Computer Science Books

Ken Stroud's book is the first book one needs when beginning serious study of applied mathematics. It is also the book which stays with the newly qualified engineer, the growing engineer and even the experienced engineer, and in fact must be one of the most important volumes available to any engineer today; for reference or for study, this book is a must!

This book teaches you as if you were in class room and having a one on one studying session, it has an excelent organization and uses simple language to explain each topic. It is a very good reference for professionals and students alike. This is a must have book.

The author explains a concept very clearly, then gives some worked examples, followed by problems. The reader is then encouraged to work through these problems on his/her own and the complete working is then provided so that mistakes can be detected. The best book for self-study in engineering mathematics (besides the author's other book: Further Engineering Mathematics) that I have come across.

What can I say about this book? It's the best material about Error Control, that you can find nowhere......... Try it, and I hope that this book will help you

What can I say about this book? It's the best material about Error Control, that you can find nowhere......... Try it, and I hope that this book will help you

Dr. Wicker has a rare gift: a genius who can write!

I was pleasantly surprise to read the wide variety of computing devices covered in this book. Not only did the author bring me up to date on the latest PC technology, he also covered PDAs, digital cameras, MP3 devices, wireless devices, scanners, practically anything I wanted to know about. Best of all Keogh explained how these technology work in a way anyone could understand it. Another advantage I found over other books is that Keogh provided an insight into the entire technology industry - company by company. I give this two thumbs up. Good job!

This book hit the nail on the head for me. A good, easy to understand guide to all kinds of computer hardware. I particularly found the author's treatment of PDAs, digital cameras, and mobile computing devices very useful. Most other books on computer hardware only cover PCs. This book covers PCs and nearly every kind of computing device on the market. I give the author two thumbs for covering more than PCs.

Computer technology is a challenge to understand. It keeps changing quickly and its difficult to gain a basic understanding of it. However, I think Keogh's laid-back easy to read writing style brings technology down to a level that the average Joe on the street like me can understand. He starts with the very basic concepts then gradually brings you into the latest technology without skipping a beat. I found myself say, "that's how its down. It's so simple why do they make it sound so complicated."
And best of all he covers digital video, digital audio, and other technologies that you don't think of as being computer hardware. I can't wait for his next book on technology.

I don't really know why this book didn't sell as well as some of the other standard books in evolutionary algorithms. It's much better in many respects and presents a balanced view of the entire field, including evolution strategies, evolutionary programming, and genetic algorithms. Anyone who is interested in evolutionary algorithms should have this book....

In comparing this book with, say Goldberg's "Genetic Algorithms..." (may be the most popular genetic algorithms text), this book reads more like a German habilitation thesis (which I imagine it may have served as such), where as Goldberg's book seems more of a light introduction for the mathematically uninitiated. Indeed, Back's book seems quite scholarly with lots of useful references, and gives a good introduction to not only genetic algorithms, but also to evolutionary strategies (a paradigm that is most applicable to Euclidean-type search spaces) and evolutionary programming
(simular to ES and not to be confused with genetic programming).

I found Chapters 1 and 2 quite good, in that Chapter 1 presented the biological motivations for evolutionary computing along with a brief introduction to the theory of computation and computational complexity, while Chapter 2 gave a very good introduction to the above-mentioned evolutionary computing paradigms. The remainder of the book reads more like a report on the author's experiments in evolutionary computing.

It is important to note that Goldberg's book does not cover Evolutionary Strategies, which I have found to be a more fruitful approach since it is specifically designed for Euclidean space where many if not most interesting optimization problems are formulated in.

Finally, I offer bit of advice for those who plan to read through this book. Some of the definitions are stated with such generality that they seem very opaque upon first reading. It is very important to understand them, so do not give up! Once the defintions are understood, the algorithms will seem much easier to comprehend. In fact, the algorithms have a very simple outline:
i) initialize population
ii) while the terminating condition is not yet met: recombine to form new population members, mutate the population members, select the most fit population members to form the next generation.
The partial analyses provided for the algorithms can be skipped on first reading.

Although this book is much less popular than Goldberg's and Mitchell's, it is the most complete reference on evolutionary algorithms in my opinion. If you're looking only for an introduction to EAs, this may not be the perfect book for you (the 2 other ones are more concise) but if you're seeking a detailed review of foundations of EAs, this book is excellent. It provides mathematical insight, and examples of how to implement such algorithms.

The author has the ability to turn complex issues into simple concepts. It's very useful for those giving first steps in this subject and those who need refreshing their knowledge. I strongly recommend it.

This book is an excellent reference for those profesionals or specialists who are involved in the Electronic Warfare (EW) world. It's also useful for those who want to learn more about this interesting, complex and important subject. As it can be demonstrated thru the history of the EW, it has played an important role in the military actions related with the use of the electromagnetic spectrum (communications, radar, Infrared, laser and more). I strongly recommend it.

EW101 is a compilation of articles published in the Journal of Electronic Defence, over several years. The level of treatment is semiquantitative. The basic methods in areas like jamming, decoys and simulations are expounded. Readers with an undergraduate background in engineering or science should be able to follow the text. People already in the Electronic Warfare field will find the discussion pretty elementary. But Adamy is writing for those outside the field.

The merit of this book is that it gives you familiarity with the key topics and ideas in EW. Enough to qualitatively follow a technical discussion. Or even perhaps, as the author suggests, for managers of EW engineers, who need to brush up on what their chaps are doing.

Adamy also usefully supplies references to more detailed texts and journals. There is a surprising amount of material out there that is declassified.

This book is excellent -- clear, detailed, and well-organized. And it always seems to have just the information I need.

To give a specific example: I was recently trying to prepare a robot for a local fire-fighting contest, and was counting on using a HiTechnic interface board to connect up one or more Sharp analog distance sensors. But the HiTechnic board didn't work for me, and the deadline was looming. I flipped through Extreme NXT, and there in Chapter 8 was the solution: a simple circuit for that does exactly what I need.

The NXT is a great robot controller, and this book effectively converts it from a closed to an open platform. I can't recommend it highly enough.

I bought this book to get a better idea of how to safely interface my own circuits to the Lego Mindstorms NXT. In my opinion, you can't find a better book for this purpose. "Extreme NXT" contains the pinouts and proper usage of the NXT motor and sensor ports. It also provides a large number of the most useful homebrew sensor implementations, right down to parts lists containing part numbers for common component suppliers like Digikey and Radio Shack.

My background is in engineering, with an emphasis in control systems. The first book I read in the field of hobbiest robotics was "Mobile Robots: Inspiration to Implementation" (Jones and Flynn). In those days, the 6811's were king for these sorts of projects. I spent many a happy day with my MIT Handyboard (a simple 6811 robot controller board). Things have come a long way. Nowadays NXT is available, and this book is the modern day equivalent to that excellent text for those who want to dig in and find out what the NXT is capable of. The book is written in a format that is easy to understand for the novice, but also supplies plenty of content to allow the more advanced user to be able to push the NXT envelope. The organization is superb, commonly used charts and tables are easily found. I have been finding myself referring most often to the pinout tables for the NXT connectors, and these are very conveniently found towards the front of the book.

Chapters are broke down into sensor and output types, starting with the more basic and easily contructed passive sensors up to more advanced and expandable I2C sensors. Motor control, h-bridges, etc are also covered in detail. Both the construction of the circuits, and the NXT code to run them, are covered. Code is provided in it's most basic form first, NXT-G, which every NXT user will be familiar with. Examples proceed to more complex compilers, such as NBC, for sensors or circuits that are better suited to those implementations.

The appendix provides complete source code listings, useful websites and links categorized by chapter. There is also a great tutorial on prototyping with breadboards and perfboard for the uninitiated. With this book, any skill level in electronics should be enough to do some cool things with the NXT kit.

This book will become a very useful addition to any hobby robotics library. For me, it will be the goto book for designing circuits to safely interface to the Lego NXT. Highly recommended!

Reviewer J. Doubek, said it best - "I bought this book to get a better idea of how to safely interface my own circuits to the Lego Mindstorms NXT. In my opinion, you can't find a better book for this purpose."

And that is very true! I cannot add much more to his review... This book is the 'Make' book for the NXT. The authors have explained everything so any builder of any age or skill level can understand the processes. It teaches several techniques that can be developed into viable career skills. Including soldering, electronics knowledge and usage, and handy-tech projects that will also get one's mind flowing with other ideas. If you are a 'Maker' or tinkerer or would like to learn some inside knowledge of the NXT and how to build outside of the box you will find no better starter book.

Grab it, read it, and use it to expand your NXT knowledge!

Chris
MDP, MCP
USA - NASA

This is truly an excellent book. Speaking as a scientist that uses feedback loops as merely one component of experimental apparatus, this book contains everything you need and nothing that you don't. It contains explanations of analog and digital systems and illustrates these with practical and common examples.

This is the first book I give to graduate students and within three days they are up to speed both with the language of feedback control theory and the principles. Moreover the explanations provide an intuitive understanding of important concepts and as a result are not easily forgotten. I highly recommend it to all designers, builders and users of feedback control systems.

I'm a physics grad student and needed to frequency stabilize a laser using a rather complicated feedback system. I had no controls theory background but needed to "get up to speed" fast--this book did it!

If you are faced with designing a working feedback system and are not a controls theory expert, this book is the single most useful reference you would ever hope to find. The explanations are intuitive and the practical advice indispensible. This book saved me many weeks on the learning curve. I was able to understand and measure the most challenging aspects of my particular system and clearly see how to predict performance.

It's very streamlined: the emphasis is clearly to deliver the relevant information with the least amount of overhead. As such, the only missing part of the book that I wanted is a list of references. Recognizing the insight of the authors, I would have liked a list of their favorite controls publications!

Here was my assignment:

Make a proof of concept system that points a laser at a moving target.

My problem:
I knew how to write the software, I knew how to put the hardware together, but, I had no idea what to put in my feedback loop to make this thing track.

Oh yeah, I had to do this in two weeks.

So I read part of this book (my suggestion is start in the middle and read the math section when you /need/ to understand something in more depth) and I completed the assignment on time.

End result: I am not an expert on control systems theory, but by reading this book, I was able to get up and running in a matter of days.

Never judge a book by it's cover. This book was fast moving and a new twist and turn all the time. There was never a dull moment is the book. I would highly recommend this book if you like changing course and never know what is around the next bend.

There are very few fantasy/science fiction novels that pique my interest from the very beginning. This one did just that and held onto it clear through to the last page. Not just the "main" story, but the various backstories as well were interesting and well executed. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Just when I thought I knew where the story was headed, there was a major course change that reignited my interest. I can't wait for the next installment.

The book is very simple and very directly.

I recommend this book.

I've been an SAP ABAP programmer for nearly 10 years and am very comfortable with the traditional SAP programming model. My exposure to Java has been limited but when SAP announced that their latest version of SAP Web Application Server (WAS) would include a Java stack I knew it was time to dust off those old Core Java volumes I had lying around. However Java is a moving target and my Java 1.2 manuals are hopelessly out of date. A friend suggested I take a look at this book.

The Object Oriented extensions to ABAP were based on Java so a lengthy tome on all the ins and outs of Java was not what I was looking for. I needed something concise and to the point that would not "talk down to me" but would get me up to speed quickly on what I needed to know about Java from an SAP programmer's point of view.

I really believe that this is that book. Mr Rooney covers a very large subject at a fair pace and with a good sense of humor that keeps the reader engaged. Topics are explained from a SAP programmer's point of view (as per the book's title) which in itself is quite unique. Even the complex subject of EJBs is explained with just the right amount of info.

Highly recommended.

I have had the pleasure of working with the author personally. We had the opportunity of bringing him in to a client to help convert their ABAP staff to Java knowledgeable ABAPers. So I know first hand that he knows what he talks about. He gives an excellent class too.
I own this book and as a fellow SAP professional I can only highly recommend it. I have used it and will continue to use it until I get the Java thing down.
Excellent effort.

I'm looking at doing a project involving a distributed ad-hoc sensor/actuator network. Reading data sheets from various vendors is fine, but I wanted an overall look at the theoretical landscape to get myself oriented. This book did a great job of presenting the state of the art - problems, solutions, research areas. It uses specific technology examples to motivate the discussion, but its focus on fundamentals should make it widely applicable and relevant for some years to come.

This book is a good entry point for someone wishing to learn about wireless computing and communication. It provides a broad survey of the various kinds of wireless applications and implementation design patterns, discussing the technology performance limitations and trade-offs that motivate each design decision. The viability and effectiveness of every design choice depends upon the other choices taken, motivating many complex mathematical optimization problems.

I began reading this book with the assumption that wireless application design rested on the same principles as the design of ordinary distributed computer systems, save for a narrower communication bandwidth, and occasional planned disconnections. This book made me realize that things are much more complicated in the wireless world. In ordinary distributed systems, the main challenge is the design of a static scheme for distributing work among communicating components. Once that is done, one can pretty much separate the infrastructure oriented code from the business logic. In the wireless world, the communication bandwidth's variability and lack of reliability requires the distribution of tasks to react to changing network conditions; this radically increases the difficulty of separating infrastructure concerns from business logic. The limitations of typical mobile devices (small memory, limited power, and slow processor speed) only add to the developer's burden. In designing an application for a pre-existing wireless system, traditional methods of program organization may not be appropriate. The need to discover or invent algorithms that take into account a mobile network's unique characteristics creates a challenge somewhat akin to that faced by the early users of novel massively-parallel computer architectures.

One learns that there are no general purpose easy answers to these problems, but the book does an excellent job in laying out the issues, concerns and approaches, while providing ample bibliographies of published research that readers can delve into for their specific problem. The reader comes away with a familiarity in the terms, concepts and acronyms used in the wireless community, providing an excellent foundation for further reading in the literature (which, unfortunately, is not always as well-written or accessible to the newcomer as is this text).

The importance of this book is due to the consumer demand for wireless devices. People are getting accustomed to the idea of carrying PDAs and having wireless connections at home, office, and even coffeehouses. But how can you secure the connection? How fast can you send data? How do you even know that there's something to connect to nearby?

I've just joined a project in my job that deals with wireless communication, and I had only superficial knowledge of the area. What I got out of this book was an awareness of all the issues and tradeoffs involved in the field. I also found the text to be filled with many explanations, so it was a surprisingly easy read for such a technical topic. It's very up to date as the last few chapters discuss WiMAX.