Computer Science: The Hardware, Software and Heart of It van Edward K. Blum and Alfred V. Aho is an English-language textbook that focuses on in-depth aspects of computer science. It covers the tightly intertwined components of software and hardware, based on the stored-program concept. This textbook is intended for professionals in computer science who want to strengthen their knowledge.
The content covers classic topics such as undecidability and uncomputability, including the halting problem and Gödel's incompleteness theorem, which define the theoretical limits of software. In addition, it addresses current themes such as Cloud Computing. After an overview of traditional programming languages, it introduces programming for parallel and distributed systems through message passing. This leads to a description of modern hardware platforms such as large computing clusters and an exploration of future quantum computers and new computational paradigms. The book places these developments in the historical context of the 100th anniversary of Alan Turing, whose research forms the core of hardware and software.
Topics such as Software Engineering and mathematical computational theory are treated in a practical way, making this book a valuable reference for professionals in software and hardware and in the broader field of computer science.