneman are requiring "SUPERRATIONALITY".Every calculation of a probability estimate that does not have a weight of 1 or violates Carnap's rule of total evidence will violate the mathematical laws of probability.L J Cohen,repeating Keynes's argument,spent 20 years trying to get this point across to Kahneman and Tversky inthe journal Brain and Behavioral Science(1975-1994) .Tversky's support theory is a belated attempt to remedy their omission,but it has not been successfuly integrated into Prospect theory(1979)or Cumulative Prospect theory(1992),where the weighting function is stilla function of a single variable representing probability,although additional parameters have been incorporated into the model.One could argue that it is Tversky and Kahneman who are irrationally insisting that decision makers use the mathematical laws of probability in situations where those laws are not applicable.

my humble opinion
Of course, my humble opinion relative to Nobel award committee will hold little intrinsic value, other than a layman's interpretation and application.Read more

Subjects:  1. Cognitive Psychology    2. Heuristic    3. Judgment    4. Psychology    5. Cognition & cognitive psychology    6. Psychology & Psychiatry / Cognitive Psychology   

Editorial Review

This book is a rigorous exposition of formal languages and models of computation, with an introduction to computational complexity. The authors present the theory in a concise and straightforward manner, with an eye out for the practical applications. Exercises at the end of each chapter, including some that have been solved, help readers confirm and enhance their understanding of the material. This book is appropriate for upper-level computer science undergraduates who are comfortable with mathematical arguments. ... Read more

Reviews (31)

Need some challenge? Come here!
I started to learn this course at the beginning of this semester and I just brought this book from Amazon in August.
first edition is a classic, the second one unremarkable
The first edition is one of the best book in its field. A classic. A reference for many advanced courses in computer theory. Excellent introductory text, but has several weaknesses
This was my textbook for an introductory course on Finite Automata and Languages - I enjoyed it a lot and I think that the chapters until the Turing Machines are covered very well, along with good examples. As one previous reviewer has already mentioned, the exercises can get very hard as compared to what's actually presented - this I found not too good.Read more

Subjects:  1. Computational complexity    2. Computer Science    3. Formal languages    4. Logic    5. Machine theory    6. Mathematics    7. Number Theory    8. Science/Mathematics    9. Artificial intelligence    10. Computers / Computer Science    11. General Theory of Computing    12. Programming languages   

Subjects:  1. General    2. Graphic methods    3. Mathematical Statistics    4. Mathematics    5. Medical / Nursing    6. Probability & Statistics - General    7. Research & Methodology    8. Science    9. Science/Mathematics    10. Algorithms & procedures    11. Computer modelling & simulation    12. Mathematical modelling    13. Mathematics / Statistics    14. Probability & statistics   

Reviews (11)

A very good book about Postfix
I wasn't looking for esoteric information on how to administer Sendmail. I was looking for a book on Postfix and that's what the author provided. I got the book based a lot on the quality of O'Reilly books and the editor's reputation. Andy Oram is a top notch editor. I recommend this book to any Linux or UNIX person wanting to substitute Postfix for sendmail. Postfix is a drop in replacement for systems configured for sendmail but Postfix is not a monlithic program with lots of vulnerabilities. The author expalins that perfectly.

Good reference guide for PostFix
PostFix is a replacement mail server, MTA, for Unix based systems that
Not what I was expecting
If you're looking for a comprehensive guide on setting up a Postfix mail server, then this isn't the book for you.For those that are already familiar with setting up MTAs, the information provided in "The Definitive Guide" is probably enough, but this book only covers a subset of the Postfix configuration parameters and does not provide the step-by-step instructions that many people may be expecting. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Database    2. Computer programs    3. Computers    4. Computers - Languages / Programming    5. Electronic mail systems    6. Internet    7. Postfix (Computer file)    8. Programming Languages - General    9. Reference - General    10. Computers / Data Transmission Systems / Electronic Mail    11. Computers / Languages / Programming    12. Computers / Programming Languages / General    13. Electronic mail (email)    14. Postfix, MTA, mail transfer agent, chroot, mailing lists, virtual domains, UBE blocking, SMTP authentication, content filtering, MySQL, LDAP, configuration parameters    15. Unix, Unix Linux & Unix TCL/TK   

Reviews (6)

Old fashioned fortran, strong bias on Monte Carlo
There is a very strong bias to MC methods in the book. What they have to say about Molecular Dynamics methods is not really new, most of it is virtually copied from the classic by Allan/Tildesley, and many MD techniques which they consider "advanced" (such as cell list methods, verlet tables, etc.) are shifted to one of the many appendices. They do not talk about ghostparticles for instance or give a detailed account of parallelized algorithms which is really state-of-the art today.
Excellent text for beginners in simulation
Its an excellent book for those who are just beginners in MC & MD simulations. everything is very clearly explained with lot of examples and some related unsolved problems. the text explores this topic indetails with advanced chapters in later sections. Good for anybody int hsi field be it in materials science, physics or related fields.

Perfect for New Grad Students
This book is how I bootstrapped my way into being a molecular simulationist.Anyone who can program in some language can get started writing simple routines for the basic MD and MC simulations.Read more

Subjects:  1. Chemistry - Physical & Theoretical    2. Computer Engineering    3. Computer Simulation    4. Engineering - Chemical & Biochemical    5. Intermolecular forces    6. Mathematical Physics    7. Mathematical models    8. Molecular Chemistry    9. Molecules    10. Quantum Theory    11. Science    12. Science/Mathematics    13. Atomic & molecular physics    14. Computer modelling & simulation    15. Materials science    16. Technology / Engineering / Chemical & Biochemical   

Reviews (4)

If you want to learn Rhino ....
This book provides plenty of examples, grouped in a context in which they will be used. Some Nurbs, modeling theory and troubleshooting tips. Enough to answer questions as you go through the text but not so much as to be overwhelming.
Horrible
Do not buy this book. Instead buy the online Rhino video tips from Mcneel. I bought this book expecting to learn something only to discover that the stuff I learned was useless. Save your time and money
Numerous omissions and typos made for a very frustrating read.Mislabeled drawings and missing or erroneous instructions made exercises difficult to follow. Fundamental exercises were superficial and fragmented without logical development or context making retention difficult.Rhino's supplied Level 1 and Level 2 Training Materials are far superior in all regards. Don't waste your time and money.The publisher and author were e-mailed regarding problems but no response. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Automation    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Graphics    4. Computer Graphics - General    5. Computer-Aided Engineering    6. Computers    7. Computers - Desktop Publishing    8. Desktop Publishing - General    9. Drafting & Mechanical Drawing    10. Rhino (Computer file)    11. Science/Mathematics    12. Three-dimensional display syst    13. Three-dimensional display systems    14. Computer modelling & simulation    15. Computers / Information Technology    16. Sculpture & other three-dimensional art forms   

Reviews (2)

Not bad as a reference
This books deals with all kinds of manipulators. It has a good amount of math but looks not enough and not easy to understand (I did not go into the math details). I think this book would be a good reference in your library where it has a good amount of advanced information about manipulators.

a branch of applied maths
For decades, physics and engineering undergraduates have used texts on classical mechanics that often contained what some students might consider to be abstruse ideas, with little everyday usage. But this book on robotics is a worthy rejoinder. It can be regarded as an advanced text in classical mechanics.
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Subjects:  1. Engineering - Mechanical    2. Industrial Robotics    3. Robotics    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Technology & Industrial Arts    6. Mathematical theory of computation    7. Technology / Engineering / Electrical   

Reviews (7)

More for mathematicians than computer scientist
This book introduces the concepts of kernel-based methods and focuses specifically on Support Vector Machines (SVM). It is hard to read and a good background in mathematic is clearly needed. The book has a strong emphasis on SVM starting from the very first line of text. Concepts are well explained, although equations are not clear. The notation doesn't facilitate the reading at all. The book covers linear as well as kernel learning. The kernel trick is well described. It is easy to understand ideas behind SVM while reading the corresponding chapter. Finally a small chapter on SVM applications is proposed. Unfortunately, it only contains typical SVM applications (i.e. standard problems).
A little dry.
The book is a little dry at times. Also, I didn't get a very clear idea of how to select kernel functions, which seems pretty important.

Not even close to an intro...
Oh Puhleeeezzzzz... How is your vector math??? Remember your linear algebra well?Do you have a background in SVM's? Intuitively able to suck out of thin air the meaning of the Gamma co-efficient as applied to svm's?? You've read all the background papers and remember your formal logic???? No?? too bad..your out of luck..
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Subjects:  1. Algorithms    2. Algorithms (Computer Programming)    3. Artificial Intelligence - General    4. Computer Books: General    5. Computers    6. Computers - General Information    7. General    8. Kernel functions    9. Machine Learning    10. Programming - General    11. Computers / Bioinformatics    12. Data capture & analysis    13. Pattern recognition   

Subjects:  1. Chaotic Behavior in Systems    2. Computer Simulation    3. Computers    4. Engineering - Electrical & Electronic    5. SIMULINK    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Technology & Industrial Arts    8. Automatic control engineering    9. Computer Software Packages    10. Computer modelling & simulation    11. Electrical engineering    12. Technology / Engineering / Electrical   

Reviews (7)

Quick/Easy Tutorial for a Powerful but Unpopular Language
Lisp (no it's not a speech impediment) is an old language. But in spite of all of the hype on the new languages like C, C++, and Java, there is still a need and a place for some of the old languages.
Well polished but
Ok it was on the web a lot and many people have a change to trace the errors and post suggestions, so this is a pretty well written and well polished product, i would recommend to beginner to intermediate programmer , typing is pretty compact so you could use it as a reference but for a A grade tehre should be good exercises.

Thinking receipthits one more time
Great book , one that lisp world needed , to offer another view. Well polished through web feedback quick tutorial or reference recommended for beginner or intermediate programmer.
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Subjects:  1. Computers / General    2. David B. Lamkins   

Reviews (8)

Book poorly written 3rd edition
Many of the example problems take short cuts while trying to explain the material through practical problems.When reading the book one is forced to constantly, turn the pages backward for previous references in order to understand the short cuts.The book is in need of some serious editing.Nevertheless, not all engineering books get better with editing.Spotts, machine design, for example in the 6th edition is a Great Book! In the 8th edition, it is useless.This book has the potential to be a good textbook. However, in this form it is just about 3 pounds of paper and cardboard with a fancy cover.Not the worst textbook ever, but it made the list.

Typo ridden clunker...
The textbook attempts to cover basic kinematics, forward and backward chaining through the Euclidean approach to describe DH conventions, torque, and so forth.The first three chapters would lead one to expect an excellent textbook, and then the textbook descends into a nightmare.
review for Introduction to Robotics: Mechanics and Control (2nd Edition)
Item was shipped and in great condition except for a few highlight marks. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Engineering - Electrical & Electronic    2. Engineering - General    3. Robotics    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Technology    6. Technology & Industrial Arts    7. Applications of Computing    8. Technology / Robotics   

Reviews (8)

Practical advice for a novice
I am a novice robot builder. I appreciate the thoroughness and practical approach of this book. I have understood and implemented several circuit ideas from this excellent book.
Truly excellent!
This book (and it's prequel, Robot Building for Beginners by the same author) is extraordinarily good.It picks up where the previous book (which is the best book in existence for the beginning roboticist, in my opinion) leaves off, getting into details of milling parts, microcontroller circuits, and such.A truly wonderful book.If you read the previous book, and then read this book, you will have an excellent grounding in robotics, and have a very entertaining time doing it.Highly recommended!

A course in analog electronics
Very cool narrative aimed straight at the hardcore tinkerer. For the restless kid inside you, that really digged hands on experience, and who perhaps is left neglected by all this software/web browsing.Read more

Subjects:  1. Artificial Intelligence - General    2. Computer Books: Languages    3. Computers    4. Robotics    5. Robots    6. Technology & Industrial Arts    7. Computers / Artificial Intelligence   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (27)

A good primer to computer networks and its design
A comprehensive textbook for undergraduate/graduate students.The book is complete with basic coverage to different types of networks and their working.Treatment to TCP and other Internet protocols well explained with pseudo code for different algorithms.Various extensions to TCP and network security basics well covered.The book does lack some mathematical treatment to the subject which could have improved the content.

Good for Academic Studies.But...
I am studying this as part of my course.I have found this book teaches you from the base about Networking.It's really helpful in understanding the underlying technologies.Larry and Bruce have done a wonderful job in covering almost all of the aspects.But... I found only one thing lacking.That is...graphical explanations. This book is more of text with required graphics but in some places it took time to visualize the concept.I have had Behrouz A. Forozan's (I hope I have spelt the name correctly)"TCP/IP: The Complete Protocol Suite" along with this.Particularly I found some of the parts like ATM, Routing and other chapters' in this book textually gives us a thorough understanding and Forozan's book does depict that visually in a better way.Here is the bottomline, have this book as "The" texbook and have some other books like the as I mentioned before.

A good general introduction, not an engineering textbook.
Although this book clarifies the concepts of networking quite good, it lacks in-depth mathematical & statistical theory.
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Subjects:  1. Communication Networks    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computer Systems    4. Computer networks    5. Computers    6. Computers - Communications / Networking    7. Internet - General    8. Management Information Systems    9. Networking - General    10. Neural Networks    11. Communications engineering / telecommunications    12. Systems management   

Reviews (20)

Solid publication for DSS & IT Theory--Great research tool!
Not everyone will find this book as extremely useful as I did. The information contained within can be intimidating because of the sheer volume packed into its over 900 pages, but for someone wanting a foundation of Decision-support theory, this book should fulfill your need.
Rambling book
This book could get away with about 2/3 the volume of content still be interesting.There really does not seem to be any structure to the way a chapter flows.Its easy to skim, but difficult to read.
Purpose of the book: separate you from your money???
As far as I can tell the prupose of this book is to separate you from a great deal of your money!
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Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computers    4. Data processing    5. Decision Making & Problem Solving    6. Decision support systems    7. Expert systems (Computer scien    8. Expert systems (Computer science)    9. Management    10. Management Information Systems