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Data structures. Theory and practice. (Struktury dannykh. Teoriya i praktika)
Book reviews
259
In section XII. 4 a series of procedures, written in ALGOL 60 for the control of errors of calculations by a computer are given. The majority of them are meaningless. Thus, the procedure Km ceases to work even for the initial value 0 of the parameter of cycle j as the result of transfer of control to the marker M or L. If later a new reference to this procedure is made, the cycle in j begins to be performed first. The procedure 01 necessarily leads to a stoppage, since the controlled quantity A,- (-2)‘-f/eAz by the intention of the authors, is bound to be non-zero for all values of i except one (if one of the variables Y I , . . . ,yl is calculated with an error). In section XII. 5 a computations block is constructed with two input variables 14 and x2, which must generate at the output one of five combinations of functions. In addition the block uses a controlling parameter u whose value has to determine the choice of one of these versions. It would be natural and simpler to require that this parameter had 5 possible values. Instead of this the authors decide to restrict themselves to three values of u, and to distinguish the first three cases (when only one input variables is required) from the other two, by the condition Even after noticing that the values of siandsz may coincide accidentally, the authors, still unable to refrain from this meaningIess scheme for controlling the operation of the block, refer to the low probability of this coincidence. It is clear from what has been said that this vapid book is full of errors and cannot do readers anything but harm. It remains to express regret that the publishing house of Leningrad University should have published this book, and hope that this will not happen with the succeeding volume or volumes of the book. S. S. Lavrov Danslated by J. Berry
H. SCHOCH. Programmierung in PL/L (Programmirovanie na yazyke PL/I). 471 p. B. G. Teubner, Leipzig, 1972. THIS book gives a detailed exposition of Subset-PL/I a subset of the complete language PL/I for a type IBM-360 (DOS) computer, It is intended for a wide range of readers - engineers, economists, organisers of production, and scientists. It may also be regarded as a textbook for those who meet the language PL/I for the first time, and as a reference book for experienced programmers. The author, a highly qualified specialist with experience of teaching and many years practice on computers, has collected many examples (mainly fragments of actual problems), assisting in the assimilation of the material. Typical errors are shown. The book contains many exercises, all are provided with solutions, located in an appendix; it also includes a subject index and a translation of English terms. D. D. Voskresenskii Translated by J. Berry
A. T. BERZTISS. Data stmctures. Theory and practice. (Struktury dannykh. Teoriya i praktika). XIII t 442 p. Acad. Press, New York - London, 1971. THE BOOK was written as a course of lectures on mathematical data structures (modern algebra, mathematical machines, system analysis). A detailed explanation is given of which parts or chapters of the book can be used for the study of some particular discipline. Usually the solution of the majority of modem scientific and technical problems is divided into three stages: the choice of the model, the choice of the mathematical algorithm within the scope of the given model and the convenient representation of it for reahsation by the computer. The three parts of which the book consists correspond to these three stages.
260
Book review
Part I “Discrete structures in mathematics” gives the basis for a deeper study of data structures. The first two chapters contain the ideas of set theory. Chapter 3 (“Graph theory”) may be regarded as the kernel of the book, the whole of part II is an extension of it. Chapter 4 (“Strings”) is devoted to various algebraic structures. In part II “Application of structures” various disciplines using the same data structures are considered. Chapters 5-8 of this part are devoted to such concepts as trees (and the associated problems of the construction of grammars, dictionaries and decision tables), digraphs (cycles, debugging programs), digraphs of programs (block diagrams). In part III “Computer representation of structures” blocks of data, methods of recording them, the arrangement of files, programming languages in the light of the theory of data structures, are discussed. The indvidual discussions are illustrated by FORTRAN programs. Each chapter ends with exercises for some of which answers are given at the end of the book. I. G. Nidekker Translated by J. Berry
259
In section XII. 4 a series of procedures, written in ALGOL 60 for the control of errors of calculations by a computer are given. The majority of them are meaningless. Thus, the procedure Km ceases to work even for the initial value 0 of the parameter of cycle j as the result of transfer of control to the marker M or L. If later a new reference to this procedure is made, the cycle in j begins to be performed first. The procedure 01 necessarily leads to a stoppage, since the controlled quantity A,- (-2)‘-f/eAz by the intention of the authors, is bound to be non-zero for all values of i except one (if one of the variables Y I , . . . ,yl is calculated with an error). In section XII. 5 a computations block is constructed with two input variables 14 and x2, which must generate at the output one of five combinations of functions. In addition the block uses a controlling parameter u whose value has to determine the choice of one of these versions. It would be natural and simpler to require that this parameter had 5 possible values. Instead of this the authors decide to restrict themselves to three values of u, and to distinguish the first three cases (when only one input variables is required) from the other two, by the condition Even after noticing that the values of siandsz may coincide accidentally, the authors, still unable to refrain from this meaningIess scheme for controlling the operation of the block, refer to the low probability of this coincidence. It is clear from what has been said that this vapid book is full of errors and cannot do readers anything but harm. It remains to express regret that the publishing house of Leningrad University should have published this book, and hope that this will not happen with the succeeding volume or volumes of the book. S. S. Lavrov Danslated by J. Berry
H. SCHOCH. Programmierung in PL/L (Programmirovanie na yazyke PL/I). 471 p. B. G. Teubner, Leipzig, 1972. THIS book gives a detailed exposition of Subset-PL/I a subset of the complete language PL/I for a type IBM-360 (DOS) computer, It is intended for a wide range of readers - engineers, economists, organisers of production, and scientists. It may also be regarded as a textbook for those who meet the language PL/I for the first time, and as a reference book for experienced programmers. The author, a highly qualified specialist with experience of teaching and many years practice on computers, has collected many examples (mainly fragments of actual problems), assisting in the assimilation of the material. Typical errors are shown. The book contains many exercises, all are provided with solutions, located in an appendix; it also includes a subject index and a translation of English terms. D. D. Voskresenskii Translated by J. Berry
A. T. BERZTISS. Data stmctures. Theory and practice. (Struktury dannykh. Teoriya i praktika). XIII t 442 p. Acad. Press, New York - London, 1971. THE BOOK was written as a course of lectures on mathematical data structures (modern algebra, mathematical machines, system analysis). A detailed explanation is given of which parts or chapters of the book can be used for the study of some particular discipline. Usually the solution of the majority of modem scientific and technical problems is divided into three stages: the choice of the model, the choice of the mathematical algorithm within the scope of the given model and the convenient representation of it for reahsation by the computer. The three parts of which the book consists correspond to these three stages.
260
Book review
Part I “Discrete structures in mathematics” gives the basis for a deeper study of data structures. The first two chapters contain the ideas of set theory. Chapter 3 (“Graph theory”) may be regarded as the kernel of the book, the whole of part II is an extension of it. Chapter 4 (“Strings”) is devoted to various algebraic structures. In part II “Application of structures” various disciplines using the same data structures are considered. Chapters 5-8 of this part are devoted to such concepts as trees (and the associated problems of the construction of grammars, dictionaries and decision tables), digraphs (cycles, debugging programs), digraphs of programs (block diagrams). In part III “Computer representation of structures” blocks of data, methods of recording them, the arrangement of files, programming languages in the light of the theory of data structures, are discussed. The indvidual discussions are illustrated by FORTRAN programs. Each chapter ends with exercises for some of which answers are given at the end of the book. I. G. Nidekker Translated by J. Berry