Marcus, Could you say a bit more about this? It really interested me.
MD =====>Whether algorithms or arguments it doesn't really matter. It depends on > the programming language. Logic programming languages are more like > Wittgenstein and less like recipes.<=====MD For reference, here is definition of algorithm pulled off the web: DICT===>a set of rules for solving a problem in a finite number of steps, as for finding the greatest common divisor.<===DICT Is this the sense in which you guys are using the term. How, then, could a mathematical proof NOT be a form of algorithm? I guess I should confess that my model for a mathematical proof is Euclid. Thanks. Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology, Clark University ([email protected]) http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/ > [Original Message] > From: Marcus G. Daniels <[email protected]> > To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <[email protected]> > Date: 7/13/2009 8:09:23 AM > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Philosophy, Mathematics, and Science > > > > > > > That's funny, because I have always thought of programs as extremely > > refined arguments. > > > > > > No. They are algorithms. And can be built upon. > > Can be built upon in theory, but in practice they are with high > > probability thrown away and rebuilt from scratch. > > > > Because they are complex linguistic objects which, like philosophers' > > arguments, are often harder to figure out than to do over from first > > principles. > Except when they are discarded just because the readers lack the skills > and patience to figure things out. In my experience, that's more often > than not. In particular, I think programs that endure and grow are > unlike algorithms and philosophers' arguments or mathematical > derivations. A point is reached where programs become more complex > than any one (even exceptional) person can really understand > completely. In the form of support code, bug fixes, and algorithmic > refinements, they embed requirements and novel use cases that were not > evident to designers. Efforts should be made to study, simplify and > extend these programs. Meanwhile, efforts should also be made to > identify and eliminate abstractions that just confuse people. > > Whether algorithms or arguments it doesn't really matter. It depends on > the programming language. Logic programming languages are more like > Wittgenstein and less like recipes. > > Marcus > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
