Product Description
Covers 80 key topics grouped into 12 themes, from operating systems and data communication to graphics and artificial intelligence. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Brief, concise, but a bit dated
I'm a newbie to CS so this was just about the right size book for me (138 pages). It's plain, and for the most part, in simple language. I think Dr. Covington should update his EZ-101 Study Key for the late 90's. ... Read more

Product Description
Computer science is no longer just a technology--for nearly all of us, it has become a way of life.Whether we spend our days surfing the Internet, or merely use an automatic teller machine on occasion, computers have affected our lives. This collection of sixteen original essays by distinguished computer scientists celebrates the achievements of computer science research, and speculates about the unsolved problems in the field. Various essays address artificial intelligence, parallel programming, global information systems, and a host of other relevant topics. The book shows that long-term research in computer science is crucial and must not be driven solely by commercial considerations. The authors expose the difficult aspects of their topics in clear terms, and illustrate that computer science is now a full-fledged and growing intellectual discipline. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a textbook on applied probability and statistics with computer science applications for students at the upper undergraduate level. It may also be used as a self study book for the practicing computer science professional. The successful first edition of this book proved extremely useful to students who need to use probability, statistics and queueing theory to solve problems in other fields, such as engineering, physics, operations research, and management science. The book has also been successfully used for courses in queueing theory for operations research students. This second edition includes a new chapter on regression as well as more than twice as many exercises at the end of each chapter. While the emphasis is the same as in the first edition, this new book makes more extensive use of available personal computer software, such as Minitab and Mathematica. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Requirement book for the course and reference book for the future
The book is acceptable; even though I didn't think the quality is matched with what the seller said. I think it is one rate below what he/she said. Anyway, it is OK.

Competent author, poor presentation skill
I was about to review the book the first week I got it.Now two months passed and I think I am ready to review this book.I am a 4th year computer science phd student, with personal interest in statistics, which is not my thesis direction.

1. This book is a thorough book, not only cover the area of traditional probability theory, statistics and stocastics, it also thoroughly discussed queueing theory and other advanced topics, in a level of a special book for the topic.

2. This book is of a lot of typos, some of them are unforgivable - essential errors in formulaes.In the 2nd chapter, there are more than one typo per page.The typos are less in the later chapters, but more than any textbook I ever read.

3. The presentation is not good - it is not presented in a nice flow.I have to check back and forth to see where I am in the context.The language of the book is neither neat nor technical - we found a lot of ambiguities in the exercises - different people has different interpretation.Ironically, the author criticized a lot on other statistician's language, I would believe it is better than his. I would say, one may need to pay 1.8-2.5 times effort to understand this book than a well presented textbook.

4. The notation is too much but not good. In chapter 5., they author made a notation table in the front and for each chapter, there is a notation table in the appendix.Well, it is very normal to find some notations in a chapter not appears in the notation table.

5. The author want to cover too much content.Surely he know about the content but when he feel it is too challenging to cover, he put a citation there. To me, it may be better to just skip that part.

In general, if the author could sit down for a month or two, reread every chapter he wrote, think if it make sense or necessary, and re-present the book and correct the typos, it deserve 4.5 stars.

Easy to read, complete resource -- great book
The book covers a lot of relevant material in sufficient detail. It's hard to find a good book on probability and queueing theory applied to computer science. This book is one of the best I have seen. The author does anexcellent job of explaining the variables used in the different equationscontained in the book, and also clearly explains the context in whichvarious equations are used. Everything is well presented and easy to read.I continue to use the book as a valuable reference and highly recommend it.

Excellent Resource.Highly Recommend.
Excellent resource for statisics and queueing theory.Clear in depth presentation and plenty of examples.Author has a good presentaion style and is humorous as times.Makes you actually want to learn the material. Only fault is that it doesn't have any spreadsheet examples.(understandable though considering when it was published)

Terrifying. I wish 0 stars was an option!
This book may indeed make a good reference for one who regularly deals with the subject matter. However for the uninitiated (me) this book was a truly awful experience. It was used as a textbook my Probability/QueuingTheory class. It is almost completely useless for this purpose. Itslanguage would be clear only to someone holding an advanced degree inmathematics, never to an undergrad. Our instructor had 20 (and growing)handwritten pages of errata.

If your instructor requires this book, youshould waste no time in writing nasty letters to his superiors. You are infor a real trial.

Avoid this book at costs. ... Read more

Product Description
Teaches beginners how to create well-designed software using Java and prepares them for both the A and AB advanced placement tests in Java. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Book was in perfect condition.
While this book was listed as "used", it clearly had never been used by anyone - it was in perfect condition.

The perfect used textbook
I'm helping my teen grandkids learn to use the web to save money buying used textbooks.This vendor had a reasonably priced, used copy of a needed book, that turned out to be really 'like new' - and got it to us in just a few days. Money saved!

Good (gentle) introduction to Java and good preparation for the AP Computer Science A Exam
I used this textbook to tutor a high school student for the AP Computer A exam and had a good experience with it. It is true that some of the explanations are simplified and do not always use technical language, but this is after all an introductory text and most likely to be used by high school students--perhaps some who have not had any previous preparation. The student I tutored scored a 5 on the AP Computer Science A exam. That is, of course, not all due to the textbook, but the point is that the textbook is adequate for its purpose if accompanied by good instruction, plenty of labs, and focus on the AP case study. By the way, you will find the textbook on the College Board's list of example textbooks for the AP computer science A course.

Simply a terrible book
I was asked to teach an AP CS course and thought this looked like the safest bet - the kids hated it! It is clearly a hacked down version of the authors other Java books. Explanations are not clear and the book simply could not have been written in a less engaging manner. I will not use this book again and will avoid titles from this publisher.

This is a good well written book
I am basically a math teacher with a lot of bright computer science students. Of all of the books currently available in Java for AP Computer Science, this was the hands down winner with the kids, especially amongst the one semester students who were taking the A test. ... Read more

Product Description
This book, updated and improved, introduces the mathematics that support advanced computer programming and the analysis of algorithms. The book's primary aim is to provide a solid and relevant base of mathematical skills. It is an indispensable text and reference for computer scientists and serious programmers in virtually every discipline. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (30)

Actually delivers in a readable way
After having had a bad result from other Ronald L. Graham, Erdos on Graphs : His Legacy of Unsolved Problems, books and articles. I was surprised with this book. I think that Dr. Knuth seems to turn what he touches to gold? I kind of wish I had read this one several years ago when
I wasn't as familiar with the material.
I was amazed to find the recursion for the Eulerian numbers of the second type and a host of very useful identities as well.

Great, great math book ...
How often do you get to have two of the giants of mathematics Graham and Knuth co-author (with Patashnik) a book like this - even suitable for high-school students?

Don't let the binding or whatever fools you, this is a serious math book and serious thinking is required.The material is broad and interesting.I think the book can be used as a supplement text to any of the discrete math/algorithm course (or just leisure reading).It will serve you years to come.Extra bonus - the marginal notes.It may be annoying to you or not but I found it funny at times.

I echo the same feeling as some of the readers here - keep this one always within reach.This is a future classic!

enjoying the struggle
really good book, some times it's bit hard to comprehend, but I'm enjoying the struggle.

Long Live Concrete Mathematics!
I had the pleasure of taking the course "Concrete Mathematics" with Ron Graham as an undergrad engineering student at Princeton University in the late 1980s, and in retrospect it was quite possibly the highlight of my academic career. Likewise, this text has a cherished spot in my bookcase even to this day. The material is challenging, sometimes downright frustrating, but good stuff nonetheless... and as others have noted, very useful! The skills gained are specifically tailored for application in fields such as computer science, really a number of disciplines; and complement what one learns in the more "standard" math courses. How many academic texts have become must-haves even beyond your college years? For me, only this one. I'd give it fifteen stars if I could.

A difficult but worthwhile mathematics text
This book's title can be misleading. I would say it is more of an advanced textbook on the mathematics that is a foundation for computer science than a foundational book on the mathematics of computer science. I think this misreading of the title and thus the book's content is what is behind much of the heartache that readers have when trying to tackle it. This book expands on the "Mathematical Preliminaries" portion of "The Art of Computer Programming" series of books by Knuth, and thus this book has a style much like that series of books. The book is complete and clear, but it is also densely packed with lots of theory and proofs and will require much effort and time to understand well. It is really not meant to be an applied mathematics textbook at all. I show the table of contents next. Note that there are exercises at the conclusion of each chapter with solutions in the back of the book. However, most of the exercises are not so simple that you can just glimpse at the solution and figure out how to get from A to B. I recommend it if you have the time. It can really bring out thoughts and the beauty of mathematics that you may not have considered before.

1. Recurrent Problems.
The Tower of Hanoi.
Lines in the Plane.
The Josephus Problem.
Exercises.

2. Sums.
Notation.
Sums and Recurrences.
Manipulation of Sums.
Multiple Sums.
General Methods.
Finite and Infinite Calculus.
Infinite Sums.
Exercises.

3. Integer Functions.
Floors and Ceilings.
Floor/Ceiling Applications.
Floor/Ceiling Recurrences.
'mod': The Binary Operation.
Floor/Ceiling Sums.
Exercises.

4. Number Theory.
Divisibility.
Factorial Factors.
Relative Primality.
'mod': The Congruence Relation.
Independent Residues.
Additional Applications.
Phi and Mu.
Exercises.

5. Binomial Coefficients.
Basic Identities.
Basic Practice.
Tricks of the Trade.
Generating Functions.
Hypergeometric Functions.
Hypergeometric Transformations.
Partial Hypergeometric Sums.
Mechanical Summation.
Exercises.

6. Special Numbers.
Stirling Numbers.
Eulerian Numbers.
Harmonic Numbers.
Harmonic Summation.
Bernoulli Numbers.
Fibonacci Numbers.
Continuants.
Exercises.

7. Generating Functions.
Domino Theory and Change.
Basic Maneuvers.
Solving Recurrences.
Special Generating Functions.
Convolutions.
Exponential Generating Functions.
Dirichlet Generating Functions.
Exercises.

8. Discrete Probability.
Definitions.
Mean and Variance.
Probability Generating Functions.
Flipping Coins.
Hashing.
Exercises.

9. Asymptotics.
A Hierarchy.
O Notation.
O Manipulation.
Two Asymptotic Tricks.
Euler's Summation Formula.
Final Summations.
Exercises.

A. Answers to Exercises.
B. Bibliography. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
The book explores the nature of computer science and its major topics, from history and systems design to software, hardware, and the effect of computing on society.In prior versions of THE ANALYTICAL ENGINE, authors Rick Decker and Stuart Hirsahfield provided non-majors and beginning CS students with a fresh, exciting, and interactive look at computer science, and the skills required to solve problems faced by professionals in this young and dynamic field. In this new version, the authors define the discipline (and the introductory computer science course) with a state-of-the-art suite of Internet-based laboratories, and a thorough examination of new and emerging topics, including computer applications, interface design, programming, computational theory, computers in society, and the all-pervasive impact of the Internet and the World Wide Web. The result is a textbook and an accompanying Web site with text, video, and interactive laboratories. The labs are also provided in a bound-in CD-ROM to support students' use of the labs off-line. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

dominated by the Web
Deckers gives you a concise tour of computer science. Not enough to turn you into a programmer, given the space limitations of the book. But he covers many key ideas in the field. Including Usenet, email, virtual communities [think Second Life], and the World Wide Web. Naturally, he has to explain HTML, as the graphical language of the Web. HTML is so simple that he essentially explains all its important points. Including the crucial hyperlink tag.

The book then segues naturally from HTML to XML. Where you can now write your own tags. Immensely flexible and popular.

It is only after this, that the book goes into the traditional topics of computer science. The explanations of what makes a programming language. He uses JavaScript as one example of such a language. So you learn about constructs like for loops, if-elseand while statements.

The book is really dominated by the Web. The pedagogy stresses this.

excellent condition
The book was band new just like the seller said and arrived in a timely manner. I would buy from this seller again.

Very Good, Very Well-Written Book
This book is one of the two texts in FSU's COP 3502: "Introduction to Computer Science" course (a required course in their Computer Science degree).As the authors state in the preface, they "wanted to design a 'CS 0' course that was a true survey course."They did an excellent job.Basically, they start with the assumption that the reader has never turned on a computer in his life and take him through its history, how to use it, what programming is about, and how the hardware works.They even teach a bit of HTML and JavaScript.There's very little I can say that is bad about the book.It comes down to some typgraphical errors, an incorrect web address for the online portion of the book (easily figured out from the page their web address takes you to), and my belief that they took out too many steps in describing computer switches, gates, and circuits.Frankly, I'm amazed that they reasonably went from a neophyte level to a fully-grounded level in one book.I rate it as 5 stars out of 5.

A great starter...
I used this book in my introductory level computer science course.I found this book to be an essential tool in my early undersanding of how computer works in general and more importantly how to develop working algorithms.This book is well designed and easy to read and easy to understand. This book comes with a CD ROM.I believe this is the keyfeature to this book. On the CD ROM there are emulators of various computeroperations. (eg. Compiler tree breakdown, and many other emulators. AnExcellent book! ... Read more

Product Description
Category theory is a branch of pure mathematics that is becoming an increasingly important tool in theoretical computer science, especially in programming language semantics, domain theory, and concurrency, where it is already a standard language of discourse. Assuming a minimum of mathematical preparation, Basic Category Theory for Computer Scientists provides a straightforward presentation of the basic constructions and terminology of category theory, including limits, functors, natural transformations, adjoints, and cartesian closed categories. Four case studies illustrate applications of category theory to programming language design, semantics, and the solution of recursive domain equations. A brief literature survey offers suggestions for further study in more advanced texts.

Contents: Tutorial. Applications. Further Reading. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

nice and slim (the text is only ~70 pages)!
I'm still a beginner at category theory, but I'd like to say this is a nice textbook.The examples are easy to follow (mainly basic set theory), for people with a com sci background.

A later section explains CCCs (Cartesian closed categories) and its isomorphism to typed lambda calculus.I don't fully grasp the details but this is a very important result in higher-order logic, particularly because the substitution mechanism of lambda calculus can be modeled by category theory.

A Good Read
This book is not exactly what I would call easy going. I've managed to get through half of it in 7 months. However, I can say, with absolute confidence, that if you do the problems you will learn.

Most everything I've seen on category theory is a confusing mixture of different notations with seemingly identical meanings (but in fact the meanings are totally different). This book is no exception. Often, I have resorted to IRC to sort things out when some notation is simply impenetrable to me. My mathematical training stopped at complex calculus, so this may not apply to you if you've had abstract algebra or something a little more 'meta'.

There seems to be one typographical error, but I am not sure. In the example on the adjunction between products and exponentiation, the right adjoint is listed as "(_)^A x A" but in the diagrams it ends up as "(_)^A". This may be a sensible ellision, but it is not explained anywhere in the text and of it's not easy to find these things on the internet.

Good Introduction
I have been reading several different category theory texts recently, and this one was very succinct and accessible.Particularly useful for understanding functional programming.

Basic crib sheet for category theory
Anyone coming to this book from Pierce's "Types and Programming Languages" will be disappointed. While his "Types ..." book is a model of clear exposition, this book reads like a set of notes jotted down on the back on an envelope. The extensive bibliographic sections are more than fifteen years out of date. Much of the material referenced is no longer in print, and recent developments are, of course, not mentioned. Those seeking a very gentle introduction to category theory would do better with the book by Lawvere and Schanuel, who cover more of category theory than Pierce. Mathematically mature computer science readers will find everything they need to know about the subject in Mac Lane's book.

Really expensive for a set of notes...
You can find better introductions to category theory available on the net for free.Try searching for Lambert Meertens, Marten Fokkinga, and Jaap Van Oosten, for example.Or Barr and Wells, Triples, Toposes, and Theories.Or Asperti and Longo.Or watch Eugenia Cheng's videos on YouTube, which are fantastic.

But if you want to buy a book, get Barr and Wells, Category Theory for Computing Science.Unfortunately, you have to order it directly from the University of Montreal.It's a great book, by far the best intro to category theory available, *way* better than this!Then, after that, you can read MacLane... ... Read more

Product Description

Stein/Drysdale/Bogart's Discrete Mathematics for Computer Scientists is ideal for computer science students taking the discrete math course.

Written specifically for computer science students, this unique textbook directly addresses their needs by providing a foundation in discrete math while using motivating, relevant CS applications. This text takes an active-learning approach where activities are presented as exercises and the material is then fleshed out through explanations and extensions of the exercises.

Customer Reviews (1)

I did not find it suitable for my discrete math course
I evaluated this book for possible adoption in a course in introductory discrete mathematics. My decision was that I would not use it in the course. One primary reason is that there are no sections devoted to set theory and functions. Most of the introductory material in these areas is included in the book, but only in conjunction with other topics, such as counting, solving recurrences and computing probabilities. In my experience, students need to be exposed to the material as a point of emphasis, rather than embedded inside other topics.
The first chapter introduces the basic principles of counting, permutations, combinations, binomial coefficients and a section on equivalence relations that is considered optional. This is because it is not used again in later chapters, something I don't agree with. Chapter two deals with cryptography and number theory. While I have no objection to this material in a discrete mathematics course, I prefer that it be put off to the latter part of the course. In chapter three, the logic of propositions and predicates as well as the laws of inference are examined. I generally prefer more coverage of these areas. Chapter four is 84 pages and covers induction, recursion and recurrence relations. Taking up approximately one fourth of the book, the coverage is complete. Probability is covered in chapter 5 and graph theory in chapter 6. The coverage in both is fairly typical, so I have no positive or negative comments on either one. Relations are covered in depth in an appendix. Solutions to the odd exercises are included in an appendix.
Since I prefer to start my discrete mathematics course by covering set theory, functions and logic, I have removed this book for adoption consideration.
... Read more

Product Description
The Princeton Review realizes that scoring high on the AP Computer Science A & AB Exams is very different from earning straight A’s in school. We don’t try to teach you everything there is to know about computer science–only the strategies and information you’ll need to get your highest score. In Cracking the AP Computer Science A & AB Exams, we’ll teach you how to

·Use our preparation strategies to raise your score
·Master the program design, testing, and performance issues found on the exam
·Test your knowledge with review questions for each topic covered

This book includes 2 full-length practice tests, one each for Computer Science A and Computer Science AB. All of our practice questions simulate those you’ll see on the actual exam, and we explain how to answer every question. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Pretty good for a brush up
I'm a hobbyist computer programmer. I write 3D video games for the sheer fun of it all, and am intimately familiar with 99% of the content that would be tested on the exam. Problem is: I needed to learn to do it in Java (I'm a C++ programmer). So, a few nights before the exam, I found myself in deep trouble -- I had never written Java code.

So, I wandered to the nearest book-store and purchased myself a copy of this book, and it really helped me. It went over the fundamentals of java such as data-types, classes, objects, methods, etc., you know, the basics of any programming language. Then it also covered topics like recursion (a function calling itself either directly or indirectly), various sorting/searching methods, and the Marine Biology case study (it's not on the current exam, so I skipped this portion).

One thing I particularly liked about this book was the exercises. There was a heavy emphasis on tracing pieces of code, just like on the real AP exam, and there was a HEAVY (and I mean HEAVY) emphasis on recursion problems. Now, recursion isn't particularly tough, but you've really, really got to get used to managing your own stack (on paper or in your head, whatever), and doing a bunch of these problems eventually makes head-spinning problems pretty routine. Also, the questions, I found were of considerably greater difficulty than those on the actual AP exam, which is a very good thing. Also, the problems use a lot of polymorphism, so if you're shaky about how it works, then you'll get up to speed quickly.

Anyway, I wouldn't reccomend this book to someone who is self-studying without a suitable companion text (get a textbook from your school or used off of this website), since there are inevitably details you'll missor just simply not comprehend without a more in-depth tutorial. Also, programming a lot helps, which you're really not going to get to do in a prep-book.

Since my only criticism is that this can't be used for pure self-study, I cannot deduct a star because this is a review book not a text book. So, 5 stars. If you're in AP computer science and you need a brush up for your exam, then I think this book would be suitable for your needs. Plus, it's pretty cheap -- you can't go wrong.

not enough
maria litvin - i'd recommend it to anyone who never learned java b4. this book definitely stresses over concept, but the problems are not enough and much easier than the test i took in may. as a result, i'd recommend u to buy this book, but a harder book to go along with it like ds-marketing or barron's.
princeton - this book is pretty alright. it has good information, but i don't think it's enough. the way the author writes is understandable, but again, problems are not enough. sometimes there are only 4 problems per chapter. also, the practice test at the end of the chapter are not enough. there's only 1 set for A and 1 set for AB.
barron's - this book places emphasis on the problems. for example, in marine biology, there's at least 40 problems. don't buy this if u get bored easily because reading this book is like reading college textbooks. however, i can guarantee u that this book will raise ur score much quicker than any other book. however, this book is MUCH MUCH MUCH harder than the actual exam. i'd say that if u get a raw score of 50/80 on the practice test, u can probably get a 5.
5 steps - i borrowed this book from a friend about a week before the test. i feel like this book is almost exactly like the test. it has every type of problem, and gives excellent short summaries at the end of each chapter. it's quite understandable.
b4 taking compsci ap, i did 5 books: maria litvin, barron, princeton, 5 steps to a 5, and ds-marketing. i'd say that if u have a pretty decent teacher, u'll probably only need 5 steps or barron's. otherwise, i'd recommend at least 2 of the books above. however, remember that ds-marketing DOES NOT have marine biology (which makes up about 20% of the exam) ... Read more

Product 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

Product Description
Designed to accompany the Java and C++ versions of Invitation to Computer Science by Schneider and Gersting, this laboratory manual provides students with the opportunity to experiment with fundamental computer science topics. Each copy of the lab manual includes access to custom software that allows students to explore the ideas and concepts presented in the main text. The content of this 5th edition lab manual is unchanged from the 4th edition, with the exception of the cover. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Great
the book looks brand new. the only complaint i have is that it took about 2 weeks deliver so make sure you order it before classes start.

Great companion book, buy it used though.
It is a nice companion book, however if you can get it used it will save you some bucks. It is composed of simple exercises to give you a practical feeling of computing.

Text Book
I received the book quickly and it was in the condition the buyer said it was in. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (14)

Awful Book
They book offers no real insight into the exam. The practice test is riddled with errors.

The most inaccurate non-fiction book I have ever encountered
The only redeeming quality of this book is that it eventually becomes a source of entertainment, once you realize that you dare not believe anything you read in it.After just a few test questions, I started laughing out loud at the blatant errors.The book has absolutely no value as a review or practice for the GRE Computer Science test.In the practice exam, many of the questions and answers are filled with inaccuracies, some questions have no correct answer (contrary to claims in the answer section), some answers and justifications don't match the answers presented in the test, and it's clear that whoever wrote some of the answer justifications has no business staying in the field of computer science.If there were any proofreaders and/or technical editors, shame on them for letting this book through.Having seen the poor quality of this book, I will most definitely never purchase (nor read, even in the book is free) anything published by REA. On the bright side, it was printed on recycled paper, but unfortunately is a complete waste of recycled paper.

terrible
(...).I got this book because it was the only thing out there - I thought, whatever the rating, it can't be worse than nothing, at least there's a practice test.That's not a good reason!I was wrong!Just review your textbooks!Or maybe browse Wikipedia, if you don't have any textbooks... or just get some sleep...

I couldn't even force myself to finish the practice test.As another reviewer notes, the very first question has the wrong answer listed.But even before you get to checking your answers, you'll notice all kinds of problems.The test is full of ambiguous or nonsensical wording, as well as simple typos.It does things with its questions that a real standardized test never will: for example, in at least one case it requires a correct answer to one question in order to get the next.Or, another example, it asks multiple questions that are purely about terminology.It has a bizarre balance of content - the question writers seem to be obsessed by context-free grammars.I could go on...

This book is sufficiently bad that:
1) I regret buying it, and marking it up enough to make it impossible to return, as much because it means I gave money to a pack of fraudsters as because I wasted time taking half the practice test.
2) I would never consider buying another book not just from this author, but from this publisher.
3)(...)

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. ... Read more

Product Description
Master the fundamentals of discrete mathematics with DISCRETE MATHEMATICS FOR COMPUTER SCIENCE with Student Solutions Manual CD-ROM! An increasing number of computer scientists from diverse areas are using discrete mathematical structures to explain concepts and problems and this mathematics text shows you how to express precise ideas in clear mathematical language. Through a wealth of exercises and examples, you will learn how mastering discrete mathematics will help you develop important reasoning skills that will continue to be useful throughout your career. ... Read more

Product Description

Juraj Hromkovic takes the reader on an elegant route through the theoretical fundamentals of computer science. The author shows that theoretical computer science is a fascinating discipline, full of spectacular contributions and miracles. The book also presents the development of the computer scientist's way of thinking as well as fundamental concepts such as approximation and randomization in algorithmics, and the basic ideas of cryptography and interconnection network design.

Product Description

Based on the author’s introductory course at the University of Oregon, Explorations in Computing: An Introduction to Computer Science focuses on the fundamental idea of computation and offers insight into how computation is used to solve a variety of interesting and important real-world problems. Taking an active learning approach, the text encourages students to explore computing ideas by running programs and testing them on different inputs. It also features illustrations by Phil Foglio, winner of the 2009 and 2010 Hugo Award for Best Graphic Novel.

Classroom-Tested Material
The first four chapters introduce key concepts, such as algorithms and scalability, and hone practical lab skills for creating and using objects. In the remaining chapters, the author covers "divide and conquer" as a problem solving strategy, the role of data structures, issues related to encoding data, computer architecture, random numbers, challenges for natural language processing, computer simulation, and genetic algorithms. Through a series of interactive projects in each chapter, students can experiment with one or more algorithms that illustrate the main topic. Requiring no prior experience with programming, these projects show students how algorithms provide computational solutions to real-world problems.

Web Resource
The book’s website at www.cs.uoregon.edu/eic presents numerous ancillaries. The lab manual offers step-by-step instructions for installing Ruby and the RubyLabs gem with Windows XP, Mac OS X, and Linux. The manual includes tips for editing programs and running commands in a terminal emulator. The site also provides online documentation of all the modules in the RubyLabs gem. Once the gem is installed, the documentation can be read locally by a web browser.

After working through the in-depth examples in this textbook, students will gain a better overall understanding of what computer science is about and how computer scientists think about problems.

Product Description
Uncover a digital trail of e-evidence by using the helpful, easy-to-understand information in Computer Forensics For Dummies! Professional and armchair investigators alike can learn the basics of computer forensics, from digging out electronic evidence to solving the case. You won’t need a computer science degree to master e-discovery. Find and filter data in mobile devices, e-mail, and other Web-based technologies.

You’ll learn all about e-mail and Web-based forensics, mobile forensics, passwords and encryption, and other e-evidence found through VoIP, voicemail, legacy mainframes, and databases. You’ll discover how to use the latest forensic software, tools, and equipment to find the answers that you’re looking for in record time. When you understand how data is stored, encrypted, and recovered, you’ll be able to protect your personal privacy as well. By the time you finish reading this book, you’ll know how to:

• Prepare for and conduct computer forensics investigations
• Find and filter data
• Protect personal privacy
• Transfer evidence without contaminating it
• Anticipate legal loopholes and opponents’ methods
• Handle passwords and encrypted data
• Work with the courts and win the case

Plus, Computer Forensics for Dummies includes lists of things that everyone interested in computer forensics should know, do, and build. Discover how to get qualified for a career in computer forensics, what to do to be a great investigator and expert witness, and how to build a forensics lab or toolkit.

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Covers computer forensics work from both the technical AND legal perspective...
Being that I work in the tech industry, I know that there's far more on your computer (and other electronic devices) than you think there is.But I haven't ever given any in-depth thought to how one would legally go about discovering and documenting their finds for a court of law.Computer Forensics For Dummies by Linda Volonino and Reynaldo Anzaldua do a perfect job (in my opinion) in introducing the reader to the world of computer forensics, both from the technical side as well as the courtroom perspective.While I wouldn't expect it to be your primary guide for the field, Computer Forensics For Dummies goes a whole lot further than I expected, and I learned a lot.

Contents:
Introduction
Part 1 - Digging Out and Documenting Electronic Evidence: Knowing What Your Digital Devices Create, Capture, and Pack Away - Until Revelation Day; Suiting Up for a Lawsuit or Criminal Investigation; Getting Authorized to Search and Seize; Documenting and Managing the Crime Scene
Part 2 - Preparing to Crack the Case: Minding and Finding the Loopholes; Acquiring and Authenticating E-Evidence; Examining E-Evidence; Extracting Hidden Data
Part 3 - Doing Computer Forensic Investigations: E-Mail and Web Forensics; Data Forensics; Document Forensics; Mobile Forensics; Network Forensics; Investigating X-Files - eXotic Forensics
Part 4 - Succeeding in Court: Holding Up Your End at Pretrial; Winning a Case Before You Go to Court; Standing Your Ground in Court
Part 5 - The Part of Tens: Ten Ways to Get Qualified and Prepped for Success; Ten Tactics of an Excellent Investigator and a Dangerous Expert Witness; Ten Cool Tools for Computer Forensics
Glossary
Index

From the techie side, it's tempting to view computer forensics as all technical, and to figure that if you can find a file, you must have done the job.Not so much... Since most of the forensic work will be legal in nature (or could well end up that way), there are definite rules and processes you HAVE to follow in order to prove to the court's and jury's satisfaction that the data you found was truly there and not manufactured by you or someone else along the way.Volonino and Anzaldua cover those requirements very well, from search warrants and subpoenas to chain of custody documentation and documented actions.Those are the things that far too many techies would ignore on their way towards uncovering data, and in turn it would completely invalidate their efforts.That's why "do it yourself" forensic work is NOT recommended.

But that's not to ignore the vast array of skills and abilities that are needed to successfully find evidence that doesn't appear to exist any more.The authors present a nicely balanced discussion on both the reasons why and how data can be hidden (both intentionally and unintentionally) and how certain tools and techniques can be used to get at that data.In fact, they go into enough detail that you could download a few tools and start digging into your own computer to see practical examples of what you just read about.You might just end up rather concerned that what you thought you deleted isn't as "deleted" as you thought it was.

I think that Computer Forensics For Dummies does exactly what it sets out to do, and it does it very well.By the end of the book, I felt much more informed about how the *whole* field of computer forensics works, and I left with enough knowledge to know where I would need to go to learn more.Now... time to go see what's hiding on my computer that I forgot about...:)

Not a great book.
This book explains more how to work with legal issues than actually use computer forensics. There is very little actual "how to" and more "the defense will ask you". If you want to learn computer forensics, this is not the book for you, unless you are a master of uncovering data, but have no idea how show your skill in court.

This technical professional needed a crash course!
I am a system engineer who needed a refresher on the topic. The logical segregation of topics makes it very easy to pinpoint the information since this topic is far-reaching and spans the legal, criminal and technical disciplines. I have some experience with CF and this book does a good job of giving you a comprehensive understanding of the subject. It's also an interesting read and keeps your attention. You won't want to put it down for long.

Careers in this area are growing fast. I plan to keep this close as I move into this exciting field of work and will use it as a reference book going forward.

Computer Forensics for Dummies
WoW!This is a book that should be read by everyone.Especially corporate heads and some in government.What you discover is that the electronic trails are everywhere and someone in the know can and will retrieve them, if need be. So be careful what you write or do on your computer, there are no secrets!
Good writing, technical enough to keep us geeks in the read, but not so technical that everyone couldn't read it and learn a great deal.This is a book that I found myself going back to for additional information on a subject I believed I understood.It exceeded my expectations in every way.

Demystifying computer forensics
If you use a computer, you probably know that there is an electronic trail that follows you, and that the trail potentially lasts forever and can cause serious legal problems.This book demystifies how computer forensics is performed, what to do if you are ever in trouble (or trying to help someone who is in trouble), and tools that can help you. Though the topic is potentially complex, the book is an easy, interesting read. Statements like "An IP address is like a phone number for your computer" help make the material understandable. It is clear that the authors have considerable practical experience in the area and understand current best practices, computer technology, and the law. The book is appropriate for a wide variety of people -- those with a casual interest in the topic, in legal troubles related to materials on their PC, and lawyers who either work or want to work in the area. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Very effective introduction to algorithms
The book used in my graduate Intro to Algorithms course, and I think the follow-on. While I am obviously not as well read in this subject as many of the other reviewers, I can say "it worked", and indeed worked well. A course that has a weak text or teacher will not inspire... A-H-O/DACA and Prof. Carlson made the material exciting, even to an "architecture guy". My interests in grad school in the early 80's revolved around tessellation automata (aka systolic arrays and other highly regular compute structures) and big steaming fast computer structures. A-H-O provided me with the best understanding of the kinds of problems faced by the computers which interested me the most, and the kinds of tools needed to understand computational impact and algorithmic structuring of solutions to them. I sincerely with I hadn't lost my copy with the hundreds of annotations in the margins.

still the classic
One of the classics -- a readable and practical textbook with dozens of problems and projects. Great as a reference to basic data structures and algorithms, too!

Not optional
When I was in grad school starting a course in the Analysis of Algorithms, our professor told us there were only two reasonable choices of text for the course.We could use Knuth TAOCP or AHU.Since we were all students, probably starving, we would use AHU.

The very classic
Excluding Knuth's opera (another dimension), this (AHU) is about the other and only renowned classic algorithms book, deseverdly I'd say, together with Cormen-Leiserson-Rivest's (CLR) "Introduction to Algorithms". With the difference that the first and only edition of AHU has been written 16 years before the first (of the two) editions of CLR.

The two books are quite different in the language and formalism used: more formal and mathematical inclined AHU with respect to CLR. I'd say, the very classic style of his authors who have made history in the CS literature with their books (particularly 2 on algorithms and data structures, 2 on Computer Theory, 2 on Compilers, 1 on CS foundations): as these books have been used in most universities around the world for decades, they've proved to be real milestones in the education of thousands of students.

The books differ also in scope, since AHU is certainly not an encyclopedic collection as CLR does, with his roughly 500 pages against 1000. In spite of this, I'd point out the following: my textbook on Algorithms was CLR, but when we got to Complexity Classes (P-NP and theory behind) we "had" to switch to AHU for the simple reason that CLR did not almost mention at all Turing Machines nor Space Complexity, without which is certainly possible to learn e.g. about NP-TIME completeness, but without which, such a path would equally certainly miss some foundamental topics of Complexity Theory.

All in all, then, imo the book truly deserves 5 stars (and perhaps it would deserve a second, updated, edition too ... possibly, imho, through a bit less revolutionary revision job than they did with "Introduction to Automata Theory, Language and Computation").

As a final note, those looking for a more applicative and self-reference than an educational introductory text, could have a look at the two-volumes opera by the former Knuth's pupil, Robert Sedgewick (possibly the more consolidated C or C++ versions).

An excellent presentation of essential concepts
The book elaborates thoroughly on the basics every programmer should be familiar with. If you are into software development, and have found some unfamiliar concepts in the book description - that's a sure sign that you need this book on your desk. ... Read more