Tag Archives: Tech

Lean and the Mathematical Library of the Future

Posted on 2020-11-12 by jcs

Over at Quanta magazine, Kevin Hartnett has an interesting article about using computers in the service of Mathematics. That’s nothing new, of course, but this isn’t about numerical methods or LaTeX, it’s about using computers to help develop mathematical proofs. … Continue reading →

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Dijkstra

Posted on 2020-11-08 by jcs

Most Irreal readers probably know the name Dijkstra, if only from his famous letter to the ACM entitled “Go To Statement Considered Harmful” and his celebrated shortest path algorithm. In fact, Edsger Wybe Dijkstra was a giant in the field … Continue reading →

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Unix As Literature

Posted on 2020-11-07 by jcs

Someone has reposted Thomas Scoville’s article from 1998 on Unix as Literature. The article’s premise is that Unix (and these days, Linux) users are different from the users of other systems. That seems like a low calorie assertion but it’s … Continue reading →

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Ball Point Pens

Posted on 2020-11-06 by jcs

What could you buy for the price of a ball point pen? No much. Not a newspaper, not a cup of coffee, and certainly not a hamburger. You can get one of the ubiquitous Bic pens for a little over … Continue reading →

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Unix Pipes

Posted on 2020-11-01 by jcs

This post is a blast from the past \(\times 2\). One reason it’s a blast from the past is that it discusses the Unix V6 code. The other reason is that it discusses some of the code that first helped … Continue reading →

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The Map

Posted on 2020-10-31 by jcs

Although I’ve never lived in New York City, I love being there, have family who are lifetime New Yorkers, and visit regularly. One of the things I love about the city is that I can walk to most places I … Continue reading →

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Algol 68, Pascal, C, and All That

Posted on 2020-10-27 by jcs

Apropos of nothing, here’s a really nice short video by Professor David Brailsford of The University of Nottingham about the days when Algol 68 and Pascal were in contention for the language to be taught in various computer courses. Some … Continue reading →

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You Are Not Expected to Understand This Redux

Posted on 2020-10-23 by jcs

Three and a half years ago, I wrote about what is arguably the most famous comment in computer history. That, of course, is the celebrated “You are not expected to understand this” comment in the V6 Unix source code. The … Continue reading →

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A New Organ?

Posted on 2020-10-22 by jcs

If you’re like me, you probably think that medical science has long since identified all the organs in the human body. Indeed, no new human organs have been identified for about 300 years. Until now. The New York Times is … Continue reading →

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Hardware vs. Software

Posted on 2020-10-21 by jcs

Everyone who’s been around for a while recognizes that computing has gotten more powerful. Problems that were once intractable now seem almost trivial. It’s not really surprising; it’s progress. It’s what we expect. But it does suggest the question: is … Continue reading →

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