特色：
Thisbookisthechildofanunbornparent.SomeyearsagotheseniorauthorbeganthepreparationofaColloquiumvolumeonalgebraicgeometry,andhewasthenfacedwiththedifficulttaskofincorporatinginthatvolumethevastamountofpurelyalgebraicmaterialwhichisneededinabstractalgebraicgeometry.Theoriginal.planwastoinsert,fromtimetotime,algebraicdigressionsinwhichconceptsandresultsfromcommutativealgebraweretobedevelopedinfullasandwhentheywereneeded.However,itsoonbecameapparentthatsuchaparentheticaltreatmentofthepurelyalgebraictopics,coveringawiderangeofcommutativealgebra,wouldimposeartificialboundsonthemanner,depth,anddegreeofgeneralitywithwhichthesetopicscouldbetreated.Asiswellknown,abstractalgebraicgeometryhasbeenrecentlynotonlythemainfieldofapplicationsofcommutativealgebrabutalsotheprincipalincentiveofnewresearchincommutativealgebra.Toapproachtheunderlyingalgebraonlyinastrictlyutilitarian,auxiliary,andparentheticalmanner,tostopshortofgoingfurtherafieldwheretheapplicationsofalgebratoalgebraicgeometrystopandthegeneralalgebraictheoriesinspiredBygeometrybegin,impressedusincreasinglyasbeingaprogramscientificallytoonarrowandpsychologicallyfrustrating,nottomentionthedistractingeffectthatrepeatedalgebraicdigressionswouldinevitablyhavehadonthereader,vis-h-visthecentralalgebro-geometrlctheme.Thustheideaofaseparatebookoncommutativealgebrawasborn,andthepresentbook--ofwhichthisisthefirstoftwovolumes--isarealizationofthisidea,cometofruitionatatimewhenitsparent--atreatiseonabstractalgebraicgeometry-hasstilltoseethelightoftheday.