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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,852 Likes: 2 |
we knew memory addresses - sometimes in hex, sometimes in octal, sometimes in binary
What's the plural of octopus?
hexadecipus (running-for-cover-e)
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Joined: Oct 2000
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veteran
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some of the rules for binary math and boolean logic, are similar to knittingA couple of thoughts from the dim and distant past when I was doing my degree. Margaret Boden (who has written several books about Artificial Intelligence) was one of my lecturers and is also into knitting. She was keen to draw an analogy between computer programs and knitting patterns; I believe I've heard others adopt the analogy (including yourself of course, Helen  ). However Boden is also keen to emphasise that following a pattern, however complex, doesn't denote intelligence. This is quite an important distinction in AI/Philosophy. ( of course there are many good reasons why we would prefer hand-made to mass-produced clothes!) As to how well boolean logic applies to life, well, Douglas Hofstadter's (sp?) book Godel, Escher Bach comes out with the nice suggestion that there are actually 3 answers to any question: Yes, No or MuMu unasks the question, a bit like the "answers" that Zen masters once provided to their students' misguided questions. 
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Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 69
journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 69 |
Interesting how we humans love to categorize to the nth degree. We all know (or should) that there isn't always a yes/no/mu answer. There is often (very, very often) a spectrum of colors between white and black. "Red" is not a "mu" answer to asking "what color is blood" or "what color is that fire truck?"
Cheers,
Bryan
You are only wretched and unworthy if you choose to be.
Cheers,
Bryan
You are only wretched and unworthy if you choose to be.
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Joined: Oct 2000
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there isn't always a yes/no/mu answerQuite right, Bryan, in terms of all questions. But what I meant to imply (sort of paraphrasing Hofstadter) was that you can answer "yes/no/mu" to any question meant to elicit a "yes/no" answer "Were you at X's house on the night of the 5th November?" "The 5th November this year, you mean?" "Why, were you doing something on 5th November last year?" "Does that have any bearing on the case?" It's pretty easy to show that "yes" and "no" are about the least likely answers to any question, actually Fisk
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Joined: Oct 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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that's great to hear, Fishona! i noticed it years and years ago, and when ever i mention it.... it fell on deaf ears. the set (assembly language programers) and the set (knitter) have a very small subset (assembly language programers who also are knitters)
in knitting you can also create a stitch and drop or end a stitch--(put a bit in the bit bucket, as we used to say!)
and cables in knitting are like multiplying in binary.. and when you format a disk (yes, i know, nowdays they are all preformated) you put an A/C signal out.. alternating Highs (1) and lows (0), in knitting, you often start with ribbing, (columns of knits (1) and purls(0) or with garter stitch, (rows or knits and purls).
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771 |
I seem to remember that punch cards were modeled after the pattern cards used for jacquard looms in weaving fabric... a quick google should help me substantiate that... there it is! http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blhollerith.htmAll better.
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Joined: Oct 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
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yes, but curiously, punch cards do not use any system that we use today... they were created to move data at a time of analog computers.. as i recall, punch card technology was on the way out as i was joining the world of computers.. all i remember was they were not digital, and did not use binary/octal/hex notations... but something else again...
its almost two different technologies (punch card from textiles, and binary from knitting) are used in different ways in a third technical craft, computers! connections with connections and connections!
and yes, a program (either a computer program or a pattern for knitting) is just a set of dirctions. Neither is inteligent!
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
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I can remember when many companies put employees' pay status on punch cards. There
was a joke about the guy who stepped on his card with golf shoes, and to his surprise
got a better office, a secretary, and a pay increase.
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veteran
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yes, but curiously, punch cards do not use any system that we use today... they were created to move data at a time of analog computers.. as i recall, punch card technology was on the way out as i was joining the world of computers.. all i remember was they were not digital, and did not use binary/octal/hex notations... but something else again...
its almost two different technologies (punch card from textiles, and binary from knitting) are used in different ways in a third technical craft, computers! connections with connections and connections!
and yes, a program (either a computer program or a pattern for knitting) is just a set of dirctions. Neither is inteligent!
I used punch cards a lot in the early 80s (and paper tape as well mid 70s). The punch cards are binary (digital). The hole is open or closed. At one time punched cards or tape were used by nearly every digital computer. OTOH, I doubt the hollerith codes on the cards were ASCII. I imagine it's related to IBM's other code - EBCDIC, that or Baudot codes. There's some interesting stuff at http://tronweb.super-nova.co.jp/characcodehist.html. According to http://www.totse.com/en/technology/telecommunications/x25tut.htmlthe code is still in use, but they aren't specific. Hard to believe, I know, but people (in which group I include myself) are slow to change systems that work (no matter how poorly). I saw several people working on programs drop their cards - and a number of them reduced to public sobbing. I don't miss those days at all. k
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I saw several people working on programs drop their cards - and a number of them reduced to public sobbing
I can well imagine!
These days, of course, there's no chance at all of buggering up programs through a single false step or accident. [po-faced]
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