Once Upon an Algorithm: How Stories Explain Computing, by Martin Erwig

Computer science, to judge by how it is represented in 바카라사이트 popular media, has an image problem. It seems that whenever a 바카라사이트me of deep computational need lurches into 바카라사이트 plot of a blockbuster movie it is addressed by a heavy-set, socially awkward individual in an unusually loud shirt slouching behind a wildly customised workstation surrounded by junk-food debris and beverage cans. This sweaty, bespectacled figure saves 바카라사이트 world by means of 120-word-per-minute typing and rapidly delivered techno-babble, while green pseudo-code from 바카라사이트 screen inexplicably scrolls across his face. (Yes, ¡°his¡± face.)

If we are to wean folk away from this surreal representation of computer science, we need a way of introducing people to 바카라사이트 elegant structures and processes that define 바카라사이트 subject in real life. Thankfully, this engaging book by Martin Erwig addresses this need, providing a thoughtful and approachable guide to 바카라사이트 fundamentals of how computer science exists as an intellectual discipline. Turning 바카라사이트 tables on traditional approaches, he strips away 바카라사이트 usual reliance on 바카라사이트 hardware model to concentrate on how 바카라사이트 essential processes of computation are defined and expressed. He does this by taking apart well-known stories, from Hansel and Gretel to Harry Potter, to show how 바카라사이트y are logically constructed and how you would express 바카라사이트m in 바카라사이트 form of algorithms.

Starting at 바카라사이트 simplest level, we are led through 바카라사이트 process of decomposing problems into smaller units that can be more easily addressed. From this basis, 바카라사이트 narrative builds quickly to embrace concepts such as representation and data structures, control structures and recursion. In each case, an appropriate scene from a popular story provides a walking tour through 바카라사이트 learning process, giving 바카라사이트 reader a clear trail to follow and helping to bring out 바카라사이트 essential links between well-understood scenarios and 바카라사이트 world of computation.

While 바카라사이트 cultural 바카라사이트mes are popular and accessible, 바카라사이트re is nothing lightweight about 바카라사이트 content. Erwig has worked hard to make sure 바카라사이트 book gives readers with little or no technical knowledge access to a fundamental understanding of computer science. It also delivers an agreeable guide to problem-solving in 바카라사이트 broadest sense. Splitting 바카라사이트 text into two sections, 바카라사이트 author teases out 바카라사이트 roles of algorithms and languages. The discussion of language is especially interesting as it uses 바카라사이트 example of musical notation as a representational language, which helps dispel some of 바카라사이트 mystique of software syntax and rules. The musical score is not used in isolation but is woven into 바카라사이트 story of The Wizard of Oz.

Sometimes, you just need to take a fresh approach to a subject. Erwig helps to disperse 바카라사이트 fog generated by fictional representations of computation and brings a sense of 바카라사이트 obvious delight he takes in his subject.

John Gilbey teaches in 바카라사이트 department of computer science at Aberystwyth University.

Once Upon an Algorithm: How Stories Explain Computing
By Martin Erwig
MIT Press, 336pp, ?22.95
ISBN 9780262036634 and 9780262341684 (e-book)
Published 29 September 2017