Tag Archives: data

October 23, 2015

Running Code

VN architecture We started with the idea of code — data consisting of instructions in a special language. Code can express an algorithm, a process consisting of instruction steps. That implies an engine that understands the code language and executes the steps in the code.

Last time we started with Turing Machines, the abstract computers that describe algorithms, and ended with the concrete idea of modern digital computers using stored-programs and built on the Von Neumann architecture.

Today we look into that architecture a bit…

17 Comments | tags: address bus, algorithm, assembly language, bits, code, computer language, computer program, CPU, data, data bus, RAM, source code, stored program computer, Von Neumann architecture | posted in Computers

October 21, 2015

Coded Math

By Wyrd Smythe

Is that you, HAL?

Last time, in Calculated Math, I described how information — data — can have special characteristics that allow it to be interpreted as code, as instructions in some special language known to some “engine” that executes — runs — the code.

In some cases the code language has characteristics that make it Turing Complete (TC). One cornerstone of computer science is the Church-Turing thesis, which says that all TC languages are equivalent. What one can do, so can all the others.

That is where we pick up this time…

1 Comment | tags: Alan Turing, algorithm, Church-Turing thesis, code, data, flowchart, lambda calculus, state diagram, stored program computer, Turing Machine, Universal Turing Machine, Von Neumann architecture | posted in Math

October 20, 2015

Calculated Math

By Wyrd Smythe

calculation-0 The previous post, Halt! (or not), described the Turing Halting Problem, a fundamental limit on what computers can do, on what can be calculated by a program. Kurt Gödel showed that a very similar limit exists for any (sufficiently powerful) mathematical system.

This raises some obvious questions: What is calculation, exactly? What do we mean when we talk about a program or algorithm? (And how does all of this connect with the world of mathematics?)

Today we’re going to start exploring that.

9 Comments | tags: Alan Turing, algorithm, binary digits, calculation, Church-Turing thesis, code, computer program, data, information theory, lambda calculus, mathematical expression, Turing Machine, Universal Turing Machine | posted in Math, Opinion

July 15, 2011

Sideband #12: Even Dozen

By Wyrd Smythe

I’m on a numeric kick with regard to Sidebands. Don’t worry, it can’t last past 13, because 14 and the numbers that follow are fairly uninspiring. Maybe #21 will be special (or not); Sidebands become adults or something. I’ll have to think about that.

I’ve also noticed that Sidebands have taken on more life than I intended. The plan was for them to be short and frequent, but some of them are pretty meaty. That’s okay, meaty words are the point here. And I’m still searching for my “voice” as I write. Many years of more formal writing, much of it technical, seem to push me away from the personal writing I wanted for this blog.

Well, it’s a journey, isn’t it — a process.

6 Comments | tags: code, Cogito ergo sum, data, engineering, programming, Star Trek | posted in Sideband