Introduction to Computer Theory

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I must say this is one of the best books I have ever read. The auther is humorous and insightful. He manages to take very abstract concepts and explain them in clear concrete terms and metaphors.

Rating:
Summary: Discursive presentation. Helpful for novices.
Review: The book has one important attribute: it's clear, undoubtedly. Having a minimum of prerequisites, I think there's no way to not understand what Prof. Cohen says through its pages. It makes the job of learning this part of theory easier than any other text.
But ... but I can't totally agree with Cohen's crusade against formalism. I agree that the first target of a book should be to clearly transmit the intended knowledge, and Cohen perfectly succeeds in this. But formalism too has its importance, thereafter. A compact and clear formalism helps to communicate efficiently, and moreover unambiguously. Like in mathematics, the first, important thing is to understand. Yet, there's no way for you to efficiently work with math without using any kind of formalism, should it be more or less "standard".
That's it: a very powerful book for a "profound" understanding of the subject; a bit more of natural formalism would make it a "complete" understanding also, and the book a five stars one.

Rating:
Summary: Great companion to Aho and Ullman's book
Review: This book is great. It gives a completely different approach to atomata theory and computability than Aho and Ullman's book. The the latter has demostrations from an algebraic point of view, the former gives constructive demostrations which are usually more understandable to me. This is a great introduction to computer theory and I would recommend it instead of Aho's book as a first encounter with these themes.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book!
Review: This is a great book. I read the first edition many years ago, and it too was great. Everything is explained in order, and explained well - it is very accessable, even to the casual reader interested in the topics presented. It was through this book that I was able to actually write software that demonstrated Kleene's Theorem, (RE=NFA=DFA) converting between Regular Expressions, NFA's and DFA's.

Unlike many textbooks, reading this one is actually FUN. By the time I was done, I felt that I understood everything that was presented. That's how good this text is.

// CHRIS (Darien, Connecticut)

Rating:
Summary: Great Book!
Review: This is a great book. I read the first edition many years ago, and it too was great. Everything is explained in order, and explained well - it is very accessable, even to the casual reader interested in the topics presented. It was through this book that I was able to actually write software that demonstrated Kleene's Theorem, (RE=NFA=DFA) converting between Regular Expressions, NFA's and DFA's.

Unlike many textbooks, reading this one is actually FUN. By the time I was done, I felt that I understood everything that was presented. That's how good this text is.

// CHRIS (Darien, Connecticut)

Rating:
Summary: introduction to computer theory by daniel I.A.Cohen
Review: this is good book with good exercise stuff but i want the answers for its exercise without answers it is incomplete can you please send me the answers if possible

Rating:
Summary: introduction to computer theory by daniel I.A.Cohen
Review: this is good book with good exercise stuff but i want the answers for its exercise without answers it is incomplete can you please send me the answers if possible

Rating:
Summary: Introduction to Computer Theory
Review: This is one of the best textbooks I've ever read. It is CLEAR in the explanation of abstract theories and explains everything you'll ever need to know about pushdown automata theory, Turing theory, and more. This book is written in a language that can be understood by everybody and if that's not enough contains extremely helpful diagrams.

The only thing that is better than the book is to be in Dr. Cohen's class. Thank you, Dr. Cohen, for the unforgettable experience.