The Universal Computer: The Road from Leibniz to Turing

Martin Davis

ISBN 10: 0393047857 / ISBN 13: 9780393047851

Published by W. W. Norton & Company, United States, 2000

About this Item

Book has light shelfwear, else clean and tight, jacket has wear at the head and heel of the spine as well as cornerwear. First edition, first printing.

Seller Inventory # 001262

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Universal Computer: The Road from Leibniz to Turing
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, United States
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0393047857
• ISBN 13: 9780393047851
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Good+
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Non Fiction

About this title

Synopsis

One of the world's pioneers in the development of computer science offers a mesmerizing history of computers.

Computers are everywhere today--at work, in the bank, in artist's studios, sometimes even in our pockets--yet they remain to many of us objects of irreducible mystery. How can today's computers perform such a bewildering variety of tasks if computing is just glorified arithmetic? The answer, as Martin Davis lucidly illustrates, lies in the fact that computers are essentially engines of logic. Their hardware and software embody concepts developed over centuries by logicians such as Leibniz, Boole, and Godel, culminating in the amazing insights of Alan Turing. The Universal Computer traces the development of these concepts by exploring with captivating detail the lives and work of the geniuses who first formulated them. Readers will come away with a revelatory understanding of how and why computers work and how the algorithms within them came to be.

About the Author

Martin Davis's other books include Computability and Unsolvability. A professor emeritus at New York University, he is currently a visiting scholar at the University of California-Berkeley.