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Opening up with the claim that computer software is "based on the ideas of Claude Shannon" is strange. Does anyone seriously believe that Shannon's contribution

by blt 8y ago

Opening up with the claim that computer software is "based on the ideas of Claude Shannon" is strange. Does anyone seriously believe that Shannon's contributions to the foundations of computing stand so far above others'?

danharaj 8y ago
I do, but that sentence is weird.
TheOtherHobbes 8y ago
Turing - On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem - 1937 Shannon - A Mathematical Theory of Communication - 1948 Shannon calculated the entropy of arbitrary symbol systems over noisy communication channels, and made some first steps towards practical data compression algorithms. Turning formalised the concept of computability using an abstraction of a mechanised logic system. I'd say Turing wins easily - we still say logical systems are Turing Complete rather than Shannon Compatible.
- mbrock 8y ago
  Don’t forget Shannon’s 1937 master’s thesis, A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits.
  - yesenadam 8y ago
    Yeah, he actually had the idea that you could use the 19th C Boolean logic and switching circuits to do mathematical operations, making modern computers possible. It's disappointing that he's not better known for this, to say the least. e.g. that anyone on here doesn't know his huge importance.
jonsen 8y ago
Yes, his masters thesis in 1937: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Symbolic_Analysis_of_Relay_and_Switching_Circuits https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Symbolic_Analysis_of_Relay_a...
spenrose 8y ago
I thought the same; my account [1]. Maybe Shannon [1937] influenced the ENAIC-ers? Dyson hardly mentions him (4 references [2]), of which the most notable is: "Claude Shannon, whose mathematical theory of communication showed how a computer built from unreliable components could be made to function reliably from one cycle to the next." That sounds ... like a basis for translating Turing machines into hardware, not software. [1] http://whatarecomputersfor.net/versatile-information-machines/ http://whatarecomputersfor.net/versatile-information-machine... [2] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12625589-turing-s-cathedral https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12625589-turing-s-cathed...
liftbigweights 8y ago
> Does anyone seriously believe that Shannon's contributions to the foundations of computing stand so far above others'? Not far above but he's right there with Church and Turing. Church and Turing laid the foundations to computer science. You could argue shannon gave us computer engineering. Shannon created information theory and his proof of equality between electric circuits and boolean algebra is the foundation of physical computing today. All modern computing devices go back to his proof and his adder. Shannon tied the electrical ( circuits ) with the mathematical ( boolean algebra ) ( which one could argue is computer engineering ).

by blt 8y ago

danharaj 8y ago

I do, but that sentence is weird.

TheOtherHobbes 8y ago

Turing - On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem - 1937 Shannon - A Mathematical Theory of Communication - 1948 Shannon calculated the entropy of arbitrary symbol systems over noisy communication channels, and made some first steps towards practical data compression algorithms. Turning formalised the concept of computability using an abstraction of a mechanised logic system. I'd say Turing wins easily - we still say logical systems are Turing Complete rather than Shannon Compatible.

mbrock 8y ago
Don’t forget Shannon’s 1937 master’s thesis, A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits.
- yesenadam 8y ago
  Yeah, he actually had the idea that you could use the 19th C Boolean logic and switching circuits to do mathematical operations, making modern computers possible. It's disappointing that he's not better known for this, to say the least. e.g. that anyone on here doesn't know his huge importance.

jonsen 8y ago

Yes, his masters thesis in 1937: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Symbolic_Analysis_of_Relay_and_Switching_Circuits https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Symbolic_Analysis_of_Relay_a...

spenrose 8y ago

I thought the same; my account [1]. Maybe Shannon [1937] influenced the ENAIC-ers? Dyson hardly mentions him (4 references [2]), of which the most notable is: "Claude Shannon, whose mathematical theory of communication showed how a computer built from unreliable components could be made to function reliably from one cycle to the next." That sounds ... like a basis for translating Turing machines into hardware, not software. [1] http://whatarecomputersfor.net/versatile-information-machines/ http://whatarecomputersfor.net/versatile-information-machine... [2] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12625589-turing-s-cathedral https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12625589-turing-s-cathed...

liftbigweights 8y ago

> Does anyone seriously believe that Shannon's contributions to the foundations of computing stand so far above others'? Not far above but he's right there with Church and Turing. Church and Turing laid the foundations to computer science. You could argue shannon gave us computer engineering. Shannon created information theory and his proof of equality between electric circuits and boolean algebra is the foundation of physical computing today. All modern computing devices go back to his proof and his adder. Shannon tied the electrical ( circuits ) with the mathematical ( boolean algebra ) ( which one could argue is computer engineering ).