Nine Algorithms That Changed the Future: The Ingenious Ideas That Drive Today's Computers
Nine revolutionary algorithms that power our computers and smartphones
Every day, we use our computers to perform remarkable feats. A simple web search picks out a handful of relevant needles from the world's biggest haystack. Uploading a photo to Facebook transmits millions of pieces of information over numerous error-prone network links, yet somehow a perfect copy of the photo arrives intact. Without even knowing it, we use public-key cryptography to transmit secret information like credit card numbers, and we use digital signatures to verify the identity of the websites we visit. How do our computers perform these tasks with such ease? John MacCormick answers this question in language anyone can understand, using vivid examples to explain the fundamental tricks behind nine computer algorithms that power our PCs, tablets, and smartphones.
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Nine Algorithms That Changed the Future: The Ingenious Ideas That Drive Today's Computers
Nine revolutionary algorithms that power our computers and smartphones
Every day, we use our computers to perform remarkable feats. A simple web search picks out a handful of relevant needles from the world's biggest haystack. Uploading a photo to Facebook transmits millions of pieces of information over numerous error-prone network links, yet somehow a perfect copy of the photo arrives intact. Without even knowing it, we use public-key cryptography to transmit secret information like credit card numbers, and we use digital signatures to verify the identity of the websites we visit. How do our computers perform these tasks with such ease? John MacCormick answers this question in language anyone can understand, using vivid examples to explain the fundamental tricks behind nine computer algorithms that power our PCs, tablets, and smartphones.
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Nine Algorithms That Changed the Future: The Ingenious Ideas That Drive Today's Computers
Nine revolutionary algorithms that power our computers and smartphones
Every day, we use our computers to perform remarkable feats. A simple web search picks out a handful of relevant needles from the world's biggest haystack. Uploading a photo to Facebook transmits millions of pieces of information over numerous error-prone network links, yet somehow a perfect copy of the photo arrives intact. Without even knowing it, we use public-key cryptography to transmit secret information like credit card numbers, and we use digital signatures to verify the identity of the websites we visit. How do our computers perform these tasks with such ease? John MacCormick answers this question in language anyone can understand, using vivid examples to explain the fundamental tricks behind nine computer algorithms that power our PCs, tablets, and smartphones.
John MacCormick is associate professor of computer science at Dickinson College and a leading teacher, researcher, and writer in his field. His books include What Can Be Computed? A Practical Guide to the Theory of Computation (Princeton).
Table of Contents
Foreword ixChapter 1. Introduction: What Are the Extraordinary Ideas Computers Use Every Day? 1Chapter 2. Search Engine Indexing: Finding Needles in the World’s Biggest Haystack 10Chapter 3. PageRank: The Technology That Launched Google 24Chapter 4. Public Key Cryptography: Sending Secrets on a Postcard 38Chapter 5. Error-Correcting Codes: Mistakes That Fix Themselves 60Chapter 6. Pattern Recognition: Learning from Experience 80Chapter 7. Data Compression: Something for Nothing 105Chapter 8. Databases: The Quest for Consistency 122Chapter 9. Digital Signatures: Who Really Wrote This Software? 149Chapter 10. What Is Computable? 174Chapter 11. Conclusion: More Genius at Your Fingertips? 199Acknowledgments 205Sources and Further Reading 207Index 211
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From the Publisher
"A great way to find out what computer science is really about. . . . MacCormick provides a taste of why we computer scientists get so excited about algorithms."—Paul Curzon, Science"Excellent. . . . This is an unusually well-written text suitable for anyone with an interest in how today's information systems really work."—John Gilbey, Times Higher Education"MacCormick leaves the reader with a sense of the engine that powers the networked world."—Kevin Slavin, New Scientist"There's likely no better account of the software that underpins everything from Amazon to Facebook."—Brett Szmajda, Cosmos