This work treats an introduction to commutative ring theory and
algebraic plane curves, requiring of the reader only a basic knowledge
of algebra, with all of the algebraic facts collected into several
appendices that can be easily referred to, as needed. Kunz's proven
conception of teaching topics in commutative algebra together with their
applications to algebraic geometry makes this book significantly
different from others on plane algebraic curves. Examples, exercises,
figures, and suggestions for further study round out this fairly
self-contained textbook.