Five years ago, I taught a one-quarter course in homological algebra. I discovered that there was no book which was really suitable as a text for such a short course, so I decided to write one. The point was to cover both Ext and Tor early, and still have enough material for a larger course (one semester or two quarters) going off in any of several possible directions. This book is 'also intended to be readable enough for independent study. The core of the subject is covered in Chapters 1 through 3 and the first two sections ofChapter 4. At that point there are several options. Chapters 4 and 5 cover the more traditional aspects of dimension and ring changes. Chapters 6 and 7 cover derived functors in general. Chapter 8 focuses on a special property of Tor. These three groupings are independent, as are various sections from Chapter 9, which is intended as a source of special topics. (The prerequisites for each section of Chapter 9 are stated at the beginning.) Some things have been included simply because they are hard to find else- where, and they naturally fit into the discussion. Lazard's theorem (Section 8.4)-is an example; Sections4,5, and 7ofChapter 9 containother examples, as do the appendices at the end.
