Quantity:

More Buying Choices

43 used & new from �9.89

Have one to sell? Sell yours here

Share your own customer images

Search inside this book

The Annotated Turing: A Guided Tour Through Alan Turing's Historic Paper on Computability and the Turing Machine (Paperback)

by Charles Petzold (Author)

5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

RRP:	�19.99
Price:	�12.47 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save:	�7.52 (38%)
	o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Want guaranteed delivery by Tuesday, November 24? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details

34 new from �9.96 9 used from �9.89

Special Offers and Product Promotions

Illuminate your book with the innovative Philips LED reading light--exclusive to Amazon.co.uk. Shop now.

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with Code: The Hidden Language 2nd Edition (DV-Undefined) by Charles Petzold

Price For Both: �21.21

Show availability and delivery details

This item: The Annotated Turing: A Guided Tour Through Alan Turing's Historic Paper on Computability and the Turing Machine by Charles Petzold

In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

Code: The Hidden Language 2nd Edition (DV-Undefined) by Charles Petzold

In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

This item: The Annotated Turing: A Guided Tour Through Alan Turing's Historic Paper on Computability and the Turing Machine by Charles Petzold
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
Code: The Hidden Language 2nd Edition (DV-Undefined) by Charles Petzold
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Code: The Hidden Language 2nd Edition (DV-Undefined)

by Charles Petzold

4.8 out of 5 stars (6) �8.74

Alan Turing: The Enigma

by Andrew Hodges

4.6 out of 5 stars (8) �7.66

Real World Haskell: Code You Can Believe In

by Bryan O'Sullivan

3.8 out of 5 stars (5) �23.48

Colossus: The Secrets of Bletchley Park's Code-breaking Computers

by B. Jack Copeland and others

5.0 out of 5 stars (5) �12.48

Coders at Work: Reflections on the Craft of Programming

by P Seibel

4.8 out of 5 stars (4) �13.80

› Explore similar items

Product details

Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (13 Jun 2008)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0470229055
ISBN-13: 978-0470229057
Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm

Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 91,787 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in these categories:
#16 in Books > Science & Nature > Mathematics > Mathematical Foundations > Mathematical Logic
#54 in Books > Computing & Internet > Computer Science > Artificial Intelligence

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

See Complete Table of Contents

Product Description

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.

From the Back Cover

Before digital computers ever existed, Alan Turing envisioned their power and versatility...but also proved what computers could never do.

In an extraordinary and ultimately tragic life that unfolded like a novel, Turing helped break the German Enigma code to turn the tide of World War II, later speculated on artificial intelligence, fell victim to the homophobic witchhunts of the early 1950s, and committed suicide at the age of 41. Yet Turing is most famous for an eerily prescient 1936 paper in which he invented an imaginary computing machine, explored its capabilities and intrinsic limitations, and established the foundations of modern–day programming and computability.

This absorbing book expands Turing′s now legendary 36–page paper with extensive annotations, fascinating historical context, and page–turning glimpses into his private life. From his use of binary numbers to his exploration of concepts that today′s programmers will recognize as RISC processing, subroutines, algorithms, and others, Turing foresaw the future and helped to mold it. In our post–Turing world, everything is a Turing Machine — from the most sophisticated computers we can build, to the hardly algorithmic processes of the human mind, to the information–laden universe in which we live.

See all Product Description

Inside This Book (Learn More)

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

(What's this?)

Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.

computer science(2)

See all 7 tags...

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	76% buy the item featured on this page: The Annotated Turing: A Guided Tour Through Alan Turing's Historic Paper on Computability and the Turing Machine 5.0 out of 5 stars (2) �12.47
	9% buy Alan Turing: The Enigma 4.6 out of 5 stars (8) �7.66
	6% buy Code: The Hidden Language 2nd Edition (DV-Undefined) 4.8 out of 5 stars (6) �8.74
	4% buy Real World Haskell: Code You Can Believe In 3.8 out of 5 stars (5) �23.48

Explore similar items

Customer Reviews

2 Reviews

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

5.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars turning by charles petzold, 10 Jun 2009

By	Gerard Mcmanus - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Charles Petzold is an extremely talented author and I hope to have the time to read through his other books, He unlike other authors I have read takes the time to explain each piece of the puzzle before showing you how it comes together. Many would have heard of the name Allan Turning if you have some background in computing, but it wasn't until I read this book that I really understood what it was he did. I also found myself engrossed in Petzold's writing as he unravels turnings life and walks you through his near psychic envisioning of computers. The fact that today's computers share so many uncanny similarities to turnings idea of how they would work only shows how influential his paper was. Another point I might add is that Petzold has clearly taken great care in his work as I cant remember spotting a single typo as I read through this book, and would suggest that any readers of this book take the same care in reading it, as without his commentary I don't think I could have followed much of Turning's paper. Turning makes a few errors in his paper and Petzold explains he later publishes corrections and in some cases Petzold describes how it could have been done. I imagine many would ask them self's in the early years of studying computing today as I have, "how was it first conceived". Well this is the answer.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent In Every Way, 19 Sep 2009

By	Scott Marshall (England) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Turing's 1936 Paper "On Computational Numbers" is often cited as a landmark in the history of computing, but it's details are not widely considered or well known today. If you're curious to know more about the Paper, and why it's important, you can do no better than read this book. It contains a complete transcript of the original Paper, with extensive commentary and explanation from Petzold that make the Paper accessible and understandable to a wider audience (and even for specialists, this book is probably a better choice than just reading the original Paper!). Petzold's enthusiasm for the topic shines through in an excellent writing style, striking a good balance between detailed technicalities and simpler descriptions, in a friendly helpful way that will neither confuse the layman nor bore the expert.

Petzold supplies invaluable historical context: some of the developments in mathematics in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that undoubtedly influenced Turing, and which appear explicitly in the paper. This is a very useful aid to understanding Turing's paper for readers not expert in those topics of mathematics (which is almost all of us who don't have post-graduate degrees in very specialised areas of pure maths!). But the book is definitely aimed at readers with some mathematical background and aptitude. If (UK) O-level / GCSE maths was a mystery to you, you may struggle; if you have A-level maths or computing you'll be fine. If you're somewhere in between, Petzold's explanations will happily guide you through the details.

Two things this book isn't: First, if you want a book that starts from Turing's paper then delves into even more advanced mathematical research and theories, then this isn't the one for you (although it does helpfully include a summary of more recent work that follows on from Turing's ideas). Second, at the other extreme: although this book includes some biographical information, if you want a detailed non-technical biography of Turing you should look elsewhere.

But for all the rest of us between these two extremes, who want to understand what Turing machines are from the original source, then I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

My only complaint, and a very minor one, is that Petzold's description of Bletchley Park's location would place it in Suffolk rather than Buckinghamshire! But given the complexity of the book's subject matter, it is a testament to the quality of Petzold's research that this is his only error.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 2 customer reviews...

.jsOffDisplayBlock { display: block; } .jsOffDisplayInline { display: inline; } .jsOffVisibility { visibility: visible; } .jsOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jsOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jsOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; } .jsOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jsOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayBlock { display: none; } .jqOnDisplayInline { display: none; } .jqOnVisibility { visibility: hidden; } .jqOnDisplayNoneBlock { display: block; } .jqOnDisplayNoneInline { display: inline; }