Before digital computers ever existed, Alan Turing envisioned
their power and versatility...but also proved what computers could
never do.
In an extraordinary and ultimately tragic life that unfolded
like a novel, Turing helped break the German Enigma code to turn
the tide of World War II, later speculated on artificial
intelligence, fell victim to the homophobic witchhunts of the early
1950s, and committed suicide at the age of 41. Yet Turing is most
famous for an eerily prescient 1936
內容簡介:
Programming Legend Charles Petzold unlocks the secrets of the
extraordinary and prescient 1936 paper by Alan M. Turing
Mathematician Alan Turing invented an imaginary computer known
as the Turing Machine; in an age before computers, he explored the
concept of what it meant to be computable, creating the field of
computability theory in the process, a foundation of present-day
computer programming.
The book expands Turing’s original 36-page paper with
additional background chapters and extensive annotations; the
author elaborates on and clarifies many of Turing’s statements,
making the original difficult-to-read document accessible to
present day programmers, computer science majors, math geeks, and
others.
Interwoven into the narrative are the highlights of Turing’s
own life: his years at Cambridge and Princeton, his secret work in
cryptanalysis during World War II, his involvement in seminal
computer projects, his speculations about artificial intelligence,
his arrest and prosecution for the crime of "gross indecency," and
his early death by apparent suicide at the age of 41.
關於作者:
English mathematician Alan Turing 1912–1954 is the author of
the 1936 paper "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the
Entscheidungsproblem" that introduced the imaginary computer called
the Turing Machine for understanding the nature and limitations of
computing. His famous 1950 article "Computing Machinery and
Intelligence" introduced the Turing Test for gauging artificial
intelligence.
American writer Charles Petzold 1953– is the author of the
acclaimed 1999 book Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware
and Software, a unique exploration into the digital technologies of
computers. He is also the author of hundreds of articles about
computer programming, as well as several books on writing programs
that run under Microsoft Windows. His Web site is
www.charlespetzold.com.
目錄:
Introduction
Part I: Foundations
Chapter 1: This Tomb Holds Diophantus
Chapter 2: The Irrational and the Transcendental
Chapter 3: Centuries of Progress
Part II: Computable Numbers
Chapter 4: The Education of Alan Turing
Chapter 5: Machines at Work
Chapter 6: Addition and Multiplication
Chapter 7: Also Known as Subroutines
Chapter 8: Everything Is a Number
Chapter 9: The Universal Machine
Chapter 10: Computers and Computability
Chapter 11: Of Machines and Men
Part III: Das Entscheidungsproblem
Chapter 12: Logic and Computability
Chapter 13: Computable Functions
Chapter 14: The Major Proof
Chapter 15: The Lambda Calculus
Chapter 16: Conceiving the Continuum
Part IV And Beyond
Chapter 17: Is Everything a Turing Machine? Chapter 18: The Long
Sleep of Diophantus
Selected Bibliography
Index.