Probabilistic Graphical Models: Principles and Techniques


Daphne Koller - 2009
    The framework of probabilistic graphical models, presented in this book, provides a general approach for this task. The approach is model-based, allowing interpretable models to be constructed and then manipulated by reasoning algorithms. These models can also be learned automatically from data, allowing the approach to be used in cases where manually constructing a model is difficult or even impossible. Because uncertainty is an inescapable aspect of most real-world applications, the book focuses on probabilistic models, which make the uncertainty explicit and provide models that are more faithful to reality.Probabilistic Graphical Models discusses a variety of models, spanning Bayesian networks, undirected Markov networks, discrete and continuous models, and extensions to deal with dynamical systems and relational data. For each class of models, the text describes the three fundamental cornerstones: representation, inference, and learning, presenting both basic concepts and advanced techniques. Finally, the book considers the use of the proposed framework for causal reasoning and decision making under uncertainty. The main text in each chapter provides the detailed technical development of the key ideas. Most chapters also include boxes with additional material: skill boxes, which describe techniques; case study boxes, which discuss empirical cases related to the approach described in the text, including applications in computer vision, robotics, natural language understanding, and computational biology; and concept boxes, which present significant concepts drawn from the material in the chapter. Instructors (and readers) can group chapters in various combinations, from core topics to more technically advanced material, to suit their particular needs.

Exceptional C++: 47 Engineering Puzzles, Programming Problems, and Solutions


Herb Sutter - 1999
    Do you enjoy solving thorny C++ problems and puzzles? Do you relish writing robust and extensible code? Then take a few minutes and challenge yourself with some tough C++ design and programming problems. The puzzles and problems in Exceptional C++ not only entertain, they will help you hone your skills to become the sharpest C++ programmer you can be. Many of these problems are culled from the famous Guru of the Week feature of the Internet newsgroup comp.lang.c++.moderated, expanded and updated to conform to the official ISO/ANSI C++ Standard. Each problem is rated according to difficulty and is designed to illustrate subtle programming mistakes or design considerations. After youve had a chance to attempt a solution yourself, the book then dissects the code, illustrates what went wrong, and shows how the problem can be fixed. Covering a broad range of C++ topics, the problems and solutions address critical issues such as: *Generic programming and how to write reusable templates *Exception safety issues and techniques *Robust class design and inheritance *Compiler firewalls and the Pimpl I

How to Prove It: A Structured Approach


Daniel J. Velleman - 1994
    The book begins with the basic concepts of logic and set theory, to familiarize students with the language of mathematics and how it is interpreted. These concepts are used as the basis for a step-by-step breakdown of the most important techniques used in constructing proofs. To help students construct their own proofs, this new edition contains over 200 new exercises, selected solutions, and an introduction to Proof Designer software. No background beyond standard high school mathematics is assumed. Previous Edition Hb (1994) 0-521-44116-1 Previous Edition Pb (1994) 0-521-44663-5

Software Engineering (International Computer Science Series)


Ian Sommerville - 1982
    Restructured into six parts, this new edition covers a wide spectrum of software processes from initial requirements solicitation through design and development.

Effective Python: 59 Specific Ways to Write Better Python


Brett Slatkin - 2015
    This makes the book random-access: Items are easy to browse and study in whatever order the reader needs. I will be recommending "Effective Python" to students as an admirably compact source of mainstream advice on a very broad range of topics for the intermediate Python programmer. " Brandon Rhodes, software engineer at Dropbox and chair of PyCon 2016-2017" It s easy to start coding with Python, which is why the language is so popular. However, Python s unique strengths, charms, and expressiveness can be hard to grasp, and there are hidden pitfalls that can easily trip you up. " Effective Python " will help you master a truly Pythonic approach to programming, harnessing Python s full power to write exceptionally robust and well-performing code. Using the concise, scenario-driven style pioneered in Scott Meyers best-selling "Effective C++, " Brett Slatkin brings together 59 Python best practices, tips, and shortcuts, and explains them with realistic code examples. Drawing on years of experience building Python infrastructure at Google, Slatkin uncovers little-known quirks and idioms that powerfully impact code behavior and performance. You ll learn the best way to accomplish key tasks, so you can write code that s easier to understand, maintain, and improve. Key features includeActionable guidelines for all major areas of Python 3.x and 2.x development, with detailed explanations and examples Best practices for writing functions that clarify intention, promote reuse, and avoid bugs Coverage of how to accurately express behaviors with classes and objects Guidance on how to avoid pitfalls with metaclasses and dynamic attributes More efficient approaches to concurrency and parallelism Better techniques and idioms for using Python s built-in modules Tools and best practices for collaborative development Solutions for debugging, testing, and optimization in order to improve quality and performance "

All of Statistics: A Concise Course in Statistical Inference


Larry Wasserman - 2003
    But in spirit, the title is apt, as the book does cover a much broader range of topics than a typical introductory book on mathematical statistics. This book is for people who want to learn probability and statistics quickly. It is suitable for graduate or advanced undergraduate students in computer science, mathematics, statistics, and related disciplines. The book includes modern topics like nonparametric curve estimation, bootstrapping, and clas- sification, topics that are usually relegated to follow-up courses. The reader is presumed to know calculus and a little linear algebra. No previous knowledge of probability and statistics is required. Statistics, data mining, and machine learning are all concerned with collecting and analyzing data. For some time, statistics research was con- ducted in statistics departments while data mining and machine learning re- search was conducted in computer science departments. Statisticians thought that computer scientists were reinventing the wheel. Computer scientists thought that statistical theory didn't apply to their problems. Things are changing. Statisticians now recognize that computer scientists are making novel contributions while computer scientists now recognize the generality of statistical theory and methodology. Clever data mining algo- rithms are more scalable than statisticians ever thought possible. Formal sta- tistical theory is more pervasive than computer scientists had realized.

Mastering Algorithms with C


Kyle Loudon - 1999
    Mastering Algorithms with C offers you a unique combination of theoretical background and working code. With robust solutions for everyday programming tasks, this book avoids the abstract style of most classic data structures and algorithms texts, but still provides all of the information you need to understand the purpose and use of common programming techniques.Implementations, as well as interesting, real-world examples of each data structure and algorithm, are included.Using both a programming style and a writing style that are exceptionally clean, Kyle Loudon shows you how to use such essential data structures as lists, stacks, queues, sets, trees, heaps, priority queues, and graphs. He explains how to use algorithms for sorting, searching, numerical analysis, data compression, data encryption, common graph problems, and computational geometry. And he describes the relative efficiency of all implementations. The compression and encryption chapters not only give you working code for reasonably efficient solutions, they offer explanations of concepts in an approachable manner for people who never have had the time or expertise to study them in depth.Anyone with a basic understanding of the C language can use this book. In order to provide maintainable and extendible code, an extra level of abstraction (such as pointers to functions) is used in examples where appropriate. Understanding that these techniques may be unfamiliar to some programmers, Loudon explains them clearly in the introductory chapters.Contents include:PointersRecursionAnalysis of algorithmsData structures (lists, stacks, queues, sets, hash tables, trees, heaps, priority queues, graphs)Sorting and searchingNumerical methodsData compressionData encryptionGraph algorithmsGeometric algorithms

R for Data Science: Import, Tidy, Transform, Visualize, and Model Data


Hadley Wickham - 2016
    This book introduces you to R, RStudio, and the tidyverse, a collection of R packages designed to work together to make data science fast, fluent, and fun. Suitable for readers with no previous programming experience, R for Data Science is designed to get you doing data science as quickly as possible. Authors Hadley Wickham and Garrett Grolemund guide you through the steps of importing, wrangling, exploring, and modeling your data and communicating the results. You’ll get a complete, big-picture understanding of the data science cycle, along with basic tools you need to manage the details. Each section of the book is paired with exercises to help you practice what you’ve learned along the way. You’ll learn how to: Wrangle—transform your datasets into a form convenient for analysis Program—learn powerful R tools for solving data problems with greater clarity and ease Explore—examine your data, generate hypotheses, and quickly test them Model—provide a low-dimensional summary that captures true "signals" in your dataset Communicate—learn R Markdown for integrating prose, code, and results

Practical Vim: Edit Text at the Speed of Thought


Drew Neil - 2012
    It's available on almost every OS--if you master the techniques in this book, you'll never need another text editor. Practical Vim shows you 120 vim recipes so you can quickly learn the editor's core functionality and tackle your trickiest editing and writing tasks. Vim, like its classic ancestor vi, is a serious tool for programmers, web developers, and sysadmins. No other text editor comes close to Vim for speed and efficiency; it runs on almost every system imaginable and supports most coding and markup languages. Learn how to edit text the "Vim way:" complete a series of repetitive changes with The Dot Formula, using one keystroke to strike the target, followed by one keystroke to execute the change. Automate complex tasks by recording your keystrokes as a macro. Run the same command on a selection of lines, or a set of files. Discover the "very magic" switch, which makes Vim's regular expression syntax more like Perl's. Build complex patterns by iterating on your search history. Search inside multiple files, then run Vim's substitute command on the result set for a project-wide search and replace. All without installing a single plugin! You'll learn how to navigate text documents as fast as the eye moves--with only a few keystrokes. Jump from a method call to its definition with a single command. Use Vim's jumplist, so that you can always follow the breadcrumb trail back to the file you were working on before. Discover a multilingual spell-checker that does what it's told.Practical Vim will show you new ways to work with Vim more efficiently, whether you're a beginner or an intermediate Vim user. All this, without having to touch the mouse.What You Need: Vim version 7

Algorithms Illuminated (Part 1): The Basics


Tim Roughgarden - 2017
    Their applications range from network routing and computational genomics to public-key cryptography and database system implementation. Studying algorithms can make you a better programmer, a clearer thinker, and a master of technical interviews. Algorithms Illuminated is an accessible introduction to the subject---a transcript of what an expert algorithms tutor would say over a series of one-on-one lessons. The exposition is rigorous but emphasizes the big picture and conceptual understanding over low-level implementation and mathematical details. Part 1 of the book series covers asymptotic analysis and big-O notation, divide-and-conquer algorithms and the master method, randomized algorithms, and several famous algorithms for sorting and selection.

The Haskell Road to Logic, Maths and Programming


Kees Doets - 2004
    Haskell emerged in the last decade as a standard for lazy functional programming, a programming style where arguments are evaluated only when the value is actually needed. Haskell is a marvellous demonstration tool for logic and maths because its functional character allows implementations to remain very close to the concepts that get implemented, while the laziness permits smooth handling of infinite data structures.This book does not assume the reader to have previous experience with either programming or construction of formal proofs, but acquaintance with mathematical notation, at the level of secondary school mathematics is presumed. Everything one needs to know about mathematical reasoning or programming is explained as we go along. After proper digestion of the material in this book the reader will be able to write interesting programs, reason about their correctness, and document them in a clear fashion. The reader will also have learned how to set up mathematical proofs in a structured way, and how to read and digest mathematical proofs written by others.

Quantum Computation and Quantum Information


Michael A. Nielsen - 2000
    A wealth of accompanying figures and exercises illustrate and develop the material in more depth. They describe what a quantum computer is, how it can be used to solve problems faster than familiar "classical" computers, and the real-world implementation of quantum computers. Their book concludes with an explanation of how quantum states can be used to perform remarkable feats of communication, and of how it is possible to protect quantum states against the effects of noise.

Python Tricks: A Buffet of Awesome Python Features


Dan Bader - 2017
    Discover the “hidden gold” in Python’s standard library and start writing clean and Pythonic code today. Who Should Read This Book: If you’re wondering which lesser known parts in Python you should know about, you’ll get a roadmap with this book. Discover cool (yet practical!) Python tricks and blow your coworkers’ minds in your next code review. If you’ve got experience with legacy versions of Python, the book will get you up to speed with modern patterns and features introduced in Python 3 and backported to Python 2. If you’ve worked with other programming languages and you want to get up to speed with Python, you’ll pick up the idioms and practical tips you need to become a confident and effective Pythonista. If you want to make Python your own and learn how to write clean and Pythonic code, you’ll discover best practices and little-known tricks to round out your knowledge. What Python Developers Say About The Book: "I kept thinking that I wished I had access to a book like this when I started learning Python many years ago." — Mariatta Wijaya, Python Core Developer"This book makes you write better Python code!" — Bob Belderbos, Software Developer at Oracle"Far from being just a shallow collection of snippets, this book will leave the attentive reader with a deeper understanding of the inner workings of Python as well as an appreciation for its beauty." — Ben Felder, Pythonista"It's like having a seasoned tutor explaining, well, tricks!" — Daniel Meyer, Sr. Desktop Administrator at Tesla Inc.

Accelerated C++: Practical Programming by Example


Andrew Koenig - 2000
    Based on the authors' intensive summer C++ courses at Stanford University, Accelerated C++ covers virtually every concept that most professional C++ programmers will ever use -- but it turns the traditional C++ curriculum upside down, starting with the high-level C++ data structures and algorithms that let you write robust programs immediately. Once you're getting results, Accelerated C++ takes you under the hood, introducing complex language features such as memory management in context, and explaining exactly how and when to use them. From start to finish, the book concentrates on solving problems, rather than learning language and library features for their own sake. The result: You'll be writing real-world programs in no time -- and outstanding code faster than you ever imagined.

The Art of the Metaobject Protocol


Gregor Kiczales - 1991
    The authors, who developed the metaobject protocol andwho were among the group that developed CLOS, introduce this new approach toprogramming language design, describe its evolution and design principles, andpresent a formal specification of a metaobject protocol for CLOS.Kiczales, desRivi?res, and Bobrow show that the "art of metaobject protocol design" lies increating a synthetic combination of object-oriented and reflective techniques thatcan be applied under existing software engineering considerations to yield a newapproach to programming language design that meets a broad set of designcriteria.One of the major benefits of including the metaobject protocol inprogramming languages is that it allows users to adjust the language to better suittheir needs. Metaobject protocols also disprove the adage that adding moreflexibility to a programming language reduces its performance. In presenting theprinciples of metaobject protocols, the authors work with actual code for asimplified implementation of CLOS and its metaobject protocol, providing anopportunity for the reader to gain hands-on experience with the design process. Theyalso include a number of exercises that address important concerns and openissues.Gregor Kiczales and Jim des Rivi?res, are Members of the Research Staff, andDaniel Bobrow is a Research Fellow, in the System Sciences Laboratory at Xerox PaloAlto Research Center.