Intuitive models are self-evident, holistic mental concepts about the world. They are based upon experience in many domains and people are certain and confident to understand them completely. Programmers use them, when they try to understand the semantics of a computer program, explain an algorithmic idea to someone else, check the logical correctness of existing code or create new computer programs. This book focuses on intuitive models (declarative knowledge) applied by programming novices concerning state transitions versus data processing, allocation of activity within a running program, and the assignment of names to entities and function calls.

One of the world's leading philosophers offers aspiring thinkers his personal trove of mind-stretching thought experiments. Includes 77 of Dennett's most successful "imagination-extenders and focus-holders.O

This book examines how to develop the main traits that are necessary to become an “informed intuitant”. Case studies and examples of successful “informed intuitants” are a major component of the book. “Intuitant” is someone who has the intuitive awareness to be successful. “Informed intuitant” indicates that the individual/decision maker not only applies his/her intuition but also verifies it through using data-driven approaches (such as data analytics). Some of this work resulted from research examining how well do executives trust their intuition.

Elements of Programming provides a different understanding of programming than is presented elsewhere. Its major premise is that practical programming, like other areas of science and engineering, must be based on a solid mathematical foundation. This book shows that algorithms implemented in a real programming language, such as C++, can operate in the most general mathematical setting. For example, the fast exponentiation algorithm is defined to work with any associative operation. Using abstract algorithms leads to efficient, reliable, secure, and economical software.

When it was first published in 1997, Geoffrey Sampson's Educating Eve was described as the definitive response to Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct and Noam Chomsky's nativism. In this revised and expanded new edition, Sampson revisits his original arguments in the light of fresh evidence that has emerged since the original publication. Since Chomsky revolutionized the study of language in the 1960s, it has increasingly come to be accepted that language and other knowledge structures are hard-wired in our genes. According to this view, human beings are born with a rich structure of cognition already in place. But people do not realize how thin the evidence for that idea is. The 'Language Instinct' Debate examines the various arguments for instinctive knowledge, and finds that each one rests on false premisses or embodies logical fallacies. The structures of language are shown to be purely cultural creations. With a new chapter entitled 'How People Really Speak' which uses corpus data to analyse how language is used in spontaneous English conversation, responses to critics, extensive revisions throughout, and a new preface by Paul Postal of New York University, this new edition will be an essential purchase for students, academics, and general readers interested in the debate about the 'language instinct'.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 27th International Conference on the Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science, FSTTCS 2007, held in New Delhi, India, in December 2007. The 40 revised full papers presented together with five invited papers were carefully reviewed. They provide original research results in fundamental aspects of computer science and reports from the frontline of software technology and theoretical computer science.