Previous ed.: / Anthony Ralston, Edwin D. Reilly, Caryl Ann Dahlin. London : Chapman & Hall, 1993.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

"This edition contains over 100 completely new articles, ranging from artificial life to computer ethics, data mining to Java, mobile computing to quantum computing and software safety to the World Wide Web. In addition the 623 articles have been rigorously scrutinized and subjected to update, deletion or merging with new material." "Each article elaborates its subject, allowing readers to benefit from a substantive discussion that they can readily apply to their work. Additionally, each article has been written by a carefully selected and distinguished specialist." "Like the articles, all the visual material has undergone editorial scrutiny. For this edition artwork has been uniformly redrawn and updated to underpin the visual power of the Encyclopedia. This edition of the Encyclopedia extends the color insert that first appeared in the previous edition to 16 pages, spotlighting advanced computer applications and providing further evidence of the explosive growth of the use of computer-generated graphics technology in the science and entertainment industries." "Within each major heading are scores of articles that provide the user with uniquely broad yet detailed coverage. Cross-references can be found at the beginning of articles, helping to direct the reader immediately to related material."--BOOK JACKET.

Abbreviations and acronyms -- Notation and units -- Computer journals and magazines -- Ph.D. granting departments of computer science and engineering -- Presidents of major computing societies -- Key high-level languages -- Glossary of major terms in five languages -- Articles deleted from previous editions -- Timeline of significant computing milestones.

1