<p><strong>Update:</strong> High resolution cover can be found <a href="http://mmcs.sfedu.ru/~ulysses/Pics/Hopcroft-Ullman-79-cover.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>. (via Artem)</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/tNGNq.png" alt="image"></p>

<pre><code>A: Pushdown Automata
B: Regular Expressions
C: Context Free Languages
D: Finite Automata
E: Mathematical Truth
F: NP-Complete Problems
G: Turing Machines
H: Time/Space Complexity
</code></pre>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-01-31T21:24:23.823Z
the back cover illustration is just as relevant =)  AP mentions a "cinderella" cover above, are you talking about this one? the cover theme seems to be an allusion to rube goldberg crossed with alice in wonderland
vzn
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T17:36:25.933Z
My main objective is to get such a photo, that I could read all the phrases placed on the front cover. As of the Wikipedia's version — I can only see «NP-complete problems», so it's not admissible.
Artem Pelenitsyn
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T17:38:08.083Z
I can actually read almost all of them, let me do you a small picture :)
Michael
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T17:47:47.680Z
@Michael: Why don't you type them in for Artem?
Dave Clarke
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T17:50:05.530Z
that's what I'm doing. Feel free to help. :)
Michael
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T18:01:41.180Z
Good. I can't help because I can't read your picture.
Dave Clarke
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T18:12:02.380Z
@Michael Hmm, sorry, I probably wasn't quite clear. I really want a picture with easy readable phrases (the Wikipedia's version isn't the case). Just getting know the phrases isn't enough. But I really appreciate your help, Michael!
Artem Pelenitsyn
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T18:13:53.740Z
Well, I can clearly read them, except for A. What do you need it for?
Michael
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T18:22:18.123Z
Does anyone know offhand who did the cover design?  I don't see any credits for the cover listed inside the book.
Kurt
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T18:25:54.233Z
@Michael to demonstrate to the students attending “automata and languages” classes (I'm acting as a TA on it). The cover is a bit a piece of CS history (Cinderella book standing near the Dragon book, Camel book and so on...)
Artem Pelenitsyn
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T18:33:18.023Z
Tell them about the Rube Goldberg machine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg_machine
Michael
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T18:37:25.030Z
@Artem, Nobody in your department has a copy of the book you can scan?  For shame!  (You can contact me offline if nobody else has already sent you what you need.)
Kurt
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T18:38:42.097Z
Thank you! I read about it (honestly I can't remember the name...), but students usually prefer watch some funny pictures, and the pictures of Rube Goldberg machines has nothing to do with CS...
Artem Pelenitsyn
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T18:41:15.090Z
@Kurt Noone has '79 copy — only '00 ones. Nobody has sent me the scan that I want, and you're welcome to help through mailing to ulysses4ever at gmail.com Thanks!
Artem Pelenitsyn
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T18:56:55.877Z
@Artem What you see on the cover is a Rube Goldberg machine. It's not a coincidence that it's there :]
Michael
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T19:05:40.270Z
@Michael yes, but the metaphor isn't that convincing for students until I can show it on the cover on the base textbook for the classes. And in order to show it I need obtain an admissible quality scan...
Artem Pelenitsyn
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-29T06:16:02.063Z
@Artem Rube Goldberg machines have everything to do with CS!  Think about the process that brings these words from my fingers to your eyeballs.  The ENTIRE process.  Throw in a little TCP/IP by carrier pigeon, and you've got the Platonic Ideal Rube Goldberg Machine.
Jeffε
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-29T09:45:16.717Z
The systematic examination of themes by means of a diagram is highly information-dense; I approve.  All we need now is a discussion of the social prophecy and aspects of moral philosophy embodied by the illustration, and we are on the way to becoming a Theory site!  (See http://meta.cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/1/what-should-our-site-domain-name-be/9#9 for the reference.)
András Salamon
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T17:28:06.240Z
2010-10-29T01:12:04.817Z
2010-10-29T01:12:04.817Z
Michael
<p>Where can I get the photo of “Introduction to automata theory, languages and computation” by Hopcroft and Ullman <strong>'79 (first edition)</strong> cover in order to be able to read all the phrases placed on the cover? Obviously the ones that gave me Google.Images (from Wikipedia, Amazon and others) do not allow this.</p>

<p>Solved:
<a href="http://mmcs.sfedu.ru/~ulysses/Pics/Hopcroft-Ullman-79-cover.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://mmcs.sfedu.ru/~ulysses/Pics/Hopcroft-Ullman-79-cover.jpg</a></p>

CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T16:48:50.830Z
I believe this is irrelevant to this site.
Mohammad Alaggan
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T16:50:21.343Z
I would suggest the library.
Ross Snider
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T16:52:51.317Z
it's not that bad  a question
Suresh Venkat
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T16:59:21.783Z
Sorry if it is really irrelevant for this site, maybe you could suggest the right one? As for the library: I live in Russia and in my local library we even haven't 2-nd ed. — I bought it through Internet...
Artem Pelenitsyn
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T17:05:53.763Z
It's not the right question, but this is the right community to find such a resource.
Derrick Stolee
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T17:07:06.627Z
It is as offtopic as any basic question, Suresh.
Raphael
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T17:18:02.323Z
I think such a question would be allowed on MathOverflow, and hence I am in favour of allowing it here.
Robin Kothari
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T17:39:27.227Z
In general I think we should *not* encourage questions of the form "can anyone send me a scan/photocopy/photo of this-and-that article/book". Such questions are of little general interest, and there are also legal/copyright issues. This particular question is a borderline case, but let's not push it too far.
Jukka Suomela
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T18:34:26.353Z
Have you tried emailing one of the authors?
Kaveh
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T18:56:27.643Z
@Kaveh no, it would be too much, you know... I can't bother such the people with this kind of requests.
Artem Pelenitsyn
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T19:14:12.887Z
Well, I understand what you mean, but that book is so popular that I would probably ask them if the picture is available online explaining that I have searched for it unsuccessfully and the reason I need it, which may even cause them to put a copy of that picture on their webpage. (I have bothered a few people about where I can find a copy of their PhD thesis, and a few times unintentionally have caused them to scan and put their PhD thesis online.) I think it is sad if no quality version of that picture is available online, that book itself is a part of our history.
Kaveh
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-28T19:21:49.813Z
@Kaveh Maybe you're right. If this topic won't yield the result, I'll probably try...
Artem Pelenitsyn
CC BY-SA 2.5
2010-10-29T08:03:09.210Z
What an amazing research level TCS question! I think the most important open research problem: Why is the poor cat being abused in the cover? Where are the animal rights organizations? My cat is extremely distressed over this cover. ;)
Mohammad Al-Turkistany
<reference-request><fl.formal-languages><automata-theory><books>
Photo of «Introduction to automata…» by Hopcroft and Ullman '79 cover?
Artem Pelenitsyn
# Photo of «Introduction to automata…» by Hopcroft and Ullman '79 cover?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2010-10-28)

Where can I get the photo of “Introduction to automata theory, languages and computation” by Hopcroft and Ullman **'79 (first edition)** cover in order to be able to read all the phrases placed on the cover? Obviously the ones that gave me Google.Images (from Wikipedia, Amazon and others) do not allow this.

Solved:
<http://mmcs.sfedu.ru/~ulysses/Pics/Hopcroft-Ullman-79-cover.jpg>

**Tags:** reference-request, fl.formal-languages, automata-theory, books

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I believe this is irrelevant to this site.  
> **username_2**: I would suggest the library.  
> **username_3**: it's not that bad  a question  
> **username_0**: Sorry if it is really irrelevant for this site, maybe you could suggest the right one? As for the library: I live in Russia and in my local library we even haven't 2-nd ed. — I bought it through Internet...  
> **username_4**: It's not the right question, but this is the right community to find such a resource.  
> **username_5**: It is as offtopic as any basic question, Suresh.  
> **username_6**: I think such a question would be allowed on MathOverflow, and hence I am in favour of allowing it here.  
> **username_7**: In general I think we should *not* encourage questions of the form "can anyone send me a scan/photocopy/photo of this-and-that article/book". Such questions are of little general interest, and there are also legal/copyright issues. This particular question is a borderline case, but let's not push it too far.  
> **username_8**: Have you tried emailing one of the authors?  
> **username_0**: @username_8 no, it would be too much, you know... I can't bother such the people with this kind of requests.  
> **username_8**: Well, I understand what you mean, but that book is so popular that I would probably ask them if the picture is available online explaining that I have searched for it unsuccessfully and the reason I need it, which may even cause them to put a copy of that picture on their webpage. (I have bothered a few people about where I can find a copy of their PhD thesis, and a few times unintentionally have caused them to scan and put their PhD thesis online.) I think it is sad if no quality version of that picture is available online, that book itself is a part of our history.  
> **username_0**: @username_8 Maybe you're right. If this topic won't yield the result, I'll probably try...  
> **username_9**: What an amazing research level TCS question! I think the most important open research problem: Why is the poor cat being abused in the cover? Where are the animal rights organizations? My cat is extremely distressed over this cover. ;)  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_10 on 2010-10-28. Score: 11 | Accepted answer

Update: High resolution cover can be found here. (via Artem)

A: Pushdown Automata
B: Regular Expressions
C: Context Free Languages
D: Finite Automata
E: Mathematical Truth
F: NP-Complete Problems
G: Turing Machines
H: Time/Space Complexity

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: My main objective is to get such a photo, that I could read all the phrases placed on the front cover. As of the Wikipedia's version — I can only see «NP-complete problems», so it's not admissible.  
> **username_10**: I can actually read almost all of them, let me do you a small picture :)  
> **username_12**: @username_10: Why don't you type them in for Artem?  
> **username_10**: that's what I'm doing. Feel free to help. :)  
> **username_12**: Good. I can't help because I can't read your picture.  
> **username_0**: @username_10 Hmm, sorry, I probably wasn't quite clear. I really want a picture with easy readable phrases (the Wikipedia's version isn't the case). Just getting know the phrases isn't enough. But I really appreciate your help, username_10!  
> **username_10**: Well, I can clearly read them, except for A. What do you need it for?  
> **username_13**: Does anyone know offhand who did the cover design?  I don't see any credits for the cover listed inside the book.  
> **username_0**: @username_10 to demonstrate to the students attending “automata and languages” classes (I'm acting as a TA on it). The cover is a bit a piece of CS history (Cinderella book standing near the Dragon book, Camel book and so on...)  
> **username_10**: Tell them about the Rube Goldberg machine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg_machine  
> **username_13**: @Artem, Nobody in your department has a copy of the book you can scan?  For shame!  (You can contact me offline if nobody else has already sent you what you need.)  
> **username_0**: Thank you! I read about it (honestly I can't remember the name...), but students usually prefer watch some funny pictures, and the pictures of Rube Goldberg machines has nothing to do with CS...  
> **username_0**: @username_13 Noone has '79 copy — only '00 ones. Nobody has sent me the scan that I want, and you're welcome to help through mailing to ulysses4ever at gmail.com Thanks!  
> **username_10**: @Artem What you see on the cover is a Rube Goldberg machine. It's not a coincidence that it's there :]  
> **username_0**: @username_10 yes, but the metaphor isn't that convincing for students until I can show it on the cover on the base textbook for the classes. And in order to show it I need obtain an admissible quality scan...  
> **username_14**: @Artem Rube Goldberg machines have everything to do with CS!  Think about the process that brings these words from my fingers to your eyeballs.  The ENTIRE process.  Throw in a little TCP/IP by carrier pigeon, and you've got the Platonic Ideal Rube Goldberg Machine.  
> **username_15**: The systematic examination of themes by means of a diagram is highly information-dense; I approve.  All we need now is a discussion of the social prophecy and aspects of moral philosophy embodied by the illustration, and we are on the way to becoming a Theory site!  (See http://meta.cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/1/what-should-our-site-domain-name-be/9#9 for the reference.)  
> **username_11**: the back cover illustration is just as relevant =)  AP mentions a "cinderella" cover above, are you talking about this one? the cover theme seems to be an allusion to rube goldberg crossed with alice in wonderland  

---

