This book is devoted to recursion in programming, the technique by which the solution to a problem is expressed partly in terms of the solution to a simpler version of the same problem. Ultimately the solution to the simplest version must be given explicitly. In functional programming, recursion has received its full due since it is quite often the only repetitive construct. However, the programming language used here is Pascal and the examples have been chosen accordingly. It makes an interesting contrast with the use of recursion in functional and logic programming. The early chapters...

In this first volume of a projected trilogy, the author argues that a methodology adequate to solve the long-standing debate over the status of the social as against the natural sciences can be constructed in terms of a fourhold distinction between the reportage, explanation, description and evaluation of human behaviour. The distinction rests on an analysis of the scope and nature of social theory which is not only original in conception but far-reaching in its implications for the assessment of the results of sociological, anthropological and historical research. In this volume, there are...

Functional programming, is a style of programming that has become increasingly popular during the past few years. Applicative programs have the advantage of being almost immediately expressible as functional descriptions; they can be proved correct and transformed through the referential transparency property. This book presents the basic concepts of functional programming, using the language HASKELL for examples. The author incorporates a discussion of lambda calculus and its relationship with HASKELL, exploring the implications for parallelism.

The p-adic numbers, the earliest of local fields, were introduced by Hensel some 70 years ago as a natural tool in algebra number theory. Today the use of this and other local fields pervades much of mathematics, yet these simple and natural concepts, which often provide remarkably easy solutions to complex problems, are not as familiar as they should be. This book, based on postgraduate lectures at Cambridge, is meant to rectify this situation by providing a fairly elementary and self-contained introduction to local fields. After a general introduction, attention centres on the p-adic...

This textbook is an introduction to the design and writing of computer programs. It leads the reader through all the stages of program construction from the original specifications through to the final program. The formal verification of intermediate versions of the program is studied in considerable detail. The authors show how, given the formal specification of a program, data structure and program structure diagrams are drawn and then converted into a procedural program in a program design language (PDL). They demonstrate the conversion of PDL into a variety of real programming languages...

Solitons: An Introduction discusses the theory of solitons and its diverse applications to nonlinear systems that arise in the physical sciences. Drazin and Johnson explain the generation and properties of solitons, introducing the mathematical technique known as the Inverse Scattering Tranform. Their aim is to present the essence of inverse scattering clearly, rather than rigorously or completely. Thus, the prerequisites are merely what is found in standard courses on mathematical physics and more advanced material is explained in the text with useful references to further reading given at...

This book is designed as a first book on concurrent programming and provides a comprehensive introduction to the problems of concurrency. The book builds on the reader's familiarity with sequential programming in a high-level language. It is concerned mainly with the high-level aspects of concurrency, which will be equally applicable to traditional time-sliced or more recent truly parallel systems. Topics covered include: processes and inter-process communication, shared data and message passing constructs, languages for concurrency, and the implementation of concurrent kernel.

Category Theory has, in recent years, become increasingly important and popular in computer science, and many universities now introduce Category Theory as part of the curriculum for undergraduate computer science students. Here, the theory is developed in a straightforward way, and is enriched with many examples from computer science.

At present, C is one of the most popular programming languages. It is not only flexible, but efficient and highly portable, and is now used for writing many different kinds of programs, from compilers and assemblers to spreadsheets and games. Assuming only familiarity with basic programming concepts such as variables and looping, this book covers all aspects of the C language, including a detailed look at file handling and pointers. The text is self-contained and contains a wealth of examples and exercises that test the understanding of the concepts developed in each chapter. Anybody who...

An immensely important area, this introduction to computer networking covers everything from systems linked by telephone lines to tightly coupled networks of processors using high speed lines, and the correspondingly broad range of techniques that are needed. The emphasis lies on understanding the principles involved, rather than being bound to specific systems or protocols that may rapidly become out of date. A detailed discussion of standards and systems is given where they are widely accepted and likely to be long-lasting. In particular the ARPANET and OSI standards are explained. The...