Introduction to the Theory of Computation

Rating:
Summary: BEST Computer Theory book
Review: This book is by far the best book that I read!!! It presents topics in a very interesting and readable way.

My advice is read this book if you an undergrad student, even though instructor might be using a different book. If you are a grad student this books makes an excellent reference for refreshing your knowledge of Computer Theory. Computer Theory is not my area of interest, but this book makes it very interesting and fun area; which is quiet unusual for Computer Theory books.

I am a grad student taking advanced "Computer Theory" class. I have bought couple books including this one, and checked out from library another 6. This book in an introductory book and it has excellent coverage of the basics, and it has some brief but very good coverage of advanced topics as well. I read this book every time to refresh my knowledge before I go on to more in depth topics. The only thing that I wish, is that the undergrad course that I have taken a number years ago was using this book; and/or I read this book when I was an undergrad.

Rating:
Summary: An EXCELLENT Automata/Theory of Computation book
Review: This book is one of the best written books on Automata/Theory of Computation that I have ever seen. It is a great introduction to the subject. It's also a great way to review the key topics.

One of the greatest things about this book is its focus on developing an intuitive understanding of the concepts and proofs. Other books do a better job of formal proofs but this book is light years ahead of any other in terms of helping you develop an intuitive understanding of why a given proof or construction is correct. It's a lot better than the memorize/regurgitate model necessitated by the emphasis on minutiae of other books.

Lastly, this book provides great tips on how to approach problem solving (especially proofs).

Rating:
Summary: An EXCELLENT Automata/Theory of Computation book
Review: This book is one of the best written books on Automata/Theory of Computation that I have ever seen. It is a great introduction to the subject. It's also a great way to review the key topics.

One of the greatest things about this book is its focus on developing an intuitive understanding of the concepts and proofs. Other books do a better job of formal proofs but this book is light years ahead of any other in terms of helping you develop an intuitive understanding of why a given proof or construction is correct. It's a lot better than the memorize/regurgitate model necessitated by the emphasis on minutiae of other books.

Lastly, this book provides great tips on how to approach problem solving (especially proofs).

Rating:
Summary: A Near Perfect Computer Theory Textbook
Review: This book is suitable for beginners and graduate students who want to explor the theory of computation . It explains the hard theory and logic by easy sentences and words. Even if you use English as foreign language , you can read this book by yourself and understand its contents easily. This book is near perfect.

Rating:
Summary: Introduction to the Theory of Computation
Review: This book is terrible as a text book. The chapters give very simplistic examples, then the problems at the end of the chapters are very difficult. There is no solutions manual, so there is no way to know if you are doing the problems correctly. Let's face it, Automata theory is math, who ever heard of a college level math book without a solutions manual.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Primer!
Review: This book is unbelievably effective at getting the students prepared for what Computer Science it's all about. This semester I had the luck to get a great professor who has made clear that mathematics, vis a vis computers, it's not about "pushing symbols" or numbers. It's about understanding what a computer is in its innermost form. This book accomplishes that marvelously. As an undergraduate Computer Science student I find this book to be enlightening. It's one of the best, if not the best, book in the field. The coherence and candid and unassuming tone of the author makes the book much more approachable than most books in the subject. He, the author, understood that most CS people were getting "thrown off" by the lingo and the mathematical assumptions made by so many other authors in the field.
As a refutal to one reviewer: The fact that this book does not have a solution manual is what makes it SO great! Guess what? In real life, in mathematics there is NO solutions manual! You have to find it by yourself. Most problems in mathematics go without solution for ages, until one person has the epiphany and solves it. Most mathematicians, in as hard as they work and as smart as they are, never discover new proofs or new theories. It's irresponsible to lambast this volume just because "it does not have a solution manual."

Rating:
Summary: Number ONE!
Review: This is a great book that depicts the theory of computation solely based on clear steps and proofs. If you need the book, please e-mail me to [e-mail] and I can give you the best tips ever!

Rating:
Summary: Attention! MUST READ before you buy it
Review: This is a great book that has the complete proof of essential theory with the best clarity as well as step by step examples. If you e-mail me before you decide to buy it, I can give you some "valuable" tips. Simply write why you need the book. I can only help 1 person with a desperate need of this book. ThanX. E-mail me to [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: very good
Review: This really is the clearest and, well, most beautiful theory textbook that I have ever read and used for teaching. Congratulations.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Amazing
Review: When I picked up this book I thought, "You have to be kidding me." This book is very thin, and then a fair chunk of it is mathematics review for some of the formal arguments the book is going to be making later on. One wouldn't think there was much in this book.

One would be wrong. This book goes into rather impressive depth on some rather abstract concepts of computer science without dabbling for too long in the details. It does the best job I've ever seen of explaining the Turing machine and how it relates to computability and decidablity.

The exercises are both easy and insanely difficult - so you can basically chose your level and then go through the book, some of the problems are very hard, some are trivially easy, a great mix makes for great homework assignments.

The "Proof Idea:" sections before every proof give you the underlying concepts in plain english that are about to be stated formally so you have a clue what's happening when the formal definitions start flying. These are priceless and should be included in every other book that uses formal proof techniques.

The book reads fairly well on its own, or makes for a great class text book, which I used it for. As my professor said, "This is a good book because it doesn't have any extra words." but you don't seem to mind as you read it. Probably the best work on the science of computation in the world, certainly the best I've ever seen.