Programming Legend Charles Petzold unlocks the secrets of theextraordinary and prescient 1936 paper by Alan M. Turing Mathematician Alan Turing invented an imaginary computer knownas the Turing Machine; in an age before computers, he explored theconcept of what it meant to be computable, creating the field ofcomputability theory in the process, a foundation of present-daycomputer programming. The book expands Turing’s original 36-page paper withadditional background chapters and extensive annotations; theauthor elaborates on and clarifies many of Turing’s statements,making the original difficult-to-read document accessible topresent day programmers, computer science majors, math geeks, andothers. Interwoven into the narrative are the highlights of Turing’sown life: his years at Cambridge and Princeton, his secret work incryptanalysis during World War II, his involvement in seminalcomputer projects, his speculations about artificial intelligence,his arrest and prosecution for the cr
