Introduction to the Theory of Computation Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)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.

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Michael Sipser's emphasis on unifying computer science theory - rather than offering a collection of low-level details - sets the book apart, as do his intuitive explanations. Throughout the book, Sipser builds students' knowledge of conceptual tools used in computer science, the aesthetic sense they need to create elegant systems, and the ability to think through problems on their own.

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Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation (2nd Edition) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is a good book - but as a revision of a much-revered classic of
the field, it's a bit of a disappointment.
Hopcroft & Ullman wrote the classic text way back in 1969, and then
revised it in 1979. It was pretty much the standard text the world
over for an introduction to the theory of computation.
But over the last two decades, more and more people have been studying
Computer science, and many of them have no time for theory and
formalism and all the 'dry stuff' ..........
The authors point out that because of such reasons and also because
nowadays there's little research in the theory of computation per se,
and more in its applications, they've written a book to cater to today's
students.
Which, in other words, means they've simplified the presentation, tried
to provide intuition whenever possible, given lots more examples and
done away with some of the more difficult material.
This approach puts the book into direct competition with Michael Sipser's
excellent 'Introduction to the theory of computation', a contest it
cannot win, though it might be a respectable second.
Almost all topics are motivated by giving examples of how they're
related to applications in the 'real world', and similar to
Sipser's 'proof idea' approach, the authors first present a topic
informally and then formally, thus gently leading the reader to
the formal proofs.

This book sets out to do pretty much the same as what Sipser's book
does, ie to provide a readable, user-friendly introduction to the
theory of computation with lots of examples and intuitive approach
to problems wherever possible, but Sipser's already done an
'optimal' job.
Moreover, this book tries to be 'chatty', which i'm afraid is just
not the authors' style - the 'economy of expression', which has long
which has long been the hallmark of the legendary textbooks by
Aho,Hopcroft and Ullman, is sadly missing here.
Which means that this may not be the book for you if you're pressed
for time - but on the other hand, if you want to led gently to the
proofs and results with lots of examples and motivation, then this
might be just the book for you.
So all in all, it definitely worth a read - in fact, i'd say
it's still among the top textbooks around.
In fact, i would suggest that you read both this and Sipser, if you
have the time. Otherwise Sipser's the better choice for most of the
part, though it may not cover all the topics you need.
And if you're comfortable with a terse, concise & rigorous
presentation, then the earlier edition of this book is still
unbeatable - and you'll surely need it if you want to pursue research
in this area.

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It has been more than 20 years since this classic book on formal languages, automata theory, and computational complexity was first published. With this long-awaited revision, the authors continue to present the theory in a concise and straightforward manner, now with an eye out for the practical applications. They have revised this book to make it more accessible to today's students, including the addition of more material on writing proofs, more figures and pictures to convey ideas, side-boxes to highlight other interesting material, and a less formal writing style. Exercises at the end of each chapter, including some new, easier exercises, help readers confirm and enhance their understanding of the material.

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