Book Description
In its first five years of existence, The Perl Journal ran 247 articles by over 120 authors.Every serious Perl programmer subscribed to it, and every notable Perl guru jumped at the opportunity to write for it.TPJ explained critical topics such as regular expressions, databases, and object-oriented programming, and demonstrated Perl's utility for fields as diverse as astronomy, biology, economics, AI, and games.The magazine gave birth to both the Obfuscated Perl Contest and the Perl Poetry contest, and remains a proud and timeless achievement of Perl during one of its most exciting periods of development.Computer Science and Perl Programming is the first volume of The Best of the Perl Journal, compiled and re-edited by the original editor and publisher of The Perl Journal, Jon Orwant. In this series, we've taken the very best (and still relevant) articles published in TPJ over its 5 years of publication and immortalized them into three volumes. This volume has 70 articles devoted to hard-core computer science, advanced programming techniques, and the underlying mechanics of Perl.Here's a sample of what you'll find inside:

• Jeffrey Friedl on Understanding Regexes
• Mark Jason Dominus on optimizing your Perl programs with Memoization
• Damian Conway on Parsing
• Tim Meadowcroft on integrating Perl with Microsoft Office
• Larry Wall on the culture of Perl

Customer Reviews (5)

Good but not great
The material is great, but the first edition (at least) suffers from enough typesetting flaws to make some content difficult to follow. There are several instances where the prose indicates some text is supposed to be highlighted in some way but it is not e.g; bold to indicate differences from an earlier code listing, or variables missing the distinguishing overlines resulting in incomprehensible formulae.

Good, but over my head
I enjoyed learning the algorithms they presented, but I don't have much use for them in my work.This is a good collection for those who are interested in doing very difficult work in the easiest Language to Succeed in; Perl.

Absolutely lovable and entirely unique
The title is misleading in that it doesn't give the full impact of what's going on with this book. This book was written by somnething of a who's-who of the Perl community and it's similiarly a massive aggregation the best applications of nearly all of Perl's features. It's true that it's edited versions of TPJ articles but TPJ has always been hands-on and the feel is more as though the best pages were ripped out of already great Perl books to be arranged and edited into one volume. I urge you to think of this as a book in the vein of Programming Perl but written by everyone but Larry Wall. =)

Because nearly every article was written as the result of a Perl feature manifesting itself to violently break through a hard problem, this book contains a collection of examples that no single human could possible contrieve. Other books (even Programming Perl by comparison) relatively thoroughly demonstrate and document the language features but only this one shows each feature shining as it solves real problems in real problems taken from real life. You'll get a feel not only for the syntax of features but how to think about them. You'll start to spot new and better applications for Perl's features in your own programming work.

Compared to other books, it's more verbose than Programming Perl and it neglects the bare basics and moves much further with the ideas. It examines more macro scale ideas than the Perl Cookbook and generalizes thier applications rather than giving numerous specifics. The closest example I can think of is the styles and much of the contents of Advanced Perl Programming, Learning Regular Expressions, Learning Algorithms with Perl and several others rolled into one.

It goes into more depth on why things are the way they are than any other Perl book. For example, one chapter demonstrates how things would go wrong if the order of operators were different than how they are and using the good and bad arrangements walks the reader through infering what the relative orders are. Where other books list the order of operations in a matter-of-fact way, this one leaves you with a sense of order and rationality of things that your intuition and creativity can feed off of when programming.

Quoting from the foreword (Hi Mark Jason Dominus!): "It does not suffer from the usual flaw of the anthology, which is that the best you can hope for is that more than half of the articles are above average. On the contrary, it is by turns brilliant, witty, and profound.". And from the preface: "In a sense, this book was written very carefully and methodically over six years. ... Every issue, there were a lot of new subscribers, many of whom were new to Perl. Common sense dictated that I should include beginner articles in every issue, but I didn't like where that line of reasoning led. If I catered to the novices in every issue, far too many articles would be about beginner topics. ... So I did something very unusual for a magazine: I made it easy (and cheap) for subscribers to get all of the back issues when they subscribed, so they'd be able to enjoy the introductory material. A side effect of this approach was that the articles hang together very well: they tell a consistent "story" in a steady progress from TPJ #1 to TPJ #20...".

Perl's books have always been one of it's major strengths and I'm happy this trend continues. Computer Science & Perl Programming is delightful.

Computer Science and Perl Programming
Ahh how I miss The Perl Journal. This volume brings me right back to the good old days of humor and fine code. Unfortunately, The Perl Journal has been relegated to a quarterly supplement appearing in Sys Admin magazine. Thankfully, some of the knowledge found in the pages of The Perl Journal has been compiled here.

Computer Science and Perl Programming is a collection of 70 articles from The Perl Journal. It is the first volume of a set of three and, in my opinion, the best volume. Jon Orwant, the original editor of The Perl Journal, has done a great job in putting together this volume.

This volume is divided into tips for beginners, regular expressions, data structures, networking, databases, software development processes, object-oriented programming, and advanced Perl programming techniques. I particularly enjoyed the regular expressions, and networking sections. The data structures section was also very useful, as data structures in Perl can tend to be a bit odd. This volume has a good bit of programming knowledge crammed into it, and seems to be a bit more serious than the other two volumes.

All in all, a great read and a great reference to keep around. I would definitely advise anyone interested in Perl to pick up this set, you won't regret it.

Great collection
Computer Science and Perl Programming is a collection of 70-odd articles from The Perl Journal magazine. As the title suggests it focusses on more of the theoretical side of perl. This is the first volume in a series of three books. The second one focusses on web and graphics, and the third one on games and diversions.

CS & PP is divided into seven sections as follows: Beginner Concepts, Regular Expressions, Computer Science, Programming Techniques, Software Development, Networking and Databases. The articles are straight reprints from TPJ and are written by a number of leading perl people such as Larry Wall, Damian Conway, Mark Jason Dominus, etc. Jon Orwant, the publisher of TPJ is the editor for this book.

I haven't finished this book yet but I've greatly enjoyed the articles I've read. A vast array of topics are covered, such as B-Trees, random number generators, benchmarking, makemaker, DBI and even Win32::ODBC and Microsoft Office. There's something for every perl programmer in this book. Highly recommended. ... Read more

Book Description
This brand-new book is must-read material for job-hunting computer software engineers, applications and systems programmers, database developers and administrators, systems analysts, security engineers, network engineers, test engineers, and many other specialists in the IT (information technology) profession. An opening chapter gives an overview of today’s IT job market with projections through the year 2010, current top job opportunities, and a discussion of new and evolving IT employment opportunities. A following chapter discusses the job-winning process, with advice on résumé writing and distribution, getting interviews, and landing a position. The remaining chapters describe the needed IT skill requirements, advise on developing a job-finding strategy, explain how to assess one’s own skills, discuss employment strategies and career planning, and cover virtually every other aspect of IT job hunting. The book concludes with 30 sample résumés for today’s leading information technology job opportunities. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Informative but very misleading...
-The title of the book say's " Computer Science Resumes and Job-Finding Guide" but it also says, " A winning approach for information technology job candidate." Correct me if I'm wrong, but Computer Science should not be confused with IT. Computer Science deals with R&D, Inventions, and Development; while IT usually involved in the context of a BUSINESS and is often used to automate manual task...WITIHIN AN ORGANIZATION.

-Primary Skills Requirements(based on 2004) mentioned on page 3, contradicts page 31 listings of today's top IT Jobs. ... Read more

Book Description
This book is designed to be used as the primary textbook in a college-level first course in computing. It takes a fairly traditional approach, emphasizing problem solving, design, and programming as the core skills of computer science. However, these ideas are illustrated using a non-traditional language, namely Python.

Although I use Python as the language, teaching Python is not the main point of this book. Rather, Python is used to illustrate fundamental principles of design and programming that apply in any language or computing environment. In some places, I have purposely avoided certain Python features and idioms that are not generally found in other languages. There are already many good books about Python on the market; this book is intended as an introduction to computing.

Features include the following:
*Extensive use of computer graphics.
*Interesting examples.
*Readable prose.
*Flexible spiral coverage.
*Just-in-time object coverage.
*Extensive end-of-chapter problems. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

A Great Introduction to Programming in General
I am a designer aspiring to develop stronger skills in JavaScript and ActionScript. I realized it would be helpful for me to get a better grounding in the core concepts and most general patterns of programming. I was attracted to this book for the subtitle, "An Introduction to Computer Science", and I had heard that Python is similar to the scripting type of languages that I need. I looked at a number of other books for this introductory purpose, one of which was "Learn to Program" (using Ruby) published by Pragmatic Programmers. Although "Learn to Program" is a very well done book (and Ruby similarly clear like Python), it is just a little too basic, light, and brief for what I wanted. "Python Programming" is great for beginners, but it also gives the kind of thorough grounding in clear concepts (a 'Computer Science 101') that is great for beginners to learn with and for experts to review and refresh themselves with.

Excellent Book for the Novice
This is an excellent introduction to Python.I also looked through the book by Alan Gauld but had some difficulties implementing code that he had in thetext (could be that it uses an older version of Python?).In any event, Zelle clearly and effectively communicates the fundamentals of programming, and programming with Python.He uses examples which are immediately understandable and supportive of the underlying theory.Having little experience with programming languages, I needed someone that started at square one - Zelle does this and quickly gives the reader the tools necessary to start programming.

Pretty darn good!
This is an excellent intro book for python.The fact that it touches on aspects of computer science allows it to be tied to some contextual relevancy.The book is clear, concise and explains the basics in appropriate detail.The book states that it would be a candidate for a primary textbook in a college-level, first course in computing.I think the key word here is "primary", which should not be confused with "only."The book itself is fluid and can be read through (and applied) rather quickly.The author obviously had a choice of subjects and level of detail for inclusion.That being said, this book is a great jumping off point for the more varied, specific, and finer details of the language.I personally, would not want to put students through the ongoing evolution of the dice gui or some other projects that the author uses to progress the student/self-learner through the development of the material presented.But the nice thing about the book is that given the well informed context and detail of the project environment, it is very easy to apply the concepts to a project more of your choosing and still be on the same page with the author's explanation of his project.Ultimately, the author offers a very open, yet safe (for newbies) environment to learn, explore, make mistakes, get back on track and actually come away with an understanding of the language as well as quite a bit of practice (if you choose).

Possibly the best book out there for raw beginners like me
I've always wanted to learn how to program and with a large number of languages available, the options can be overwhelming. Python is an excellent language to learn first due to its simplicity. This book introduces the Python language and the basics of computer science. At the end of each chapter, there are exercises where you apply the topics from the chapter. Some of the exercises can be very challenging, which I think is great.

It also helps if you know a bit of math.

better for programming than Python
I got this book after finding a recommendation on Peter Norvig's web site.It works out pretty well as a "Computer Science 101" text.The author does a good job of explaining how one might solve typical programming problems, using Python as the example programming language.It does this pretty well, although I think it really should have an early chapter on TDD.How else is the student to gain confidence their programs are correct?

It has its deficiencies.It has examples of how to program using graphics but these aren't supported for the Mac, other than an oblique reference to Tkinter.How is a new CS student to figure that out?Also, it teaches some poor Python habits, like using camelCase naming. ... Read more

Book Description
This new edition of Invitation to Computer Science follows the breadth-first guidelines recommended by CC2001 to teach computer science topics from the ground up.The authors begin by showing that computer science is the study of algorithms, the central theme of the book, then move up the next five levels of the hierarchy: hardware, virtual machine, software, applications, and ethics. Utilizing rich pedagogy and a consistently engaging writing style, Schneider and Gersting provide students with a solid grounding in theoretical concepts, as well as important applications of computing and information technology.A laboratory manual and accompanying software is available as an optional bundle with this text. ... Read more

Book Description
Completely revised and updated, Fundamentals of Java: Comprehensive Course, Third Edition covers all of the AP requirements for Computer Science Exams A and AB. By taking a multilevel approach to teaching Java, this text is suitable for a wide range of students, from beginners to those ready for advanced data structures. Since it is non-software specific, it can be used with any Java program compiler, including Borland, Sun Microsystems, Symantec and others. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Why are so many Java books so horrible?
My dad wants to learn Java, and I remember reading this book for my AP Computer Science A class and learning Java from it.Sadly, it's not in the library, nor is it in any Barnes and Noble or Borders bookstore.The books they have are of the line Java for Dummies or Java in X days, and man are they horrible.I actually saw one Java book at Borders from Schildt, and thought it might be good seeing the good reviews and all, but the thing is, it's not for beginners at all.Someone from C++ or another language would be able to understand (especially from his many C++ references and notes through the book) but from all the books I've looked through, none of them looked like it would be good for a beginner in programming.

This book however worked for me and several others in my class.I won't say it's the absolute BEST book for Java, especially for the experienced, but is pretty darned good for beginners who want to learn some good programming concepts.

The one thing I really loved about this book was the programming exercises at the end of each chapter.There are like 8-10 of these in each chapter ranging from easy, to medium, to hard and really, the best way to learn a programming language is to just do it yourself.Too many of the horrible books I saw above didn't have too many exercises, just blabbered pages and pages of theory.

If you do get this book, each chapter has a "special" GUI section at the end of the chapter.I would highly advise you to avoid these until you read the entire book, because these GUI sections come at very odd times when you haven't even learned a particular thing for the gui, but the section uses it anyway without much explanation and you get really frustrated.

Other than this, I would highly recommend this book as it is what got me interested in programming in the first place... although I hate Java because it's programs are slow, but anyway, get it if you're a beginner wanting to learn Java.Java is a great beginner language in my opinion it teaches you many good programming concepts the right way - more than, say, Visual Basic.

Also, while learning Java, I highly recommend using the free IDE JGrasp to prgram in.

Thanks for reading! ... Read more

Book Description
In the 1990's it was realized that quantum physics has some spectacular applications in computer science. This book is a concise introduction to quantum computation, developing the basic elements of this new branch of computational theory without assuming any background in physics. It begins with an introduction to the quantum theory from a computer-science perspective. It illustrates the quantum-computational approach with several elementary examples of quantum speed-up, before moving to the major applications: Shor's factoring algorithm, Grover's search algorithm, and quantum error correction. The book is intended primarily for computer scientists who know nothing about quantum theory, but will also be of interest to physicists who want to learn the theory of quantum computation, and philosophers of science interested in quantum foundational issues. It evolved during six years of teaching the subject to undergraduates and graduate students in computer science, mathematics, engineering, and physics, at Cornell University. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

5 stars
Great Book! I had to buy for my class ... happy that we are using this :-)

Comprehensive Discussion of Computer Security
Excellent book describing both the technical aspects of Computer Security as well as the heuristic methods used to secure computer networks. Helpful to everyone who is trying to understand how computer security works.

Fails as an Intro book for Students
This book was used in my Intro to Computer Security class, which I thought was going to be an interesting until I had to read the book. This book is suited more for those already in the field or have knowledge about computer security.

The way the book is writen makes it a hard read as it is full of theory and hardly any application. Complex theories are not explained in a way that allows somebody new to the field the chance to understand them.

Examples are more or less useless as they are either complex or not explained in full. Most of the examples cause more confusion then understanding. This is not just my opinion but the majority of my the class.

A Service to Duplicate!
Excellent service! The book arrived within five days of placing the order, and I was totally blown away when it arrived, considering the fact that it was a text book that I needed to have in a timely manner. Thanks again Amazon! I'm now hooked more than ever, and I'm telling my friends about the wonderful shopping experience.

Very detailed reference
I used this book for a graudate-level introductory computer security class and it was very detailed and explained concepts well. I took a security and privacy course in undergrad and Bishop's book is much better than the book I used last fall. If you have strong math skills and strong coding skills, this is the book for you. It is even helpful to people studying for the CISSP and Security+ certifications in information security. ... Read more

Book Description
Illustrates key computing concepts using examples in the most popular programming languages. This is an essential guide for the hundreds of thousands of students studying Introduction to Computer Science or Introduction to Programming, presenting the basic concepts of computer science and illlustrating them with examples in C/C++, and Java. More than 285,000 college majors and 11,000 high school Advanced Placement candidates are enrolled in required Computing Science courses. Explains algorithm development and data abstraction. Supplements leading computer science textbooks. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good supplement for anyone learning basic computer programming
This is a pretty good introduction to basic undergraduate ideas in computer science including different number systems (hex, binary), computing structures (components, architecture), and the concept of program layout and algorithms. This book does not go deep into these concepts, but at least it makes the student aware that these issues exist and gives a very brief idea of how they work. In other words, don't expect any in-depth examination of computational complexity in the section on algorithms. The lion's share of the book is dedicated to simple programming concepts. First the ideas of variables, constants, operators, operator precedence, and input/output are introduced. Then these concepts are used to examine the constructs of control structures, functions, subroutines, arrays, strings, files, and data structures. There is a very basic chapter on object oriented programming that includes the advantages of object orientation as well as an introduction to terminology and program structure. Simple programs are shown as examples and also given as exercises in four popular languages - C, C++, Visual Basic, and Java.

This book was written in 1999, so the properties of the four featured programming languages have changed some, but not enough to nullify the usefulness of this book. I would say that this book is suitable for high school and freshman college students getting their first look at the basics of computing and of programming in any language. This book does not substitute as an introductory textbook for learning the four programming languages used, but it would make a nice supplement.

overview of 4 popular languages
This book is unique in that it is both low-priced and provides an overview of four popular languages- C, C++, Java and VisualBasic (I couldn't find anything on Pascal and Fortran, unlike what the Publisher's reviewimplies). It is sometimes heavy going and or lacks detail in places, andwill need to be supplemented by other books and courses. Still, it'sgoodvalue for the price. ... Read more

Book Description
The Princeton Review realizes that acing the AP Computer Science Exam is very different from getting straight A’s in school.We don’t try to teach you everything there is to know about computer science–only what you’ll need to score higher on the exam. There’s a big difference. In Cracking the AP Computer Science A & AB Exams, we’ll teach you how to think like the test makers and
-Focus on what the AP testers really want you to know with a complete review of Java language used on the exam
-Learn techniques to help you navigate the multiple-choice and
free-response questions
-Brush up specific skills with practice questions throughout the book and
full-length practice tests for the AP Computer Science A and AB exams
This book includes 2 full-length practice tests, one each for the AP Computer ScienceA and AB exams. All of our practice test questions are like the ones you’ll see on the actual exam, and we fully explain every answer. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

So-So
This book had a few mistakes in it, and is very shallow in its coverage of the material.If you're pressed for time then its a good buy, but if you are aiming for a great score, prepare ahead of time and buy a different, more thorough book.

Indespensible
If you don't know a thing about java, and your like me who only knew C before, AND you need to cram some java concepts into your head real fast, THIS is THE book. I can't believe people are calling this a waste of paper, this book as a review covered what most books take many chapters to teach in about 10 pages (variable types, operators, structures, etc). Don't buy this to learn java, but if you dont want to spend a lot of money on another book just to learn java from the start because you know the concepts already, this book is the right thing for you. I reccomend (to those who know C or other languages) that you read this book, as it will not only give you a quick translation for other programming languages, but it will also help refresh what you've forgotten or never knew to begin with.

i love school
i wish there were more princeton review books as good as this one that i could read all day long. I love techology

Don't bother with this one.
Last year was my first year teaching AP Computer Science. I purchased a package that included this title for all of my students. The idea that the author had participated in writing the exam gave me the impression the prep questions in this book might have something to do with what the actual exam would be like - I was wrong. The book was a total disappointment. Several students purchased other books that were passed around before the exam. Everyone agreed that this book was by far the least helpful and was in fact misleading. Don't waste your money.

Well worth the money!
I feel as though this book really helped me for the AP Comp Sci A test. It really does an excellent job of reviewing the basic fundamentals and all the other Java concepts that are covered in the curriculum. However I wouldn't count on this book to teach you anything new you haven't learned already. If you have already covered the concepts in class but need to review them one more time before taking the exam then this book is perfect for you. If you only want to get a 3 or 4 then this book can help you acheive that. However if your counting on a 5, I think you should at least check out the practice tests in some of the other tougher review books such as Barrons. I felt some of the AP test questions were a little bit tougher than the ones I encountered while using this book. But overall, this book really covers pretty much everything you need to know for the exam and nothing more. If that floats your boat then I think you should get this book ... Read more

Book Description
This textbook provides a thorough and systematic introduction to designing digital circuits. The author is the leading programming language designer of our time and in this book, based on a course for 2nd-year students at the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, he aims to close the gap between hardware and software design. He encourages the student to put the theory to work in exercises that include lab work culminating in the design of a simple yet complete computer. The lab work is based on a workstation equipped with a single field programmable gate array chip and software tools for entering, editing, and analyzing designs. This text is a modern introduction to designing circuits using state-of-the-art technology and a concise, easy to master hardware description language (Lola) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Best book of its kind
This is an unusual little book that addresses a specific need: the first introduction to hardware how and why for someone who's already a competent programmer. That audience has very different needs than those of electrical engineering students learning logic design, but I know of no other book intended for that audience.

The pace is brisk. It starts at the level of bipolar transistors, and shows the differences between a CMOS and TTL totem pole. Before page 100, the student has seen combinational logic, registers, RAM and ROM, and the Lola hardware design language, and is designing a CPU. By the time the book ends, the student has seen bit-slice controllers, microprocessors and IO systems, and the inner workings of a UART.

This is not idle play. 99% of all processors these days do not run Windows or Unix. Instead, they're inside of sewing machines, fuel injectors, implanted defibrillators, and anti-lock brakes. Schools do little, if anything at all, to prepare students for working in an environment where software and hardware are interchangeable. In those worlds, a programmer is often called upon to specify and debug hardware, at least as one member of a mixed development team. They may even need to understand how to create logic circuits that perform computing tasks. Silicon Graphics and Cray have both released main-stream processors that have programmable logic strapped onto their CPUs, and someone has to make that logic work.

Because of its unique direction, this book skips nearly all of what a "logic design" book would address. There is no Karnaugh mapping, state minimization, or mention of logic hazards (though the student does get a look at some kinds of transient glitches). There is bare mention of asynchronous design, a bugbear of logic design students and now relegated to narrow niches. There are, however, schematics and part lists for a CPU built from MSI logc, for a microprocessor-based computer, and for the gate-array logic design of a small CPU.

An EE might poo-poo this book as "logic lite," because it doesn't teach all that manly circuit stuff. Well, it wasn't meant to. The student who studies this book carefully, however, will be ready to deal with ground bounce, spec sheets, and a wide range of problems from the analog level on up.

Wirth's dense but readable book is my choice for a programmer's first look inside the hardware. I just wish there were an edition newer than the 1995 printing.

//wiredweird

An unusual approach towards circuit design and HDLs
When this book appeared in 1995, I had a look at it, but I did not buy it. Why not ?

Wirth describes the basics of modern circuit design without going too much into the electrical details. After a short look attransistors (bipolar and FET) he goes to gates (NAND/NOR/NOT) and shows howto create building blocks like multiplexers, ROM and RAM with them. Thispresentation culminates in the description of a simple microprocessor core.But it looked a bit too elementary at first sight.

Nevertheless, 3 yearslater I bought the book, started reading it and still enjoy reading it. Whythis change of view ? What I overlooked at first sight was the HDL thatWirth introduces after the presentation of the building blocks in chapter7. This language is called Lola (Logic Language) and is much simpler thanVHDL, Verilog and even simpler than Abel. Lola looks a bit like the otherlanguages Wirth created (Pascal, Modula, Oberon). In the second half of thebook, he uses this language to specify his processor design and someperipherals (like a UART). These readable and concise designs together withthe unique approach to circuit design are the main reasons why I canrecommend this book.

Warning: If you want to learn a HDL that is widelyaccepted in the industry, learn VHDL, Verilog or Abel. Lola is theoutgrowth of an academic project and will not enable you to earn much moneyin the industry. But I like it and the book. ... Read more

Book Description

Mathematical Logic for Computer Science is a mathematics textbook with theorems and proofs, but the choice of topics has been guided by the needs of computer science students. The method of semantic tableaux provides an elegant way to teach logic that is both theoretically sound and yet sufficiently elementary for undergraduates. To provide a balanced treatment of logic, tableaux are related to deductive proof systems.
The logical systems presented are:
- Propositional calculus (including binary decision diagrams);
- Predicate calculus;
- Resolution;
- Hoare logic;
- Z;
- Temporal logic.
Answers to exercises (for instructors only) as well as Prolog source code for algorithms may be found via the Springer London web site: http://www.springer.com/978-1-85233-319-5

Book Description

Customer Reviews (11)

a comprehensive mistake
From a senior at the Missouri University of Science and Technology studying both computer science and computer engineering:

The practice exam enclosed in this book does not closely match with the present exam made available by ETS 'for free' online. For example, a much larger percent of the questions in this book's exam are hardware related instead of CS theory or math background related.

Worse yet, this book's review sections prior to the sample exam are shallow at best. The most entertaining of these was the 'More Specialized Knowledge' section, which was seven pages in length, with at most two paragraphs devoted to categories such as 'Networks', 'Protocols', 'Encryption, Compression, and Error Correction', 'Heuristic Search', 'Parallel Computation', etc. There's even a note at the end of this section that attempts to make up for these "surveys" with a feint of reassurance: 'Even when you study every single topic in every practice exam, even if you kept every text from every undergraduate course, even if you take the exam twice, you will miss something.' Profound, at the toddler level.

Most unsettling, the practice test is littered with mistakes. Clear, obvious, blatant mistakes that a freshman in CS could pick out! Prime examples include question 1 - the key incorrectly accomplishes a post-order tree-traversal, question 16 - the key does not apply the definition of the tree depth correctly, and question 29 - where the key cites an answer choice that is not associated with the answer value it claims is correct!

The easiest way to sabotage your test grade.
I guarantee that using this book will lower your CS GRE score, between the misinformation and errors it contains and the time you'll waste that could be spent on more useful review tactics. I can only hope I stopped reading it soon enough.

Interestingly enough, the author of the brief review section goes on a rant about what makes a bad practice test, in which he manages to describe many features of the practice test in the book itself. I wonder if he saw the questions that had been written by an outsourced team, felt a little remorse, and decided to give a bit of a warning to careful readers to atone for the fact that he'll profit from having his name on this piece of trash. Or maybe he never saw the test questions. Or maybe I'm giving him too much of the benefit of the doubt, and he's simply an astounding hypocrite who knows that you can sell anything as a test review book.

Author Reviews
Interestingly enough, the author of this book can be found slamming other books on their review page. Maybe thats a good thing, since judging by the reviews here, he may know what it takes to put out garbage.

Disturbingly bad.
Like other reviewers, I bought this book because it was in-stock. Like other reviewers, I found the book... lacking in correctness. It's hard to study for a test from a book that has incorrect answers. I have _ZERO_ confidence that this book has in ANY way prepared me for the CompSci GRE test :( I wish I had read the reviews before purchasing this, and both the author and publisher will be getting a nastygram about this one.

Crouching Circuit, Hidden Heuristic
In addition to what everyone else said, I add that the book contains a great deal of text that seemed to imply the author was being paid by the word: for example, the section on "clocked circuits", which says "I don't know anything about clocked circuits, so maybe you'll want to skip those questions on the test" -- only in about four times as many words as that.

A+++++, would be misinformed by again! ... Read more

Book Description
The Digital Age offers many far-reaching opportunities - opportunities that allow for fast global communications, efficient business transactionsand stealthily executed cyber crimes. Featuring contributions from digital forensic experts, the editor of Forensic Computer Crime Investigation presents a vital resource that outlines the latest strategies law enforcement officials can leverage against the perpetrators of cyber crimes.From describing the fundamentals of computer crimes and the scenes left in their wake to detailing how to build an effective forensic investigative force, this book is an essential guide on how to beat cyber criminals at their own game. It takes you into the minds of computer criminals, noting universal characteristics and behaviors; it discusses strategies and techniques common to successful investigations; and it reveals how to overcome challenges that may arise when securing digital forensic evidence. For those intent on making sure that no one is a potential victim, there is a chapter devoted to investigating Internet crimes against children. Additional chapters include information on strategies unique to international forensics and on that emerging wave of computer crime known as cyber terrorism.To make sure that all the angles are covered and that your investigation is carried out efficiently, effectively, and successfully, Forensic Computer Crime Investigation is an invaluable resource to have with you at all times! ... Read more

Book Description
A groundbreaking, unifying theory of computer science for low-cost, high-quality software


The Cognitive Dynamics of Computer Science represents the culmination of more than thirty years of the author's hands-on experience in software development, which has resulted in a remarkable and sensible philosophy and practice of software development. It provides a groundbreaking ontology of computer science, while describing the processes, methodologies, and constructs needed to build high-quality, large-scale computer software systems on schedule and on budget.

Based on his own experience in developing successful, low-cost software projects, the author makes a persuasive argument for developers to understand the philosophical underpinnings of software. He asserts that software in reality is an abstraction of the human thought system. The author draws from the seminal works of the great German philosophers--Kant, Hegel, and Schopenhauer--and recasts their theories of human mind and thought to create a unifying theory of computer science, cognitive dynamics, that opens the door to the next generation of computer science and forms the basic architecture for total autonomy.
* Four detailed cases studies effectively demonstrate how philosophy and practice merge to meet the objective of high-quality, low-cost software.
* The Autonomous Cognitive System chapter sets forth a model for a completely autonomous computer system, using the human thought system as the model for functional architecture and the human thought process as the model for the functional data process.
* Although rooted in philosophy, this book is practical, addressing all the key areas that software professionals need to master in order to remain competitive and minimize costs, such as leadership, management, communication, and organization.

This thought-provoking work will change the way students and professionals in computer science and software development conceptualize and perform their work. It provides them with both a philosophy and a set of practical tools to produce high-quality, low-cost software. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Be prepared to see the world differently ... a book far beyond software management!
Despite its title this book is an easy and entertaining read for a broad audience. While specifically written from the perspective of management of software projects, the book actually addresses management at large. It makes a concise case showing how dangerous and detrimental it is (to the successful outcome of large scale (software) projects that is, defined by the author as a "quality product on time and on budget") to separate technical leadership/management from personnel leadership/management, as so often mandated by many organizations. The "manager-architect," as termed by the author in his book, is key to success. Consequently not everybody can be up for this task, and only few who dare to try will succeed at it, as evidenced by the disconcerting fact that many "top level managers" manage nothing but major budgetary overruns (be they hidden or not), for which they are "held accountable" by society by being hailed as "America's Best Leaders." This book puts an end to such phoniness and provides especially the inexperienced/naive reader with a skill set to reveal/uncover such mismanagement and the individuals responsible.

The book is a true eye opener for aspiring and "want-to-be" managers alike. Also, having posters on "true leadership" pinned to the office wall does not magically inhale the ability of leadership into the office occupant. Leadership is an ability rather than a skill as clarified by the author. It is just like playing an instrument: it only gets you so far if you do not have it in you and practice every day. Chapter 12 "The Impact of Leadership on Software Development" should be read by any manager (aspiring, "want-to-be", or acting alike), and in particular by those who confuse management with suddenly having power over people. Moreover, management does not and should not mean "tenure" along the lines of "now I have made it, now I can relax" or "now I am in power." Rather the "Old Fritz" (Friedrich II, Prussian King) statement, simple yet true, comes to mind: "I am the first servant of the country" ("Ich bin der erste Diener meines Staates"), and serves as a good guide.

The author puts forth an interesting concept for true autonomy founded on the philosophical considerations of the human mind, upon which the AI-(IF-THEN-ELSE)-community will most likely have to choke. In doing so, the author outlines nicely the profound difference between automation and autonomy, two terms, which are often confused, intermixed, or misunderstood, even by so-called experts in the field.

If management is done right, as exemplified/laid out in this book and practiced by its author in an exemplary fashion, managers would rather have to be pitied because of their huge added responsibility for their people/troops and the projects they manage/lead (in that order!). Special attention should be paid throughout the book and in particular throughout Chapter 12 to the "Machiavellian Prince," as this kind of "leader" unfortunately exists (and not in small numbers!), and, while striving only for personal power and gain, causes a lot of damage to otherwise noble causes.

Dynamite Answers!
The author of this book has deep insights and wisdom for any level of interface with computer science applications. You simply cannot go wrong for putting your weight down on patterns to follow from someone who has had success in the field. The techniques in this book go beyond basic head knowledge, into the live action of software development where the rubber meets the road. Only an experienced person can give these insights. I am very impressed with the advanced mapping, made simple. This book seems to be written for people who are looking to find answers to every day problems in a rapidly moving computer world, without fear.

The Congnitive Dynamics of Computer Science..etc
Mr. deGyurky gives a great overview of his experience at JPL in organizing and developing large, complex, software systems, and delivering them on schedule, on cost. Mr. deGyurky demonstrated that the most important contribution to software management is that of leadership in life, carries over in software development also.

If you are thinking of becoming a manager of a software development project, you should check this book out, and You will be a step ahead of the game!

Software Development and the Hegelian Dialectic
The author has given us a framework for conceptualizing, organizing and developing large, complex, software systems, and delivering them on schedule, on cost.

His approach to software development emphasizes two basic ideas. Unique is his application to the development process of the cognitive philosophies of the great Nineteenth Century German cognitive philosophers, principally Schopenhauer, Kant and Hegel, which De Gyurky has studied for years (- in the original Nineteenth Century High German). De Gurky also emphasizes to an extraordinary degree the active role of personal leadership required of the successful software development manager.

Far from being a purely theoretical work, the book is richly illustrated with pungent examples from De Gyurky's near-incredibly varied experience both in the US military as a Special Forces officer commanding a detachment of Montaignards in the mountains of Vietnam, as an action officer at NATO Headquarters, and as the civilian developer of very large military flight-schedule management systems as well as spacecraft software command and control systems.

All the examples are exquisitely pertinent to the software development process. But in addition, four detailed programmatic examples are presented, together with comments, figures and schedules. The author's application of the principles he developed is wholly consistent and unfailingly pertinent, if sometimes challenging, due to the likely unfamiliarity on the part of the typical software engineering reader with the application of the philosophical concepts.

In fact, the single characteristic of the book which may challenge the typical software developer is the accessibility of some of the concepts. Some of the most powerful concepts discussed, e.g., the dialectical process by which an ill-formed idea becomes an object that reflects the meeting of the minds of the design team, are likely to be unfamiliar. However this process has profound implications for the organization of the design team, its management, team-member responsibilities, and on and on. It might have been helpful if the author had expanded on these key concepts, perhaps in context closer to their original use. It would be demanding on the reader, but probably no more so than parts of the book itself.

This unique contribution is recommended to software developers interested in on-time, on-cost development of large software systems, and willing to invest in the intellectual effort required to understand the author's unique contribution. They will be well rewarded.

The Science and Ethics of Computer System Development
I have read many books on systems and software development and management principles over the years.The ones that most influenced me were: "More Reliable Software Through Composite Design" by Glen Meyers; "Up the Organization" by Robert Townsend; and "Reengineering the Corporation" by Michael Hammer and James Champy.And of course no system developer's library would be complete without "Managing the Software Process" and other books by Watts Humphry, a giant in our industry.Mr. Szabolcs Michael deGyurky's book will occupy a place along side these on my bookshelf.

In this book, Mr. deGyurky has provided a completely different and refreshing, but no less important, viewpoint on systems development.As different as all the above mentioned books are, the one theme common to all of them is their focus on the "real" problem by differentiating between the truly important and the seemingly important - commonly referred to as separating the wheat from the chaff..

"The Cognitive Dynamics of Computer Science" focuses on strength of character as being indispensable to successful completion of complex systems development projects, which not only satisfy the "real" requirements, but ensure the system is delivered within an agreed to budget and schedule.This book draws on the philosophy of such estimable historical figures as Kant, Hegel and Schopenhauer, among others, in defining the behavioral characteristics of successful leaders and managers.Personal experiences in real world projects by Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) provide a substantive backdrop for Mr. deGyurky's approach to managing systems development.

It is impossible to adequately relay the impact of such a book in so short a review, but I do come away with some points which derive more meaning because of my own experience:1) Design from the user in, but develop from the inside out, in layers, 2) Don't implement until you have an initial design documented and understood by the development team - expect that to change, 3) Manage change through the Project Implementation Plan (PIP), which is the Project Manager's equivalent to the Software Development Folder, 4) Don't hire staff until you have their tasks well defined (control burn rate and you have controlled your budget), 5) Make sure you understand exactly what your customer wants through constant customer involvement, 6) make your customer's goal, your goal, then incentivize the entire development team to focus on that goal as the highest priority, 7) There shall be no implementation without documented, repeatable process and standards, which should be tailored to the individual project, but at no time should process and standards replace common sense in a dynamically changing development environment, 8) Employ tools and ensure the team is involved in their selection, 9) Ensure the development team is trained in methodology, process, standards, tools and system requirements, and 10) the manager should place the needs of his customer and his team ahead of his personal goals.

All of this is done in concert with the philosophical teachings of our great philosophers, who would encourage strict honesty and ethics in dealing with our customer, subordinates, colleagues, company management, even if it means being fired.Of course, one does not fit all the meaning of a 300-page book into such a short review, and one could easily list another 10 or more points of interest.

I agree with almost everything in this excellent book, but may differ on the role played by Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) and Computer Aided Design (CAD) in systems development.Since CASE tools became mature enough to use effectively, I personally selected my tools, then built my process and standards around them.This includes the way I modify process and standards (including DoD) to conform to streamlining development and associated documentation.The CASE tool, when used with discipline can ensure that interface errors are avoided during the design process, as provided through automatic leveling and validation as the system design progresses.Fixed price contracts caused me to gravitate to using the latest tools available and build around them each time.

I am certain that Autonomous Cognitive systems are in our future, but not without application of increasingly sophisticated CASE tools and compilers (Autonomous Cognitive Compilers), which can parse complex combinations of Boolean expressions with many operations per expression to simulate the human thought system in making decisions.Neither can these systems be built without addressing the transducers (sensors), which would connect to and provide stimuli to be interpreted and processed by any autonomous system as the 5 senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste).I look forward to Mr. deGuyrky's next book, which may address this highly complex problem.

I would only close this review with one last comment, directed to JPL.Mr. deGyurky and his team were on the right track with Ada.It is unfortunate that JPL didn't adopt this very highly typed and disciplined high order language as their standard development language.I believe it would have saved more than one failed project. Based on my 40 plus years of developing computer systems, I would humbly suggest that JPL require mandatory use of Ada in all "Class A" development projects.
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Book Description

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed joint post-proceedings of 3 consecutive International Workshops on Learning Classifier Systems that took place in Chicago, IL, USA in July 2003, in Seattle, WA, USA in June 2004, and in Washington, DC, USA in June 2005 - all hosted by the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, GECCO.

Book Description
Category Theory has, in recent years, become increasingly important and popular in computer science, and many universities now introduce Category Theory as part of the curriculum for undergraduate computer science students. Here, the theory is developed in a straightforward way, and is enriched with many examples from computer science. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

a recommendation of Category Theory texts for CS/IT
In September 1997 we needed a book on Category Theory for our first yearundergraduate class in the B.A. (Mod) honors degree in Information andCommunications Technology (ICT) at the University of Dublin, TrinityCollege, Dublin 2, Ireland. This book was at that time the only one thatsatisfied our requirements. Now we have chosen (Lawvere and Schanuel 1997)in addition. It is our opinion that one ought to start with the latter, amost excellent introduction of great profundity, and, for application tocomputing, use the Walters text. It is hard to beat this combination for afirst year undergraduate course, as far as we know at this time (Sept.98)

A Very comprehensive textbook for beginners computer sci.
The Book begins with the plain definition of a category, as does any other book. However, it points out a category as a kind of (abstract) Data Type. Distributive Categories are discussed as a milestone for developing the basic concepts in computation, as those of imperative programs and Data Types. The Book has a lot of examples (from computation) and the author took care of drawning conclusions from them before develop an abstract framework. The concepts of automata and automata with inputs are shown (the later in a functorial category). Grammars and Graphs are discussed as well. The book has a very good introduction to the concept of freeness and adjunctions. Its latest chapter treats the computational category theory in the context of Knuth-Bendix procedure. The exercises present in the book are great !! They guide the student gradualy into deeper questions without any frustation. There are very easy exercises which have the only goal of finding out ones undersating of a new definition. ... Read more

Book Description
Four full-length practice exams reflect the latest AP Computer Science exams in subject matter, length, and degree of difficulty. All come with answers explained. Two are level A exams and the remaining two are level AB exams. This manual also presents a subject review with more than 500 multiple-choice questions. It covers all AP computer science topics, including the new Java 5.0 language features; classes and objects; inheritance and polymorphism; program design and analysis; one- and two-dimensional arrays; recursion; linked lists; stacks, queues, and priority queues; trees; collections; and sorting and searching. Aseparate chapter reviews the Marine Biology Simulation Case Study. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Very good CS AP review book
Great practice problems.Also contains extra AP tests on CD.Recommended as a supplement to any CS AP textbook.

Awesome Review Guide
This review book is a great way to study for the AP Computer Science test. There are good practice test and material review sections. It really helped me achieve a better grade on the AP Computer Science test.

Best AP CP review book
It's really good! There are tons of sample questions and the explanations are easy to understand.

Don't buy -- wait until it's the real deal
This product is mislabeled.The 2007-08 edition would contain both material from Java 1.5, and also the GridWorld Case Study.What I recieved contains the former, but not the latter.You are better off waiting until mid to late summer when the real deal will be available.

Great
This book is a great learning tool.It teaches the advanced data-structures for the ap test, and tests you to know all the things the test would ever require you to know.It is also great for studing very precise algorithms, which will save your [...] on the test, and will help you catch your simple mistakes.The way it is formated is in large chapter chunks.If your going to use this book prepare to sit down and study hard.If your lazy this book isn't for you, and perhaps the test isn't either.

The questions are much harder than the ap test's, espesialy the multiple choise, but so is almost any resource outside of college board.The biggest difference between the test and studying resources is ambiguity presenting the problems.This book has some but for the most part it's very precise.

If you are a programmer this book will continualy reinforce very usefull data structures, and the very simple very powerfull algorithms that are just so applicable.Kick [...] at the office. ... Read more

Book Description
This guide provides in-depth two-page profiles on engineering and computer science programs across Canada. It features a complete range of engineering programs including civil, chemical, electrical, mechanical, geological and environmental disciplines. The profiles highlight each program's unique features and strengths, admission requirements, expenses and more. Expert articles provide insights on trends and careers in engineering and computer science. Plus, tips on admissions and choosing a program help to answer every future graduate student's questions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Empty book with very little useful information
I bought this book assuming that i could get some sort of inside information about engineering programs in Canada.Upon flipping through the pages I found that most of the information was vague and easy to find anywhere on the internet.Furthermore, the 3 universities I am most interested in: UBC, Waterloo, amd University of Toronto (among the top engineering schools in Canada) were not even included in this book. ... Read more