Download or read book Programming for the Puzzled written by Srini Devadas and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2017-11-16 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learning programming with one of “the coolest applications around”: algorithmic puzzles ranging from scheduling selfie time to verifying the six degrees of separation hypothesis. This book builds a bridge between the recreational world of algorithmic puzzles (puzzles that can be solved by algorithms) and the pragmatic world of computer programming, teaching readers to program while solving puzzles. Few introductory students want to program for programming's sake. Puzzles are real-world applications that are attention grabbing, intriguing, and easy to describe. Each lesson starts with the description of a puzzle. After a failed attempt or two at solving the puzzle, the reader arrives at an Aha! moment—a search strategy, data structure, or mathematical fact—and the solution presents itself. The solution to the puzzle becomes the specification of the code to be written. Readers will thus know what the code is supposed to do before seeing the code itself. This represents a pedagogical philosophy that decouples understanding the functionality of the code from understanding programming language syntax and semantics. Python syntax and semantics required to understand the code are explained as needed for each puzzle. Readers need only the rudimentary grasp of programming concepts that can be obtained from introductory or AP computer science classes in high school. The book includes more than twenty puzzles and more than seventy programming exercises that vary in difficulty. Many of the puzzles are well known and have appeared in publications and on websites in many variations. They range from scheduling selfie time with celebrities to solving Sudoku problems in seconds to verifying the six degrees of separation hypothesis. The code for selected puzzle solutions is downloadable from the book's website; the code for all puzzle solutions is available to instructors.
Download or read book Algorithmic Puzzles written by Anany Levitin and published by OUP USA. This book was released on 2011-10-14 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Algorithmic puzzles are puzzles involving well-defined procedures for solving problems. This book will provide an enjoyable and accessible introduction to algorithmic puzzles that will develop the reader's algorithmic thinking. The first part of this book is a tutorial on algorithm design strategies and analysis techniques. Algorithm design strategies — exhaustive search, backtracking, divide-and-conquer and a few others — are general approaches to designing step-by-step instructions for solving problems. Analysis techniques are methods for investigating such procedures to answer questions about the ultimate result of the procedure or how many steps are executed before the procedure stops. The discussion is an elementary level, with puzzle examples, and requires neither programming nor mathematics beyond a secondary school level. Thus, the tutorial provides a gentle and entertaining introduction to main ideas in high-level algorithmic problem solving. The second and main part of the book contains 150 puzzles, from centuries-old classics to newcomers often asked during job interviews at computing, engineering, and financial companies. The puzzles are divided into three groups by their difficulty levels. The first fifty puzzles in the Easier Puzzles section require only middle school mathematics. The sixty puzzle of average difficulty and forty harder puzzles require just high school mathematics plus a few topics such as binary numbers and simple recurrences, which are reviewed in the tutorial. All the puzzles are provided with hints, detailed solutions, and brief comments. The comments deal with the puzzle origins and design or analysis techniques used in the solution. The book should be of interest to puzzle lovers, students and teachers of algorithm courses, and persons expecting to be given puzzles during job interviews.
Download or read book Book of Computer Puzzles written by Simon Dally and published by Century. This book was released on 1984 with total page 95 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Puzzles in Logic Languages and Computation written by Dragomir Radev and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-02-11 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the second volume of a unique collection that brings together the best English-language problems created for students competing in the Computational Linguistics Olympiad. These problems are representative of the diverse areas presented in the competition and designed with three principles in mind: · To challenge the student analytically, without requiring any explicit knowledge or experience in linguistics or computer science; · To expose the student to the different kinds of reasoning required when encountering a new phenomenon in a language, both as a theoretical topic and as an applied problem; · To foster the natural curiosity students have about the workings of their own language, as well as to introduce them to the beauty and structure of other languages; · To learn about the models and techniques used by computers to understand human language. Aside from being a fun intellectual challenge, the Olympiad mimics the skills used by researchers and scholars in the field of computational linguistics. In an increasingly global economy where businesses operate across borders and languages, having a strong pool of computational linguists is a competitive advantage, and an important component to both security and growth in the 21st century. This collection of problems is a wonderful general introduction to the field of linguistics through the analytic problem solving technique. "A fantastic collection of problems for anyone who is curious about how human language works! These books take serious scientific questions and present them in a fun, accessible way. Readers exercise their logical thinking capabilities while learning about a wide range of human languages, linguistic phenomena, and computational models. " - Kevin Knight, USC Information Sciences Institute
Download or read book Games Puzzles and Computation written by Robert A. Hearn and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The authors show that there are underlying mathematical reasons for why games and puzzles are challenging (and perhaps why they are so much fun). They also show that games and puzzles can serve as powerful models of computation-quite different from the usual models of automata and circuits-offering a new way of thinking about computation. The appen
Download or read book Puzzles for Hackers written by Ivan Sklyarov and published by БХВ-Петербург. This book was released on 2005 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These puzzles and mind-benders serve as a way to train logic and help developers, hackers, and system administrators discover unconventional solutions to common IT problems. Users will learn to find bugs in source code, write exploits, and solve nonstandard coding tasks and hacker puzzles. Cryptographic puzzles, puzzles for Linux and Windows hackers, coding puzzles, and puzzles for web designers are included.
Download or read book The Godelian Puzzle Book written by Raymond M. Smullyan and published by Courier Corporation. This book was released on 2013-09-19 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These recreational logic puzzles provide entertaining variations on Gödel's incompleteness theorems, offering ingenious challenges related to infinity, truth and provability, undecidability, and other concepts. Written by a distinguished mathematician and creator of numerous popular puzzle books, this volume requires no background in formal logic and will delight readers of all ages.
Download or read book The Official Scrabble Puzzle Book written by Joe Edley and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 1997-11 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the only two-time national champion in Scrabble history comes a challenging and extensive collection of 1,000 Scrabble puzzles. Diagrams throughout.
Download or read book BASIC Fun written by Susan Drake Lipscomb and published by . This book was released on 1982 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduces the fundamentals of computer programming using the BASIC programming language. Includes descriptions and listings of programs designed to amuse and challenge users.
Download or read book The Crosswords Club Collection written by Will Weng and published by Random House Puzzles & Games. This book was released on 2002-05-14 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Crosswords Club Collection returns with more of the puzzles enjoyed by the subscribers of the exclusive mail-order service that provides original Sunday-size crosswords. In addition to these special puzzles, there is a unique Answers section, which provides interesting tidbits about each crossword.
Download or read book The Puzzler written by A.J. Jacobs and published by Crown. This book was released on 2022-04-26 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times bestselling author of The Year of Living Biblically goes on a rollicking journey to understand the enduring power of puzzles: why we love them, what they do to our brains, and how they can improve our world. “Even though I’ve never attempted the New York Times crossword puzzle or solved the Rubik’s Cube, I couldn’t put down The Puzzler.”—Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project and Better Than Before Look for the author’s new podcast, The Puzzler, based on this book! What makes puzzles—jigsaws, mazes, riddles, sudokus—so satisfying? Be it the formation of new cerebral pathways, their close link to insight and humor, or their community-building properties, they’re among the fundamental elements that make us human. Convinced that puzzles have made him a better person, A.J. Jacobs—four-time New York Times bestselling author, master of immersion journalism, and nightly crossworder—set out to determine their myriad benefits. And maybe, in the process, solve the puzzle of our very existence. Well, almost. In The Puzzler, Jacobs meets the most zealous devotees, enters (sometimes with his family in tow) any puzzle competition that will have him, unpacks the history of the most popular puzzles, and aims to solve the most impossible head-scratchers, from a mutant Rubik’s Cube, to the hardest corn maze in America, to the most sadistic jigsaw. Chock-full of unforgettable adventures and original examples from around the world—including new work by Greg Pliska, one of America’s top puzzle-makers, and a hidden, super-challenging but solvable puzzle—The Puzzler will open readers’ eyes to the power of flexible thinking and concentration. Whether you’re puzzle obsessed or puzzle hesitant, you’ll walk away with real problem-solving strategies and pathways toward becoming a better thinker and decision maker—for these are certainly puzzling times.
Download or read book Puzzles in Logic Languages and Computation written by Dragomir Radev and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-02-11 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first volume of a unique collection that brings together the best English-language problems created for students competing in the Computational Linguistics Olympiad. These problems are representative of the diverse areas presented in the competition and designed with three principles in mind: · To challenge the student analytically, without requiring any explicit knowledge or experience in linguistics or computer science; · To expose the student to the different kinds of reasoning required when encountering a new phenomenon in a language, both as a theoretical topic and as an applied problem; · To foster the natural curiosity students have about the workings of their own language, as well as to introduce them to the beauty and structure of other languages; · To learn about the models and techniques used by computers to understand human language. Aside from being a fun intellectual challenge, the Olympiad mimics the skills used by researchers and scholars in the field of computational linguistics. In an increasingly global economy where businesses operate across borders and languages, having a strong pool of computational linguists is a competitive advantage, and an important component to both security and growth in the 21st century. This collection of problems is a wonderful general introduction to the field of linguistics through the analytic problem solving technique. "A fantastic collection of problems for anyone who is curious about how human language works! These books take serious scientific questions and present them in a fun, accessible way. Readers exercise their logical thinking capabilities while learning about a wide range of human languages, linguistic phenomena, and computational models. " - Kevin Knight, USC Information Sciences Institute
Download or read book The Alan Turing Codebreaker s Puzzle Book written by Gareth Moore and published by . This book was released on 2019-10-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Master Theorem written by and published by . This book was released on 2019-06 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Jigsaw Puzzle written by Anne Douglas Williams and published by Berkley Hardcover. This book was released on 2004 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally created as an educational tool for children in the 1700s, jigsaw puzzles developed into a national craze during the Great Depression. A renowned puzzle expert pieces together the origins of this beloved pastime and examine the minds of such famous puzzlers as Queen Elizabeth II, Bill Gates, and Stephen King. Includes illustrations and photos. 0-425-19820-0$22.95 / Penguin Group
Download or read book Puzzles for Programmers and Pros written by Dennis E. Shasha and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2007-09-24 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Aimed at both working programmers who are applying for a job where puzzles are an integral part of the interview, as well as techies who just love a good puzzle, this book offers a cache of exciting puzzles Features a new series of puzzles, never before published, called elimination puzzles that have a pedagogical aim of helping the reader solve an entire class of Sudoku-like puzzles Provides the tools to solve the puzzles by hand and computer The first part of each chapter presents a puzzle; the second part shows readers how to solve several classes of puzzles algorithmically; the third part asks the reader to solve a mystery involving codes, puzzles, and geography Comes with a unique bonus: if readers actually solve the mystery, they have a chance to win a prize, which will be promoted on wrox.com!
Download or read book Doctor Ecco s Cyberpuzzles 36 Puzzles for Hackers and Other Mathematical Detectives written by Dennis E. Shasha and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2004-02-17 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Dennis Shasha is the absolute best puzzle writer alive."—David Gelernter, professor of computer science, Yale University In the tradition of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Ecco is one of the greatest sleuths of our time, a mathematical wizard who uses logic and computer programming to solve crimes, find treasures, and explore space. Join his team, expand the frontiers of your knowledge, and match wits with him on intriguing cases like "The Virus from the Spy" and "The Secrets of Space" and "The Caribou and the Gas." The puzzles collected here require no formal background beyond arithmetic and elementary algebra—just lively curiosity and keen intelligence. With thirty-six illustrated cases organized around eight major mathematical themes (from Combinatorial Geometry and Geography to Ciphers and Secrecy) this book will encourage you to use your mind and your computer in ways you never previously imagined.
