李明，http://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/~mli/），加拿大計算生物學（生物信息學）學會主席，現任加拿大滑鐵盧大學計算機係教授。

Paul Vitanyi，（http://homepages.cwi.nl/~paulv/），荷蘭阿姆斯特丹大學計算機係教授。

With this book, the authors are trying to present in a unified treatment an introduction to the central ideas and their applications of the Kolmogorov Complexity, the theory dealing with the quantity of information in individual objects. This book is appropriate for either a one- or two-semester introductory course in departments of computer science, mathematics, physics, probability theory and statistics, artificial intelligence, and philosophy. Although the mathematical theory of Kolmogorov complexity contains sophisticated mathematics, the amount of math one needs to know to apply the notions in widely divergent areas, is very little. The authors' purpose is to develop the theory in detail and outline a wide range of illustrative applications. This book is an attempt to grasp the mass of fragmented knowledge of this fascinating theory. Chapter 1 is a compilation of material on the diverse notations and disciplines we draw upon in order to make the book self-contained. The mathematical theory of Kolmogorov complexity is treated in chapters 2-4; the applications are treated in chapters 4-8.