This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed postproceedings of the 4th International Conference on Machines, Computations, and Universality, MCU 2004, held in St. Petersburg, Russia in September 2004. The 21 revised full papers presented together with 5 invited papers went through two rounds of reviewing, selection, and improvement. A broad variety of foundational aspects in theoretical computer science are addressed, such as cellular automata, molecular computing, quantum computing, formal languages, automata theory, Turing machines, P systems, etc.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Machines, Computations, and Universality, MCU 2007, held in Orleans, France, September 2007. The 18 revised full papers presented together with nine invited papers cover Turing machines, register machines, word processing, cellular automata, tiling of the plane, neural networks, molecular computations, BSS machines, infinite cellular automata, real machines, and quantum computing.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Machines, Computations, and Universality, MCU 2015, held in Famagusta, North Cyprus, in September 2015. The 10 revised full papers presented together with 4 invited talks were carefully reviewed and selected from 23 submissions. MCU explores computation in the setting of various discrete models (Turing machines, register machines, cellular automata, tile assembly systems, rewriting systems, molecular computing models, neural models, etc.) and analog and hybrid models (BSS machines, infinite time cellular automata, real machines, quantum computing, etc.).

This work presents a series of dramatic discoveries never before made public. Starting from a collection of simple computer experiments---illustrated in the book by striking computer graphics---Wolfram shows how their unexpected results force a whole new way of looking at the operation of our universe. Wolfram uses his approach to tackle a remarkable array of fundamental problems in science: from the origin of the Second Law of thermodynamics, to the development of complexity in biology, the computational limitations of mathematics, the possibility of a truly fundamental theory of physics, and the interplay between free will and determinism.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Third International Conference on Computability in Europe, CiE 2007, held in Sienna, Italy, in June 2007. The 50 revised full papers presented together with 36 invited papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 167 submissions.

Finally, you can learn computation theory and programming language design in an engaging, practical way. Understanding Computation explains theoretical computer science in a context you’ll recognize, helping you appreciate why these ideas matter and how they can inform your day-to-day programming. Rather than use mathematical notation or an unfamiliar academic programming language like Haskell or Lisp, this book uses Ruby in a reductionist manner to present formal semantics, automata theory, and functional programming with the lambda calculus. It’s ideal for programmers versed in modern languages, with little or no formal training in computer science. Understand fundamental computing concepts, such as Turing completeness in languages Discover how programs use dynamic semantics to communicate ideas to machines Explore what a computer can do when reduced to its bare essentials Learn how universal Turing machines led to today’s general-purpose computers Perform complex calculations, using simple languages and cellular automata Determine which programming language features are essential for computation Examine how halting and self-referencing make some computing problems unsolvable Analyze programs by using abstract interpretation and type systems