Introduction

Abstract

Algorithms were invented thousands of years ago, when the only thinkable machine to do computations were human beings’ own gray cells. And since this book is mainly about algorithms (and how imperative programming hides them), we start with a simple experiment involving some generic concept of a “computing device.” Indeed, the term “computing device” is intentionally fuzzy to stress the fact that most of the discussion in this chapter—and throughout this book—is not restricted to computers as we currently know them.