Digital technology runs on algorithms, sets of instructions that describe how to do something efficiently. Application areas range from search engines to tournament scheduling, DNA sequencing, and machine learning. Arguing that every educated person today needs to have some understanding of algorithms and what they do, in this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, Panos Louridas offers an introduction to algorithms that is accessible to the nonspecialist reader. Louridas explains not just what algorithms are but also how they work, offering a wide range of examples and keeping mathematics to a minimum.

After discussing what an algorithm does and how its effectiveness can be measured, Louridas covers three of the most fundamental applications areas: graphs, which describe networks, from eighteenth-century problems to today's social networks; searching, and how to find the fastest way to search; and sorting, and the importance of choosing the best algorithm for particular tasks. He then presents larger-scale applications: PageRank, Google's founding algorithm; and neural networks and deep learning. Finally, Louridas describes how all algorithms are nothing more than simple moves with pen and paper, and how from such a humble foundation rise all their spectacular achievements.

Videogame Architecture presents an exhilarating journey through twelve popular videogame worlds via detailed architectural plans, maps, 3D renderings, exploded diagrams, and stunning full-color in-game photography. Following the success of Videogame Atlas, this book provides a more in-depth look at some of the most beloved virtual worlds using the practices and academic rigor that underpin real-world architectural theory.

Games such as Disco Elysium, Elden Ring, Yakuza Kiwami, Grim Fandango, and The Sims 4 are explored in exhaustive detail through comprehensive architectural plans and intricate illustrations, each with supporting technical information and commentary. Moving through these spaces, the book evokes both the game experience itself and new perspectives on these iconic places. A vibrant inspiration for gamers, creatives, and architects of both real world and virtual spaces, Videogame Architecture draws from experimental architectural monographs and videogame guides of the 1990s.

Written by leading experts in the field, Sandra Youkhana and Luke Caspar Pearson, Videogame Architecture offers a unique insight into some of the most distinctive built environments of the videogame world.