This well-accepted introduction to computational geometry is a textbook for high-level undergraduate and low-level graduate courses. The focus is on algorithms and hence the book is well suited for students in computer science and engineering. Motivation is provided from the application areas: all solutions and techniques from computational geometry are related to particular applications in robotics, graphics, CAD/CAM, and geographic information systems. For students this motivation will be especially welcome. Modern insights in computational geometry are used to provide solutions that are both efficient and easy to understand and implement. All the basic techniques and topics from computational geometry, as well as several more advanced topics, are covered. The book is largely self-contained and can be used for self-study by anyone with a basic background in algorithms.

In this third edition, besides revisions to the second edition, new sections discussing Voronoi diagrams of line segments, farthest-point Voronoi diagrams, and realistic input models have been added.

Customer Rating:
Summary: The definitive guide to computational geometry.
Comment: When studying computer science, one will encounter a number of books. "The Dinosaur Book", Operating System Concepts (7th Edition), "The White Book", Introduction to Algorithms, "The Green Book", Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (2nd Edition) (Prentice Hall Series in Artificial Intelligence), and a select few more. The best way to articulate my satisfaction with this material is to refer to it as "The Blue and Yellow Book."

Each chapter is introduced with a problem. For example, "How would one install cameras on the inside of an art gallery (represented by a polygon) such that each wall can be observed with as few cameras as possible." The chapter then presents the material in a clear, concise fashion, and applies this newfound information to solve said problem.

It could be argued that the book is math heavy; certainly those with a strong grip on linear algebra and geometry will have an easier time, but those without can still grasp the material enough to benefit. For those interested in proofs, there's no shortage in the book, either.

Strongly recommended and a great deal of fun to read.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A very nice introduction to the field
Comment: The authors did a great job of introducing the reader to all the important aspects of the field of computational geometry while keeping it simple and understandable.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent Background
Comment: This book is extremely well written, easy to understand, and actually is the standard text for Computational Geometry classes, as far as I know. The only thing I didn't like about it was that there seemed to be a few errors in some of the pseudocode. But, it's to be expected when publishing a textbook, and I think it'll probably be cleared up in future editions.

Overall, great book. I'd recommend it to anyone taking graphics or a computational geometry class.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: good source of many methods
Comment: The authors amass an impressive array of algorithms related to finding geometrical properties. Where these algorithms are performed on a computer. The book itself does not advocate any particular programming language. The algorithms are given in pseudocode, and you are expected to manually convert these to code in your choice of language. Given the calibre of the discussion in the text, which suggests that the readers are quite experienced, then this manual step should be easy to most.

There are numerous contexts in which the text might prove useful. Ranging from graphics to GIS to robotics. Thus, there is an entire chapter on the planning of robotic motion. The robot can in general translate and rotate.

Each chapter comes with an exercise set. Which helps make the book suitable as a graduate or even undergraduate text.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Important book but substandard layout and typesetting
Comment: This is one of the really few computational geometry books available. It fills a niche and does it decently. However it could be better:

1. The chapter layout is not very good. There are many "revisiting this" and "we saw in chapter so-and-so".

2. The mathematical proofs are often written in a single paragraph full of "English" interspersed with mathematical notation, instead of the tried and true way of numbered equations and one-per explanations. This makes for disconcerting reading.

3. The book in general could have done with more math and code, and less "English", not to mention more and better diagrams -- they tend to be sparsely detailed (ie. a picture is worth only a hundred words). The arrangement of diagrams also needs to be better: some are in the margins, some are in the middle, again not easy and intuitive to follow.

Hopefully a future edition will address this issues.

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