Nine algorithms That Changed the Future by John MacCormick
by John Dupuis
Science Blogs - Confessions of a Science Librarian
June 11, 2012
http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2012/06/11/reading-diary-nine-algorithms-that-changed-the-future-by-john-maccormick/

John MacCormick's new book, Nine Algorithms That Changed
the Future: The Ingenious Ideas That Drive Today's
Computers, is very good. You should buy it and read it.

Among all the debates about whether or not absolutely
everybody must without question learn to program (pro,
con), it's perhaps a good idea to pause and take a look
at exactly what programs do.

Which is what this book does. It starts from the premise
that people love computers and what they can do but
don't have much of an idea about what goes on inside the
little black box. And then, what MacCormick does is take
nine general types of high level functions that computer
perform and explain first what those functions really
mean and second a general idea of how software
developers have approached solving the initial problems.

Those general problem/function areas are each treated in
a separate chapter: search engine indexing, pagerank,
public key cryptography, error-correcting codes, pattern
recognition, data compression, databases, digital
signitures and computability. As you can see, the title
is a bit misleading. It's not strictly nine separate and
distinct algorithms that are examined but more nine
problem areas in computer science and the sets of
algorithms that are used to solve the problems in that
domain. But of course, that's a much less interesting
title!

I have a computer science degree and out of interest and
my necessity of my subject liaison responsibilities,
I've followed the field fairly close over the years. As
a result, quite a bit of the book is kind of old news
for me. I am fairly familiar with problems under
discussion and the general approaches that computer
scientists take. So my evaluation of MacCormick's
explanations is a little coloured by my own background.

Overall, MacCormick does a decent job of explaining the
algorithm with a nice mix of words and pictures.
Sometimes the words seemed to trip over themselves,
getting a little eye-glazing trying to explain something
mathematical using an only approximate metaphor.
Sometimes the pictures were a little cluttered. I think
he was afraid to use flow charts or pseudocode, fearing
that they would be too techy and alienating. That may be
true, but the downside was a bit of wordiness and a kind
of conceptual fog in trying to get very abstract notions
across in words.

But that's a quibble. Mostly MacCormick hits the right
level. What kind of technology background do you need to
get the most out of this book? I think it would be
helpful to have a bit of an appreciation and knowledge
base of computing; that will definitely help to make it
all the way through. A lot of people might find it a bit
tough to grasp the entirety of each chapter so some
skimming might be in order. This book might be a tough
slog at times for people with really no knowledge or
background. But definitely worth the effort to get a
least the basics from each chapter.

On the other hand, this is the perfect book for someone
that's interested in computing but wants to get a better
appreciation of what it's all about before maybe
committing to a career. With a little mental elbow
grease you can take your knowledge of computing to the
next level. In other words, smart and nerdy college and
high school kids are the perfect audience. (See my son's
review, he fits that description perfectly).

As for people like myself who already have a pretty good
background, this is a fun read that will really stretch
and deepen your appreciation of computing. Pretty well
anyone generally interested in science and technology
would find something here worth reading.

This is a valuable addition to the popular computing
literature. I would definitely recommend it for any
university computer science collection, both for
computing students and for those that are just
interested. Larger public library systems would probably
also benefit, especially for branches located near high
schools. As for high schools, this is definitely the
kind of book that could make a huge difference in the
life of a young man or woman who's wavering about a
career in computing.

MacCormick, John. Nine Algorithms That Changed the
Future: The Ingenious Ideas That Drive Today's
Computers. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011.
219pp. ISBN-13: 978-0691147147

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