Talk:List of books in computational geometry

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Confusion[edit]

The term computational geometry has a well-understood meaning, which this article muddles. Computer graphics and computer-aided design are not considered part of computational geometry, though practitioners may use its results at times. And practical algorithms in computational geometry must be numerically robust, so numerical methods are part of the true field (and quite distinct from questions of computer graphics). This fundamental flaw in the design of the article must be corrected if it is kept. Especially, get rid of the graphics stuff.

For informative reading, try some of the papers by David Dobkin at Princeton University. He's useless for research now since they went and made him Dean of the Faculty, but some helpful prior work is:

These are all in PDF form. Or ask one of our occasional editors, Dan Hoey, who collaborated on some of the seminal work in the field. --KSmrqT 10:30, 4 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

How much confusion is there really likely to be? This distinction strikes me as analogous to "applied mathematics" versus "mathematics as it is applied to physics", more or less. I think the two topics (pure computational geometry and applications of geometry in computation) are similar enough that people who are interested in either subject will not be confused. Oh – I suppose that "computational geometry" does have a well-understood meaning – to about 0.01% of the population. An encyclopedia should be for everyone, not just the well-educated. I think it would be better to separate/segregate the graphics stuff than to throw it out entirely. DavidCBryant 11:54, 4 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]
The goal of an encyclopedia is also that a "well-understood meaning – to about 0.01% of the population" becomes understandable to the remaining 99.99%. We won't change, for instance "Relativity theory" to include any pseudo-theory in which the word "relative" may appear. The aim of an encyclopedia is to educate not to reflect the state of knowledge of 99.99% of the population. pom 12:55, 4 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I am afraid User:KSmrq did not read the article very carefully. Where he sees the statement that "Computer graphics and computer-aided design are considered part of computational geometry"? The whole this discussion is moot. `'mikka 22:37, 4 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Nonsense; the article is titled "list of books in computational geometry", and it claims the topic divides into two areas. The second of those areas is listed as including geometric modelling and computer-aided geometric design. This is wrong. Don't take my word for it, read Dobkin. And we are emphatically not talking about a pure versus applied distinction, as I already said.
Most of computational geometry concerns itself with computational complexity. Although complexity theory began in computer science with very practical concerns addressed by Donald Knuth and his student Robert Sedgewick (who teaches at Princeton with Dobkin), it has since evolved in a more theoretical direction. Computational geometry algorithms originally assumed ideal arithmetic, but later the field began to address questions of computer arithmetic. (See Jonathan Shewchuk's well-known discussion of robust primitives as one example.)
The Faux and Pratt book, which uses "Computational Geometry" as part of the title, uses the phrase in a sense that predates the meaning we use today. It has no place here. Likewise, the Davies and Samuels book uses the phrase with that different meaning. That leaves "Effective Computational Geometry …", which is about the right discipline, but the topic is actually completely different from that of Davies and Samuels, despite the almost identical titles!
In other words, this list is a mess, and reveals a fundamental lack of understanding of the relevant fields of study. --KSmrqT 10:40, 5 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]
WOW! What a masterpiece of assuming that some other people are idiots! I have no doubts that your favorite professor David Dobkin (i.e., David Dobkin is an expert in his brand of computational geometry. If you want to continue this discussion, please start with answering questions asked (repeating): Where do you see the statement that "Computer graphics and computer-aided design are considered part of computational geometry"?. `'mikka 20:34, 5 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

More monographs[edit]

As long as we're being indiscriminate, here are more monographs on combinatorial and computational geometry topics that are not yet listed in the article, in no particular order:

  • Boltjansky and Gohberg, Results and Problems in Combinatorial Geometry
  • Zong, Strange Phenomena in Convex and Discrete Geometry
  • Grunbaum, Arrangements and Spreads
  • Matousek, Lectures on Discrete Geometry (also possibly his Geometric Discrepancy and his Using the Borsuk-Ulam Theorem)
  • Edelsbrunner, Geometry and Topology for Mesh Generation
  • Bokowski and Sturmfels, Computational Synthetic Geometry
  • Stolfi, Oriented Projective Geometry
  • Su and Liu, Computational Geometry: Curve and Surface Modeling
  • Agarwal, Intersection and Decomposition Algorithms for Planar Arrangements

In addition, though not monographs, there are many edited collections that are relevant to the topic, including the annual proceedings of ACM SoCG, CCCG, and JCDCG, and possibly also including more specialized conferences such as WAFR, Graph Drawing, and the Meshing Roundtable, but also including e.g.

  • Bezdek, Discrete Geometry
  • Pach, New Trends in Discrete and Computational Geometry
  • Goodman, Pollack, and Steiger, Discrete and Computational Geometry
  • Goodman, Lutwak, Malkevitch, and Pollack, Discrete Geometry and Convexity
  • Du and Hwang, Computing in Euclidean Geometry
  • Goodman, Pach, and Welzl, Combinatorial and Computational Geometry.

And that's just the ones easily visible on my office bookshelf, and omitting related topics in convex polytope theory and tiling theory... —David Eppstein 21:25, 5 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. I started from my, much smaller shelf, from which I excluded some books you listed, because:
  • I wanted to focus on "algorithmic geometry".
  • I did not want to include nonmonographic editors' collections, like, Goodman, Pach, and Welzl. I wanted to start another page, for journals and collections (btw, you missed the milestone 1983 Advances in Computing Research, vol. 1 (Computational Geometry) ed. by Preparata). But seeing this nihilist attitude, I will think twice. `'mikka 23:02, 5 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Stash[edit]

Lecture Notes[edit]

There are some great sets of lecture notes that several professors have released for distribution. Would links to some of these be appropriate on this page? For example: David Mount. Computational Geometry. Sancho McCann 18:46, 26 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Two people with the same name[edit]

I am pretty sure that the Joseph O'Rourke linked to in the article is not the author of the computational geometry book being referenced. Could someone more knowledgeable in the ways of wiki please create a disambiguation page that distinguishes them? Maybe along the lines of Joseph O'Rourke (professor) and Joseph O'Rourke (abortion activist)? Cgray4 14:36, 9 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Done. Actually 3 people or more. `'mikka 15:09, 9 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

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