Computation

What Hacker News says

1. vincent-manisAug 2026
   There are 2 more that I would add, both books I read as an undergraduate nearly 60 years ago. First, Marvin Minsky's Computation: Finite And Infinite Machines (published 60 years ago). Not the latest word in automata theory, but as a first year student, I could read it and understand the issues he was addressing. Second, reading the First Edition of v.1 of The Art of Computer Programming (which of course Knuth has revised several times) was what convinced me that there was a difference between computer programming and computer science. Needless to say, there was much in TAOCP that I didn't understand, but showing me the relationship between computer programming, computer science, and mathematics really did change my life.
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2. vincent-manisDec 2022
   Perhaps time has passed it by, but I still have a warm spot in my heart for Marvin Minsky's Computation: Finite and Infinite Machines, perhaps to be read before Hopcroft, Ullman, and Motwani.
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3. zanethomasNov 2021
   I got my start with

   o Computation: Finite and Infinite Machines --- Minsky

   o The Art Of Computer Programming --- Knuth

   o Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs --- Abelson and Sussman

   In that order. Everything else is syntactic sugar. <g>

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4. ethnSep 2020
   Indeed. It is a necessarily true model of causality.

   Highly recommend Minsky's application of the theory on computation: Computation: Finite and Infinite Machines

   Interestingly, Minsky went out of his way to hide the production of that project without Weiner to avoid his influence on it--whom he disliked at least at a professional capacity.

   There's some part where he shows the symmetry of the machine with the environment implies they are are interchangeable and is merely a description of convenience. Of course this trivially flows from the time reversibility.

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5. ehudlaJan 2016
   One of my earliest exposures to CS was his Computation: Finite and Infinite Machines.

   "Communication with Alien Intelligence" is another favorite of mine. The idea of enumerating all possible Turing Machines and looking for ones that do something meaningful is brilliant.

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6. pclarkFeb 2009
   The Computer and the Brain, by John von Neumann

   Introduction to Algorithms, by Thomas H. Cormen

   The Art of Computer Programming by Donald Knuth [naturally!]

   Computation: Finite and Infinite Machines, by Marvin L. Minsky

   Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter

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