Table Of ContentOUPCORRECTEDPROOF – FINAL,15/7/2020,SPi
POEMS THAT SOLVE PUZZLES
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POEMS THAT
SOLVE PUZZLES
The History and Science of Algorithms
Chris Bleakley
1
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ForEileen-thankyou
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algorithm,noun:
Aprocessorsetofrulestobefollowedincalculationsorother
problem-solvingoperations,especiallybyacomputer.
The Arabic source, al-Kwa¯rizm¯i ‘the man of Kwa¯rizm’ (now
Khiva),wasanamegiventotheninth-centurymathemati-
cianAbu¯Ja’farMuhammadibnMu¯sa,authorofwidelytrans-
latedworksonalgebraandarithmetic.
OxfordDictionaryofEnglish,2010
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Foreword
Thisbookisforpeoplethatknowalgorithmsareimportant,buthave
noideawhattheyare.
TheinspirationforthebookcametomewhileworkingasDirector
ofOutreachforUCD’sSchoolofComputerScience.Overthecourse
ofhundredsofdiscussionswithparentsandsecondaryschoolstudents,
Irealizedthatmostpeopleareawareofalgorithms,thankstoextensive
mediacoverageofGoogle,Facebook,andCambridgeAnalytica.How-
ever, few know what algorithms are, how they work, or where they
camefrom.Thisbookanswersthosequestions.
Thebookiswrittenforthegeneralreader.Nopreviousknowledge
of algorithms or computers is needed. However, even those with a
degree in computing will, I think, find the stories herein surprising,
entertaining,and enlightening. Readers witha firm grasp of what an
algorithmismightliketoskiptheintroduction.Myaimisthatreaders
enjoythebookandlearnsomethingnewalongtheway.
My apologies to the great many people who were involved in the
eventsdescribedherein,butwhoarenotmentionedbyname.Almost
everyinnovationistheproductofateamworkingtogether,building
on the discoveries of their predecessors. To make the book readable
as a story, I tend to focus on a small number of key individuals. For
more detail, I refer the interested reader to the papers cited in the
bibliography.
Inplaces,Ifavouragood storyover mind-numbingcompleteness.
Ifyourfavouritealgorithmismissing,letmeknowandImightslipit
intoafutureedition.Whendescribingwhatanalgorithmdoes,Iusethe
presenttense,evenforoldalgorithms.Iusepluralpronounsinplaceof
gender-specificsingularpronouns.AlldollaramountsareUSdollars.
Manythankstothosethatgenerouslygavepermissiontouseoftheir
photographsandquotations.Manythanksalsotomyassistantsinthis
endeavour:myfirsteditor,EoinBleakley;mymentor,MichaelSheri-
dan (author); my wonderful agent, Isabel Atherton; my bibliography
wrangler,ConorBleakley;myever-patientassistanteditor,Katherine
Ward; everyone at Oxford University Press; my reviewers, Guénolé
SilvestreandPádraigCunningham;and,last,butcertainlynotleast,my
parentsandmywife.Withouttheirhelp,thisbookwouldnothavebeen
possible.
Readonandenjoy!
Chris
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AbouttheAuthor
ChrisBleakleyhasthirty-fiveyearsofexperienceinalgorithmdesign.
Hehastaughtandwrittenonthesubjectforthelastsixteenofthose
years.
As a school kid, Chris taught himself how to program on a home
computer. Within two years, he was selling his own computer pro-
gramsbymailordertocustomersthroughouttheUK.
ChrisgraduatedwithaBSc(Hons)degreeinComputerSciencefrom
Queen’sUniversity,Belfast,andaPhDdegreeinElectronicEngineer-
ing from Dublin City University. After college, he was employed as
a software consultant by Accenture and, later, as a senior researcher
by Broadcom Éireann Research. Thereafter, he was appointed Vice
PresidentofEngineeringatMassana,aleading-edgestart-upcompany
developingintegratedcircuitsandsoftwarefordatacommunications.
Today,ChrisisanAssociateProfessorandHeadoftheSchoolofCom-
puter Science at University College Dublin (UCD), Ireland. He leads
aresearchgroupfocusedoninventingnovelalgorithmsforanalysing
real-world sensor data. His work has been published in leading peer-
reviewedjournalsandpresentedatmajorinternationalconferences.
ChrislivesinDublinwithhiswifeandtwochildren.
