Introduction

Abstract

The origin of computing devices lies in computing problems. However, once a computing device is built, it requires algorithms through which the problems would be solved. Since the advent of electronic computers, the past decades have seen intense activity in the development of algorithms. Through this activity have emerged a class of problems that seem to require the cooperative use of multiple computers. Many problems in the design of large digital circuits fall in this category. Our emphasis, in this book, is on one such problem — the digital testing problem.

“... I think it is reasonable to expect future neural networks to take on many of the aspects of an interconnected network of conventional computers. To me, that suggests a possible avenue toward the synthesis between computation and biological brain function that modern technology has long promised but has yet to achieve.” — A. Penzias in Ideas and Information (1989)