✍ Scribed by F.J. Smith
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
The book is divided into three parts. The first part (172 pages) presents an elementary description of some discrete mathematics. This contains sections on set theory, Boolean algebra, graphs, digraphs, trees and strings. The second part (94 pages) is mainly a discussion of some computational algorithms on various data structures, in. cluding those relevant to shortest path and critical path problems, scheduling, computer programming and text analysis. The third part (119 pages) is concerned with computer representation of stmctures with chapters on arrays, lists, special purpose languages and one chapter on the organisation of files. Numerous examples are given, with solutions at the back, which are invaluable to both the teacher and the serious student. There are plenty of references which alone make the book of real value to the research worker not specialising in this area.
The first part is mainly theoretical, but not rigorous. It has the advantage, to computer people interested in discrete mathematics, of an orientation towards the computer and includes helpful examples of algorithms written in FORTRAN. However, anyone with an elementary knowledge of discrete mathematics does not need to read most of this section. The last two parts of the book, particularly the chapter on organisation of files, bring together much useful up-to-date information. They are well written and clear, containing information not often found in text books. However, it is unfortunate that those who wish to read the contents of the chapters concerned with computer representation of structures in practice have to purchase all of the previous 172 pages as well, when what was needed could have been described in one-tenth that space.
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