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Monthly Archives July 2009

Languages and automata, part 2

Today an oppressive, passivizing heat covers Tokyoites like a massive woollen blanket. Summer is here. In a feeble attempt to defy the heat, I follow up on my previous post on languages and automata. That post ended with the suggestion that we can apply these concepts to interactions in society. But can we? As a […]

Posted 12 July 2009 † johan § Computer science § Philosophy ‡ Comments (3) ° Tagged: , ,

Languages and automata, part 1

Computing is very new as a science. Blaise Pascal devised a mechanical calculator in 1645, but Charles Babbage’s analytical engine, widely considered the first programmable computer, was not conceived of until the mid-19th century. However, it was never constructed (unlike Babbage’s simpler “difference engine”), and even at this time there was almost no theory to […]

Posted 06 July 2009 † johan § Computer science § Philosophy ‡ Comments (2) ° Tagged: , , , ,

The ego fallacy

A senior manager at a company I used to work at once said that (making) software is a very social activity. I didn’t have much experience, and was very surprised at the time, since I had never thought about the human aspect of software development. But of course this aspect is extremely important. For example, […]

Posted 01 July 2009 † johan § Software development ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: ,