3 ms·

Maybe we should leave a few stones around with code in multiple programming languages.

by ape4 4y ago

badpun 4y ago
That assumes that, future civilizations will be even interested in understanding our current codebases. I wonder if there will be code historians?
- GnarfGnarf 4y ago
  I predict future "crypto-archaeologists" will comb over our primitive source code like Medieval manuscripts, and will run our programs in quantum computer simulators to exercise all paths, and discover bugs we never suspected.
  - naveen99 4y ago
    I don’t think quantum computers get you past the halting problem.
  - sizzzzlerz 4y ago
    "Why did the ancient programmers (blessed be their names), have such a proclivity for always greeting the earth?"
    - dopidopHN 4y ago
      It’s surely a religious matter, the context is lost at this point but that our best estimate.
    - BitwiseFool 4y ago
      It is believed that ancient computersmiths were a superstitious caste. They believed in an entity known as "World", and it was custom to greet this deity as both a recognition of its power and an invocation to receive it's divine favor. Computersmiths were also known to compose poetry documenting their capabilities. It was typical for computersmiths to update this prose, commonly referred to as a 'resume', upon successfully greeting World.
  - otikik 4y ago
    Thank you, now I feel preemtively ashamed
- shakezula 4y ago
  I am almost certain there will be because we already have people intensely interested in source code from the 50s and 60s.
  - TremendousJudge 4y ago
    Yeah, a great example is this presentation[1] about the Apollo guidance computer. The guy is really, really into it and it just makes the presentation amazing. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1J2RMorJXM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1J2RMorJXM
- acheron 4y ago
  "I want my warp engines, Mr. Laforge." https://abstrusegoose.com/323 https://abstrusegoose.com/323
athenot 4y ago
Here's one stone: 99 Bottles of beer, in 1500 languages https://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net https://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net
shagie 4y ago
The Long Now Foundation has (had?) a project based on that idea. https://longnow.org/ideas/category/rosetta/ https://longnow.org/ideas/category/rosetta/ and https://rosettaproject.org https://rosettaproject.org > The Rosetta Disk fits in the palm of your hand, yet it contains over 13,000 pages of information on over 1,500 human languages. The pages are microscopically etched and then electroformed in solid nickel, a process that raises the text very slightly - about 100 nanometers - off of the surface of the disk. Each page is only 400 microns across - about the width of 5 human hairs - and can be read through a microscope at 650X as clearly as you would from print in a book. Individual pages are visible at a much lower magnification of 100X. The outer ring of text reads "Languages of the World" in eight major world languages. It uses nickel because of the high melting point and that it is really, really hard to deform nickel.
andrepd 4y ago
There is a project for that which is literally called Rosetta Code :) https://rosettacode.org/wiki/Knuth_shuffle https://rosettacode.org/wiki/Knuth_shuffle

Maybe we should leave a few stones around with code in multiple programming languages.

by ape4 4y ago

Maybe we should leave a few stones around with code in multiple programming languages.

That assumes that, future civilizations will be even interested in understanding our current codebases. I wonder if there will be code historians?

GnarfGnarf 4y ago
I predict future "crypto-archaeologists" will comb over our primitive source code like Medieval manuscripts, and will run our programs in quantum computer simulators to exercise all paths, and discover bugs we never suspected.
- naveen99 4y ago
  I don’t think quantum computers get you past the halting problem.
- sizzzzlerz 4y ago
  "Why did the ancient programmers (blessed be their names), have such a proclivity for always greeting the earth?"
  - dopidopHN 4y ago
    It’s surely a religious matter, the context is lost at this point but that our best estimate.
  - BitwiseFool 4y ago
    It is believed that ancient computersmiths were a superstitious caste. They believed in an entity known as "World", and it was custom to greet this deity as both a recognition of its power and an invocation to receive it's divine favor. Computersmiths were also known to compose poetry documenting their capabilities. It was typical for computersmiths to update this prose, commonly referred to as a 'resume', upon successfully greeting World.
- otikik 4y ago
  Thank you, now I feel preemtively ashamed
shakezula 4y ago
I am almost certain there will be because we already have people intensely interested in source code from the 50s and 60s.
- TremendousJudge 4y ago
  Yeah, a great example is this presentation[1] about the Apollo guidance computer. The guy is really, really into it and it just makes the presentation amazing. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1J2RMorJXM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1J2RMorJXM
acheron 4y ago
"I want my warp engines, Mr. Laforge." https://abstrusegoose.com/323 https://abstrusegoose.com/323

athenot 4y ago

Here's one stone: 99 Bottles of beer, in 1500 languages https://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net https://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net

shagie 4y ago

The Long Now Foundation has (had?) a project based on that idea. https://longnow.org/ideas/category/rosetta/ https://longnow.org/ideas/category/rosetta/ and https://rosettaproject.org https://rosettaproject.org > The Rosetta Disk fits in the palm of your hand, yet it contains over 13,000 pages of information on over 1,500 human languages. The pages are microscopically etched and then electroformed in solid nickel, a process that raises the text very slightly - about 100 nanometers - off of the surface of the disk. Each page is only 400 microns across - about the width of 5 human hairs - and can be read through a microscope at 650X as clearly as you would from print in a book. Individual pages are visible at a much lower magnification of 100X. The outer ring of text reads "Languages of the World" in eight major world languages. It uses nickel because of the high melting point and that it is really, really hard to deform nickel.

andrepd 4y ago

There is a project for that which is literally called Rosetta Code :) https://rosettacode.org/wiki/Knuth_shuffle https://rosettacode.org/wiki/Knuth_shuffle