Communications Systems

Rating:
Summary: A nice book with some errors
Review: Dr. Haykin's book on Communication Systems is one of the standard textbook in the world. It is the first book from which many EE students start to learn the theory of communications. I have used several books written by Dr. Proakis and Dr. Haykin in my class for many years. Haykin's book features complete (and concise) coverage of fundamental topics in communications, and is mathmatically clear.
However, the high standard required for an excellent writer is not completely achieved in this book.
First, in Example 1.3 (middle of Page 39), the derivation process of the conditional expectation is misleading: the condition $t_dSecondly, in Eq. (1.98) (Page 63), the dummy variable t inside an integral appears in w'(t), which is obviously wrong.
Thirdly, in Eq. (3.20) (Page 191), the absolute value symbol is missing in two terms related to the magnitude |H(f)|. Also, in Figure 3.6 (b) (Page 190), the phase arg[H(f)] is not illustrated correctly.
There are other errors throughout this book (even in the 4th Edition!).
Also, many problems in Haykin's book are quite lengthy and not well-suited for midterm and final exams from an instructor's perspective.
I wonder where to find an error-free comprehensive textbook in the field of telecommunications like Knuth's (hard to read, though) in computer science.
Compared with other textbooks in communications, this book still ranks among the best in terms of its clarity, illustratoins, and comprehensive coverage - if and only if the errors aforementioned can be corrected.

Rating:
Summary: Definitely not the best
Review: First, you really need to have prior exposure to the subject to thoroughly understand some of the topics involved. Some equations are introduced 'ad hoc' and are not explained, even intuitively. If you want to know the 'why' and 'how', look to other books such as Lathi's and Proakis's, which are much better. I found their books to be more systematic, more organized, and simply more logical. Our professors at my university do not seem to like this book, and the students now know why. We switched to Communication Systems Engineering by Proakis, which is more mathematically sound and much clearer. However, you can gain some useful insights from Haykin's book, so I give it two stars instead of one because everything in Haykin's book cannot necessarily be found elsewhere, so it is of use at times.

Rating:
Summary: A very readable introductory text
Review: I read this book myself after taking a course in signals & systems. The author has a very clear style, and development of fundamentals is clear and concise. It is not an advanced treatment of the subject, but a stimulating and enjoyable experience for beginners. The missing, yet very important, thing in this book is an information theoritic point of view.

If you are to read a book on communications youself and look for a starting point, this might be the book to look at. Though, for an advanced reader, there exists much better treatments of the same topic.

Rating:
Summary: A very readable introductory text
Review: I read this book myself after taking a course in signals & systems. The author has a very clear style, and development of fundamentals is clear and concise. It is not an advanced treatment of the subject, but a stimulating and enjoyable experience for beginners. The missing, yet very important, thing in this book is an information theoritic point of view.

If you are to read a book on communications youself and look for a starting point, this might be the book to look at. Though, for an advanced reader, there exists much better treatments of the same topic.

Rating:
Summary: Definitely not the best
Review: I realized that someone else wrote a review under my name, giving a low rate (one star) to this book. I have never written a review for this book before. This is my firt review and I find this book an excellent textbook for a senior level course in communication systems. It covers thouroughly most of the basics of analog and digital communication systems. The latest edition has been updated to cover more recent material on the subject of communication systems. I strongly recommend this book as a textbook for senior-level courses.

Rating:
Summary: Poorly written textbook offers no insight!
Review: I wish I could give this book 0 stars!
I am using this textbook for an undergraduate communications theory course. The textbook is poorly organized and the writing is difficult to follow! It is difficult to even approach the problems out of the book even after reading the chapters. The text tries to cover a wide range of material while offering little or no insight to the underlying communications principles. Equations after equations with poor explanation is certainly no way to learn communications theory. I deeply regret choosing this textbook for my course. Definitely look to other books if you want to learn some communications theory!!!

Rating:
Summary: A BOOK FOR PROFESSORS NOT STUDENTS
Review: IF YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND THIS BOOK COMPLETELY YOU MUST READ IT MAY BE HUNDREDS TIMES,IF YOU HAVE TIME!MATHEMATICAL AND LOGICAL EXPLANATIONS ARE ACTUALLY NOT ENOUHG.SOMETHINGS THAT MAY BE EXPLAINED IN A FEW MATHEMATICAL EQUATIONS WERE EXPLAINED IN A LOT OF TEXT.WHY?I REALLY DID NOT UNDERSTAND THAT.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Book to Start !
Review: This book is excellent for a beginner in this subject. The author gives rigorous mathematical treatment as well as useful insights on difficult concepts. In my opinion, one of the best Communication Systems books ever written ! A must-have for a DSP or a Communications Engineer.

Rating:
Summary: Great Introductory Textbook
Review: This textbook was used in the communication systems class I took several years ago, and I enjoyed using it very much. It is definitely readable, and the presentation of material strikes a good balance between being suffuciently rigorous yet understandable for beginners.
I am very surprised by some of the negative reviews.

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