Understanding Digital Signal Processing

Rating:
Summary: a slow learner's testimony
Review: After reading the first three chapters of Lyon's DSP, I felt very comfortable at the rate at which ideas are presented and the detail they are explained. One of my biggest frustrations with Engineering text books is when author's skip steps and write altered equations to accelerate their explanation. Lyons does a good job of understanding that, no, I'm not at his level. In fact, I'm pretty new to this and could stand some spoon feeding. I own the Mitra Computer Base Approach (prof's choice) and Proakis. Now I know they are both excellent engineers but when I need a solid understanding of what I'm doing, I'm going to read Lyons explanation first. The differnce between Mitra's bits on the DTFT and DFT compared to Lyons DTFT and DFT is... well I pretty much understood Lyon's the first time. After Mitra's twice, I let out a big sigh of dissappointment.

Rating:
Summary: A fantastic book
Review: I'll keep my review fairly short, since I'm
simply adding to the chorus of voices singing
the praises of Richard G. Lyons. Most readers
have given this book five stars and it fully
deserves this rating.

I have started studying Fourier transforms and
digital filters as a result of studying wavelets.
As I read the wavelet literature it became clear
that Fourier transforms provided some of the underpinnings
needed to understand wavelets. However, most of the
references I've seen over the years have concentrated on
the mathematics and not the issues of applications. While
searching for wavelet references I found Lyons' book.
And what a great find it has been.

Lyons writes clearly and concentrates on the details of
implementation. Rather than expressing Fourier equations
as infinite integrals, he concentrates on the applied form,
the summation. This makes his approach clear and unintimidating.
Lyons has had a long career as a digital signal processing
engineer and he writes for practicing engineers.

One reviewer mentioned that Lyons reads like a novel. On
the surface this may seem true, because of the clarity of
Lyons' writing. However, as Lyons writes at the beginning
of the book, to truely understand these algorithms you
need to implement them. I have started a web page
titled "A Notebook Compiled While Reading Understanding
Digital Signal Processing by Lyons" which includes some
of these algorithms. This web page publishes some Java
objects, like a complex container and a signal generator,
which may be useful to other readers.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Introduction to DSP
Review: Lyons does a great job of introducing DSP concepts without getting overly technical too quickly. The mathematics used are generally straightforward, and the concepts presented are clarified by good examples. Highly recommended for those just getting into the world of digital signal processing.

Rating:
Summary: Great for learning the reasons behind
Review: I had taken a dsp subject during undergraduate course in engineering school. Our lecturer had recommended us a text by Oppenheim et al.- "Signals & Systems", and claimed that the book to be quite informative as introductory text. I don't question that book to be informative, but I doubt it to serve well as an introductory text. For most of us in the class, it definitely doesn't seem to fit as a beginner material, especially we didn't have previous background in signals & systems. If one thinks that, "mathematics" should not meant for understanding an explaination, then most probably he/she would feel difficult to read that book. Same thing go for most of the other signal processing books.

I've passed the dsp exam by gobbling up all the mathematics, but without success in understanding the truths (reasons) behind. Since then, whenever I saw any 'unexplainable' maths to 'explain' a signal process, mostly I would just being frightened away, or even stopped from continue reading it. This certainly couldn't satisfy my desire towards learning new knowledge.

Then, I decided to take a try on this book. Luckily I did. It is indeed the kind of stuff which should be taught in the first place, especially to students (or engineers) who want to learn dsp for the first time, without too much struggling.

This book is understandable, readable, & easy to swallow. Richard Lyons tries avoiding mathematics whenever possible, however if the maths is unavoidable, he will explain it in plain english by giving a "numerical + graphical" example to better visualize it. For example, instead of telling convolution is y(n)=h(k)*x(k), he would further depict the convolution, terms by terms, in the way of y(n) = (1/3) . x(n-2) + (1/3) . x(n-1) + (1/3) . x(n), and putting graphical explaination to aid in better understanding.

If you are looking for a book to start taking off from the land of DSP without prior knowledge on it, no doubt this is one of the best books available. If you are to understand the "reasons" behind dsp in simple way, after learning the maths, like me, this is for sure the first recommendation of all.

After finishing this book, I can't wait to go for other classical books, like the "discrete-time signal processing" by Oppenheim.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Self-Study Text
Review: I wish I had discovered this book many many years ago.Totally free from academic jargon, without losing any authenticity, picks one topic at a time and makes one understand it from all perspectives. It makes one understand and visualize all those complex looking math equations. It can be used from basic introduction to excellent & thorough understanding of DSP. Requires very basic knowledge of engineering math and walks you through the most complex DSP topics effortlessly. Perhaps the best self-stufy text on the topic. Makes cover to cover reading enjoyable. Go get one for yourself. Recommended. Only question: Why all engineering books are priced in the stratosphere?

Rating:
Summary: Refreshing
Review: How incredibly refreshing to find an author, whose objective is to convey knowledge to, rather than impress, the reader. At the risk of boring the mathematician, Lyons has made DSP accessible, and, dare I say, enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: Refreshingly Bold
Review: Understanding DSP is just that... Lyons does a wonderful job in helping many to Understand DSP. We all have learnt DSP with the so called " Industrial Strength" books that leaves a newcomer amidst a blizard of equations and summations.

Lyons book does have Maths, no doubt about it. But he does'nt take things for granted. Lucidly explained concepts stay fresh in your mind even after closing the book down. It reads like a DSP thriller. You almost rush across the pages to see how Ryon explains, say convultion. He does it clearly and refreshingly honestly that you close the book only regretting that it will take a long long time for some one to come up a book like this on other areas that stump Students most, particularly probability theory.

This book and Steve Smith's "The Scientist and Engineers guide to DSP" have really helped me a lot. For a even more mathematical oriented Stanly's Digital Signal Processing would be a good choice, although now the book is out of print.

Rating:
Summary: Understanding Digital Signal Processing
Review: Richard G. Lyons writes the books in great quality so you can understand easily and learn a lot of facts. I consider him one of the top authors.

Rating:
Summary: Destined to be a DSP classic, if it isn't already.
Review: Rick's book is a clear and engaging textbook on digital signal processing. The style of the book is much more easy-going than many introductory DSP books. Even with the easy-going attitude, the author does not dumb-down the technical accuracy required to do high-level DSP effectively. The emphasis in this book is on getting the reader to understand the technical concepts; if the reader understands the concepts, they should get the maths right.

Rating:
Summary: Finally!
Review: Here's a guy who isn't interested in how many integral signs he can throw onto a page, or how many of his collegues he can impress. This book is obviously written to help people learn and understand the basic principles of DSP. If you are one of the engineers not in the Ivory Tower, but down in the trenches trying to make things work, then pick it up. It's money well spent!