"In the world of theatre `Harvey' is a large, white rabbit who happens
to be invisible. Elementary computer science's `Harvey' is more like
a tiger -- clever, colorful, powerful, and, thanks to this revised
edition of a classic set of texts, very visible indeed."
-- William Higginson, Coordinator; Mathematics,
Science and Technology Education Group, Queen's University at
Kingston, Canada
This series is for people -- adults and teenagers -- who are
interested in computer programming because it's fun. The three
volumes use the Logo programming language as the vehicle for an
exploration of computer science from the perspective of symbolic
computation and artificial intelligence. Logo is a dialect of Lisp, a
language used in the most advanced research projects in computer
science, especially in artificial intelligence. Throughout the
series, functional programming techniques (including higher order
functions and recursion) are emphasized, but traditional sequential
programming is also used when appropriate.
In the second edition, the first two volumes have been rearranged so
that illustrative case studies appear with the techniques they
demonstrate. Volume 1 includes a new chapter about higher order
functions, and the recursion chapters have been reorganized for
greater clarity. Volume 2 includes a new tutorial chapter about
macros, an exclusive capability of Berkeley Logo, and two new
projects. Throughout the series, the larger program examples have
been rewritten for greater readability by more extensive use of data
abstraction.
In Volume 3, Beyond
Programming, the reader learns that computer science
includes not just programming computers, but also more formal ways to
think about computing, such as automata theory and discrete
mathematics. In contrast to most books on those subjects, this volume
presents the ideas in the form of concrete, usable computer programs
rather than as abstract proofs. Examples include a program to
translate from the declarative Regular Expression formalism into the
executable Finite State Machine notation, and a Pascal compiler
written in Logo.
The Logo programs in these books and the author's free Berkeley Logo
interpreter are available via the Internet or on diskette.
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