Mastering Perl Tk or The Computer and the Brain

Mastering Perl/Tk: Graphical User Interfaces in Perl

Author: Steve Lidi

Perl is a powerful programming language used primarily for system administration, web programming, and database manipulation. Perl/Tk is the marriage of Perl with the Tk toolkit, which allows Perl programs to be built with attractive, intuitive GUIs. Mastering Perl/Tk is the "Bible" of Perl/Tk: the one and only book needed not only to get started with Perl/Tk, but also to learn the techniques of experienced Perl/Tk programmers. The first half of the book contains the basics on how to use Perl/Tk, with coverage of all the basic widgets and a thorough tutorial of the geometry managers that determine how each widget is laid out. Mastering Perl/Tk then branches out into advanced applications of Perl/Tk, with a series of extensive program examples. The result is a book that is not only accessible for novices, but will also take experienced programmers to the next step in learning how to program elegantly and effectively in Perl/Tk. The book also includes a complete quick reference for each standard widget and listings of all the extended examples in the book.

Interesting textbook: Recovering Our Ancestors Gardens or The Apprentice

The Computer and the Brain

Author: John Von Neumann

This book, composed of material prepared for the Silliman Lectures by john von Neumann before his death, represents the views of one of the greatest mathematicians of the twentieth century on the analogies between computing machines adn the living human brain. He concludes that the brain operates in part digitally, in part analogically, but uses a peculiar statistical language unlike that employed in the operation of man-made computers. At the time of his death in February 1957, Dr. von Neumann, renowned for his theory of games and his work at the Electronic Computer Project at the Institute for Advanced Study, was serving as a member of the Atomic Energy Commission. A year earlier, he had written: "I still cherish the hope that I will be able to deliver hte Silliman Lectures as planned." These plans were never brought to fruition, however, and the manuscript for this book constitutes the last writing to come from him.

S. Ulam

Highly original and intensely stimulating.
— Scientific American

Mathematical Review

An outstanding example of J. von Neumann's insight, brilliance and clarity.

What People Are Saying

Paul and Patricia Churchalnd
This innocent-looking little book lies at the eye of a hurricane. It represents a locus of clarity and calm at the center of a vast vortex of powerful arguments and competing research programs. And it is all the more singular for having been written . . . at the very beginning of the recent explosion in electronic computer technology.(Paul and Patricia Churchland, from the foreword)