San Antonio College Library

This book is an introduction to coding and information theory, with an emphasis on coding theory. It is suitable for undergraduates with a modest mathematical background. While some previous knowledge of elementary linear algebra is helpful, it is not essential. All of the needed elementary discrete probability is developed in a preliminary chapter. After a preliminary chapter, there follows an introductory chapter on variable-length codes that culminates...

As this Preface is being written, the twentieth century is coming to an end. Historians may perhaps come to refer to it as the century of information, just as its predecessor is associated with the process of industrialisation. Successive technological developments such as the telephone, radio, television, computers and the Internet have had profound effects on the way we live. We can see pic­ tures of the surface of Mars or the early shape of the...

"A deep and penetrating exploration of the key concepts of information and communications sciences by one of its founders, this book examines signs, symbols, information, and communication from historical and foundational perspectives."--Jacket.

"The Phenomenon of Information addresses the problems of how information is conveyed, how to identify its characteristics, and how to define the mechanisms for describing it. To do this Mario Perez-Montoro examines such theoretical approaches to the phenomenon of information as the mathematical theory of communication, Dretske's approach, and the relational theory of meaning. A critique of these efforts leads to the author's definition of informational...

The writing of this book was motivated by the authors' observation that convergence is requiring computer science students to gain a better understanding of communications concepts. The authors have therefore written a book that addresses this gap, delivering to the computer science student the key essentials in a thorough manner. The book walks the reader through the Fourier transform, analog and digital modulation techniques, multiple access communications,...

"This textbook introduces theory in tandem with applications. Information theory is taught alongside practical communication systems, such as arithmetic coding for data compression and sparse-graph codes for error-correction. A toolbox of inference techniques, including message-passing algorithms, Monte Carlo methods, and variational approximations, are developed alongside applications of these tools to clustering, convolutional codes, independent...

For years, Taleb has studied how we fool ourselves into thinking we know more than we actually do. We restrict our thinking to the irrelevant and inconsequential, while large events continue to surprise us and shape our world. In this revelatory book, Taleb explains everything we know about what we don't know, and this second edition features a new philosophical and empirical essay, "On Robustness and Fragility," which offers tools to navigate and...