Submitted via IRC for Bytram
In the introduction to her new book, Hannah Fry points out something interesting about the phrase "Hello World." It's never been quite clear, she says, whether the phrase—which is frequently the entire output of a student's first computer program—is supposed to be attributed to the program, awakening for the first time, or to the programmer, announcing their triumphant first creation.
Perhaps for this reason, "Hello World" calls to mind a dialogue between human and machine, one which has never been more relevant than it is today. Her book, called Hello World, published in September, walks us through a rapidly computerizing world. Fry is both optimistic and excited—along with her Ph.D. students at the University of College, London, she has worked on many algorithms herself—and cautious. In conversation and in her book, she issues a call to arms: We need to make algorithms transparent, regulated, and forgiving of the flawed creatures that converse with them.
I reached her by telephone while she was on a book tour in New York City.
(Score: 2) by suburbanitemediocrity on Tuesday November 20 2018, @02:49AM
I used to write code for high power supplies and things rarely got more complicated than
for( ; ; ) {
setpoint = read_voltage( );
DAC_out = k * ( ADC_vin - setpoint ); // the important part
update_display( );
wait_timer( );
}
And yes I've had to do linked lists, searches and a whole host of other CS data structures, but these aren't difficult to pick up in a few minutes of reading example code. Not for power supplies, but larger plant and process control.