Fundamentals of the Theory of Computation

Rating:
Summary: This is a great book to take a course from
Review: I took a course from Hoover, one of the authors, using this book. The material is very suitable for a senior undergraduate course introducing the theory of computing. It covers all the essential notions one needs to proceed further into the field, such as all the various types of automata, circuits, complexity-related notations, etc. And, most importantly, I think it does so in a readable, dare I say enjoyable fashion. It gets formal when it needs to be, but intuitive when appropriate. It resists the temptation merely to enumerate the various models of computation, and instead provides meaningful insight into each (as well as proving all the important theorems). Finally, there are a great deal of problems, some of which are fairly nasty. (Well, they made ME think anyway)

This book (and admittedly also the co-author's presentation of it) contributed substantially to my deciding to study this area more in depth. I recommend it strongly to students and professors.