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Computing with Cells and Atoms : An Introduction to Quantum, DNA and Membrane Computing by Cristian S. Calude, Gheorghe Paun.
Ages ago, when this site was so young we only had two contributing editors (thanks Andrew and Chris!), we agreed that it would be ok if very rarely we would mention interesting books, that are not directly related to programming languages, but may interest LtU readers none the less. Well, I decided to mention this book...
As you all know I am a fan of the biology as computation school (I've been head saying that biology departments should be integrated into CS departments  ) This book explores several important unconventional computational models many of which are inspired by biology.
The book concentrates on DNA computing, membrane computing, and quantum computing. The approach taken is formal: each computational model is described as a formal system, roughly based on concepts from the relevant physical science. Many theorems are presented, though many are left without proof.
Though the book is quite technical, it is filled with humour and curiosity. Let me quote the last sentence from the book, to give you a taste: At least from the point of view of funamental research, of general human knowledge, unconventional Computing is already a successful adventure of the spirit.
Why did I decide to mention this book on LtU? First of all, I know there are others interested in biology reading LtU. But mainly it is beacuse I think there are interesting connections between our subject and bio-inspired computing. Many computational models begin with formal language theory, which is also part of the foundations of PL theory. On a higher level, PL design is all about compuational models, and quantum and DNA computing are, of course, important and interesting computational models.
Posted to Misc-Books by Ehud Lamm on 6/4/02; 12:50:23 PM
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Computing with Cells and Atoms
