Results concerning approximation to functions analytic on a closed point set R̄0 by arbitrary functions analytic and bounded in a region R1 containing R̄0 were first established by Walsh [4] in 1938 and later extended by the present writers to the limiting case where R̄0 and the boundary of R1 have points in common [5]. It is the purpose of the present note to continue the study of this problem now in situations where the approximated function is no longer assumed analytic at points common to the boundaries of R0 and R1.

The second edition of the book includes a new chapter on the study of composition operators on the Hardy space and their complete characterization by Gordon and Hedenmalm. The book is devoted to Diophantine approximation, the analytic theory of Dirichlet series and their composition operators, and connections between these two domains which often occur through the Kronecker approximation theorem and the Bohr lift. The book initially discusses Harmonic analysis, including a sharp form of the uncertainty principle, Ergodic theory and Diophantine approximation, basics on continued fractions expansions, and the mixing property of the Gauss map and goes on to present the general theory of Dirichlet series with classes of examples connected to continued fractions, Bohr lift, sharp forms of the Bohnenblust–Hille theorem, Hardy–Dirichlet spaces, composition operators of the Hardy–Dirichlet space, and much more. Proofs throughout the book mix Hilbertian geometry, complex and harmonic analysis, number theory, and ergodic theory, featuring the richness of analytic theory of Dirichlet series. This self-contained book benefits beginners as well as researchers.

This volume is a selection from the 281 published papers of Joseph Leonard Walsh, former US Naval Officer and professor at University of Maryland and Harvard University. The nine broad sections are ordered following the evolution of his work. Commentaries and discussions of subsequent development are appended to most of the sections. Also included is one of Walsh's most influential works, "A closed set of normal orthogonal function," which introduced what is now known as "Walsh Functions".

Using contemporary concepts, this book describes the interaction between Dirichlet series and holomorphic functions in high dimensions.