Martin Davis on Computability, Computational Logic, and Mathematical Foundations

Martin Davis on Computability, Computational Logic, and Mathematical Foundations
Author: Eugenio G. Omodeo
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 454
Release: 2017-01-27
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3319418424

This book presents a set of historical recollections on the work of Martin Davis and his role in advancing our understanding of the connections between logic, computing, and unsolvability. The individual contributions touch on most of the core aspects of Davis’ work and set it in a contemporary context. They analyse, discuss and develop many of the ideas and concepts that Davis put forward, including such issues as contemporary satisfiability solvers, essential unification, quantum computing and generalisations of Hilbert’s tenth problem. The book starts out with a scientific autobiography by Davis, and ends with his responses to comments included in the contributions. In addition, it includes two previously unpublished original historical papers in which Davis and Putnam investigate the decidable and the undecidable side of Logic, as well as a full bibliography of Davis’ work. As a whole, this book shows how Davis’ scientific work lies at the intersection of computability, theoretical computer science, foundations of mathematics, and philosophy, and draws its unifying vision from his deep involvement in Logic.

Computability, Complexity, and Languages

Computability, Complexity, and Languages
Author: Martin Davis
Publisher: Academic Press
Total Pages: 631
Release: 1994-02-03
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 0122063821

This introductory text covers the key areas of computer science, including recursive function theory, formal languages, and automata. Additions to the second edition include: extended exercise sets, which vary in difficulty; expanded section on recursion theory; new chapters on program verification and logic programming; updated references and examples throughout.

Business Research Methodology (With Cd)

Business Research Methodology (With Cd)
Author: T. N. Srivastava
Publisher: Tata McGraw-Hill Education
Total Pages: 0
Release: 1958
Genre: Business
ISBN: 9780070159105

Classic graduate-level introduction to theory of computability. Discusses general theory of computability, computable functions, operations on computable functions, Turing machines self-applied, unsolvable decision problems, applications of general theory, mathematical logic, Kleene hierarchy, more.

The Universal Computer

The Universal Computer
Author: Martin Davis
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2018-10-08
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1466505206

The breathtakingly rapid pace of change in computing makes it easy to overlook the pioneers who began it all. Written by Martin Davis, respected logician and researcher in the theory of computation, The Universal Computer: The Road from Leibniz to Turing explores the fascinating lives, ideas, and discoveries of seven remarkable mathematicians. It tells the stories of the unsung heroes of the computer age – the logicians. The story begins with Leibniz in the 17th century and then focuses on Boole, Frege, Cantor, Hilbert, and Gödel, before turning to Turing. Turing’s analysis of algorithmic processes led to a single, all-purpose machine that could be programmed to carry out such processes—the computer. Davis describes how this incredible group, with lives as extraordinary as their accomplishments, grappled with logical reasoning and its mechanization. By investigating their achievements and failures, he shows how these pioneers paved the way for modern computing. Bringing the material up to date, in this revised edition Davis discusses the success of the IBM Watson on Jeopardy, reorganizes the information on incompleteness, and adds information on Konrad Zuse. A distinguished prize-winning logician, Martin Davis has had a career of more than six decades devoted to the important interface between logic and computer science. His expertise, combined with his genuine love of the subject and excellent storytelling, make him the perfect person to tell this story.

Computability

Computability
Author: B. Jack Copeland
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 373
Release: 2013-06-07
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 0262018993

Computer scientists, mathematicians, and philosophers discuss the conceptual foundations of the notion of computability as well as recent theoretical developments. In the 1930s a series of seminal works published by Alan Turing, Kurt Gödel, Alonzo Church, and others established the theoretical basis for computability. This work, advancing precise characterizations of effective, algorithmic computability, was the culmination of intensive investigations into the foundations of mathematics. In the decades since, the theory of computability has moved to the center of discussions in philosophy, computer science, and cognitive science. In this volume, distinguished computer scientists, mathematicians, logicians, and philosophers consider the conceptual foundations of computability in light of our modern understanding.Some chapters focus on the pioneering work by Turing, Gödel, and Church, including the Church-Turing thesis and Gödel's response to Church's and Turing's proposals. Other chapters cover more recent technical developments, including computability over the reals, Gödel's influence on mathematical logic and on recursion theory and the impact of work by Turing and Emil Post on our theoretical understanding of online and interactive computing; and others relate computability and complexity to issues in the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of science, and the philosophy of mathematics.ContributorsScott Aaronson, Dorit Aharonov, B. Jack Copeland, Martin Davis, Solomon Feferman, Saul Kripke, Carl J. Posy, Hilary Putnam, Oron Shagrir, Stewart Shapiro, Wilfried Sieg, Robert I. Soare, Umesh V. Vazirani

The Software Arts

The Software Arts
Author: Warren Sack
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 401
Release: 2019-04-09
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 0262039702

An alternative history of software that places the liberal arts at the very center of software's evolution. In The Software Arts, Warren Sack offers an alternative history of computing that places the arts at the very center of software's evolution. Tracing the origins of software to eighteenth-century French encyclopedists' step-by-step descriptions of how things were made in the workshops of artists and artisans, Sack shows that programming languages are the offspring of an effort to describe the mechanical arts in the language of the liberal arts. Sack offers a reading of the texts of computing—code, algorithms, and technical papers—that emphasizes continuity between prose and programs. He translates concepts and categories from the liberal and mechanical arts—including logic, rhetoric, grammar, learning, algorithm, language, and simulation—into terms of computer science and then considers their further translation into popular culture, where they circulate as forms of digital life. He considers, among other topics, the “arithmetization” of knowledge that presaged digitization; today's multitude of logics; the history of demonstration, from deduction to newer forms of persuasion; and the post-Chomsky absence of meaning in grammar. With The Software Arts, Sack invites artists and humanists to see how their ideas are at the root of software and invites computer scientists to envision themselves as artists and humanists.

Sailing Routes in the World of Computation

Sailing Routes in the World of Computation
Author: Florin Manea
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2018-07-23
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 3319944185

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 14th Conference on Computability in Europe, CiE 2018, held in Kiel, Germany, in July/ August 2017. The 26 revised full papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 55 submissions. In addition, this volume includes 15 invited papers. The conference CiE 2018 has six special sessions, namely: Approximation and optimization, Bioinformatics and bio-inspired computing, computing with imperfect information, continuous computation, history and philosophy of computing (celebrating the 80th birthday of Martin Davis), and SAT-solving.

Engaging Putnam

Engaging Putnam
Author: James Conant
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 415
Release: 2022-07-18
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3110769344

Hilary Whitehall Putnam was one of the leading philosophers of the second half of the 20th century. As student of Rudolph Carnap's and Hans Reichenbach's, he went on to become not only a major figure in North American analytic philosophy, who made significant contributions to the philosophy of mind, language, mathematics, and physics but also to the disciplines of logic, number theory, and computer science. He passed away on March 13, 2016. The present volume is a memorial to his extraordinary intellectual contributions, honoring his contributions as a philosopher, a thinker, and a public intellectual. It features essays by an international team of leading philosophers, covering all aspects of Hilary Putnam's philosophy from his work in ethics and the history of philosophy to his contributions to the philosophy of science, logic, and mathematics. Each essay is an original contribution. “Hilary Putnam is one of the most distinguished philosophers of the modern era, and just speaking personally, one of the smartest and most impressive thinkers I have ever been privileged to know—as a good friend for 70 years. The fine essays collected here are a fitting tribute to a most remarkable figure.” Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology “In Engaging Putnam excellent philosophers engage the writings and ideas of Hilary Putnam, one of the most productive and influential philosophers of the last century. Putnam stands out because of the combination of brilliance and a firm grasp of reality he brought to a very broad range of issues: the logic and the philosophy of mathematics, free-will, skepticism, realism, internalism and externalism and a lot more. Along with this he offered penetrating insights about other great philosophers, from Aristotle to Wittgenstein. All great philosophers make us think. With many, we try to figure out the strange things they say. With Putnam, we are made to think about clearly explained examples and arguments that get to the heart of the issues he confronts. This book is a wonderful contribution to the continuation of Putnam-inspired thinking.” John Perry, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, Stanford University

The Annotated Turing

The Annotated Turing
Author: Charles Petzold
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 391
Release: 2008-06-16
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 0470229055

Programming Legend Charles Petzold unlocks the secrets of the extraordinary and prescient 1936 paper by Alan M. Turing Mathematician Alan Turing invented an imaginary computer known as the Turing Machine; in an age before computers, he explored the concept of what it meant to be computable, creating the field of computability theory in the process, a foundation of present-day computer programming. The book expands Turing’s original 36-page paper with additional background chapters and extensive annotations; the author elaborates on and clarifies many of Turing’s statements, making the original difficult-to-read document accessible to present day programmers, computer science majors, math geeks, and others. Interwoven into the narrative are the highlights of Turing’s own life: his years at Cambridge and Princeton, his secret work in cryptanalysis during World War II, his involvement in seminal computer projects, his speculations about artificial intelligence, his arrest and prosecution for the crime of "gross indecency," and his early death by apparent suicide at the age of 41.