Computation theory is a discipline that uses mathematical concepts and tools to expose the nature of "computation" and to explain a broad range of computational phenomena: Why is it harder to perform some computations than others?  Are the differences in difficulty that we observe inherent, or are they artifacts of the way we try to perform the computations?  How does one reason about such questions?

This unique textbook strives to endow students with conceptual and manipulative tools necessary to make computation theory part of their professional lives. The work achieves...