A dynamical system is a continuous self-map of a compact metric space. Topological dynamics studies the iterations of such a map, or equivalently, the trajectories of points of the state space. The basic concepts of topological dynamics are minimality, transitivity, recurrence, shadowing property, stability, equicontinuity, sensitivity, attractors, and topological entropy. Symbolic dynamics studies dynamical systems whose state spaces are zero-dimensional and consist of sequences of symbols. The main classes of symbolic dynamical systems are adding machines, subshifts of finite type, sofic subshifts, Sturmian, substitutive and Toeplitz subshifts, and cellular automata.

Nearly one hundred years ago Jacques Hadamard used infinite sequences of symbols to analyze the distribution of geodesics on certain surfaces. That was the beginning of symbolic dynamics. In the 1930's and 40's Arnold Hedlund and Marston Morse again used infinite sequences to investigate geodesics on surfaces of negative curvature. They coined the term symbolic dynamics and began to study sequence spaces with the shift transformation as dynamical systems. In the 1940's Claude Shannon used sequence spaces to describe infor mation channels. Since that time symbolic dynamics has been used in ergodic theory, topological dynamics, hyperbolic dynamics, information theory and complex dynamics. Symbolic dynamical systems with a finite memory are stud ied in this book. They are the topological Markov shifts. Each can be defined by transition rules and the rules can be summarized by a transition matrix. The study naturally divides into two parts. The first part is about topological Markov shifts where the alphabet is finite. The second part is concerned with topological Markov shifts whose alphabet is count ably infinite. The techniques used in the two cases are quite different. When the alphabet is finite most of the methods are combinatorial or algebraic. When the alphabet is infinite the methods are much more analytic. This book grew from notes for a graduate course taught at Wesleyan Uni versity in the fall of 1994 and is intended as a graduate text and as a reference book for mathematicians working in related fields.

Symbolic dynamics is essential in the study of dynamical systems of various types and is connected to many other fields such as stochastic processes, ergodic theory, representation of numbers, information and coding, etc. This graduate text introduces symbolic dynamics from a perspective of topological dynamical systems and presents a vast variety of important examples. After introducing symbolic and topological dynamics, the core of the book consists of discussions of various subshifts of positive entropy, of zero entropy, other non-shift minimal action on the Cantor set, and a study of the ergodic properties of these systems. The author presents recent developments such as spacing shifts, square-free shifts, density shifts, $mathcal{B}$-free shifts, Bratteli-Vershik systems, enumeration scales, amorphic complexity, and a modern and complete treatment of kneading theory. Later, he provides an overview of automata and linguistic complexity (Chomsky's hierarchy). The necessary background for the book varies, but for most of it a solid knowledge of real analysis and linear algebra and first courses in probability and measure theory, metric spaces, number theory, topology, and set theory suffice. Most of the exercises have solutions in the back of the book.

Symbolic dynamics is a mature yet rapidly developing area of dynamical systems. It has established strong connections with many areas, including linear algebra, graph theory, probability, group theory, and the theory of computation, as well as data storage, statistical mechanics, and $C^*$-algebras. This Second Edition maintains the introductory character of the original 1995 edition as a general textbook on symbolic dynamics and its applications to coding. It is written at an elementary level and aimed at students, well-established researchers, and experts in mathematics, electrical engineering, and computer science. Topics are carefully developed and motivated with many illustrative examples. There are more than 500 exercises to test the reader's understanding. In addition to a chapter in the First Edition on advanced topics and a comprehensive bibliography, the Second Edition includes a detailed Addendum, with companion bibliography, describing major developments and new research directions since publication of the First Edition.

Topological dynamics is the study of transformation groups with respect to those topological properties whose prototype occurred in classical dynamics. In this volume, Part One contains the general theory. Part Two contains notable examples of flows which have contributed to the general theory of topological dynamics and which have in turn have been illuminated by the general theory of topological dynamics.

There is no recent elementary introduction to the theory of discrete dynamical systems that stresses the topological background of the topic. This book fills this gap: it deals with this theory as 'applied general topology'. We treat all important concepts needed to understand recent literature. The book is addressed primarily to graduate students. The prerequisites for understanding this book are modest: a certain mathematical maturity and course in General Topology are sufficient.

This volume contains the proceedings of the conference, Symbolic Dynamics and its Applications, held at Yale University in the summer of 1991 in honor of Roy L. Adler on his sixtieth birthday. The conference focused on symbolic dynamics and its applications to other fields, including ergodic theory, smooth dynamical systems, information theory, automata theory, and statistical mechanics. One hundred thirty-nine participants attended from thirteen countries, representing mathematics, applied mathematics, electrical engineering, and physics departments in universities and in industry. Featuring a range of contributions from some of the leaders in the field, this volume presents an excellent overview of the subject.