The first part is all about logic and it tells you everything you need to know. You have to approach it like reading a big academic paper though. It’s not like you’ll be flipping through the pages rapidly but it is definitely understandable. Can’t comment on later parts because I stopped reading. I might start again one day though. I quite liked it.
Don't dismiss it so early. I'm reading it and it's very clear up to now. Just do the exercises. Anything in particular you find challenging on page one?
I had a look at the sample chapter and I like the way that you're explaining concepts with sketches.
I've already learned all the material listed in the table of contents, so I might not get much from reading it, but I wish I had seen that book 15 years ago.
I think your intro about covers it, it's a great intro book, not an exhaustive compendium. I certainly found it useful for my mental modelling and world views. YMMV!
I've read it a long time ago, and while it doesn't contain anything that will change your mind, it's a concise coverage of all the important topics in a single and easy to digest package.
I feel that it gives solid foundations to start learning and build upon. I've read it and recommended it to a lot of people
I have the book, though haven't spent much time with it yet. Initial impression was that it's quite brisk. You'll get a couple paragraphs on a new concept and then a code snippet to demostrate. You'd need to compliment it with deep study of the actual concepts.
It can be a bit intimidating but try to read it not as something you need to understand as in a truth revealed but rather as something you need to understand as in these are the terms we’ll be using to represent what we explain in text. I.e. f0 for objective function, fi for constraints etc. Many otherwise approachable books have this wall of conventions in the beginning + a set of proofs that underpin the key thesis. Try to speed through these sections, picking up as many symbols, findings, as you can , but not everything, and when you reach the actual essence you can go back and revisit. The good thing is that this wall in the beginning becomes very common between books the more you read on a topic. In a sense, if you are a programmer, think of this as the schema representation for the actual message to come.
thank you so much!! I was in the same boat just trying to plow through books, having the basic concepts down first after working through this class should help a ton! :)
I own it and have tried to read it but man I have a really hard time getting past the first chapter. I think it would be better for me to study Prolog first for a while before trying to continue reading this. I've always heard good things about it.
Disclaimer: the book is written under the pretense of "by a beginner, for a beginner", so it isn't exactly the best material ever, but I feel I'm getting good coverage on the main topics. I'm currently pushing hard for people to peer review the initial chapters before I continue into the next bulk of it so I can make sure the style its being done in is conducive to learning the material effectively. I don't want to plug it here because I'll seem like a shill, but if you are interested I can share the link privately.
That does look like a serviceable intro to those topics and fantastic in total though.
I think I'll get myself a copy of the latest edition. I recognize the design, but I've never looked more closely before.
Thank you!
I'm working through the 2nd edition at the moment and finding it very good. I'd tried a lot of primers and summaries, but I needed something that goes into deep technical detail to have it really click in my head.
Are there any specific parts you'll recommend? Or anything I should skip?
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