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> This really just boils down to complexity and verbosity No, it doesn't. Hardware really is fundamentally different from software because it is constrained b

by lisper 4y ago

> This really just boils down to complexity and verbosity No, it doesn't. Hardware really is fundamentally different from software because it is constrained by the laws of physics (and economics) in ways that software is not. So, for example, even complicated components tend to get fabricated in a way that the constituents are physically co-located with each other. That's why you can take a photo of an actual physical chip and draw boundaries around the various parts. Not only that, but those boundaries tend to be rectangles. So even complex hardware naturally lends itself to simple representations in 2-D space with intuitive mappings between the representation and the underlying (physical) reality. None of that is true for software.

eternalban 4y ago
One can get lost talking about such details. It is a fact that the act of programming is a very elaborate means of modeling physical events. In fact we can simply map language->compiler->machine-code->physical-device and note that our programs in language x are in fact obscure models directing physical devices. Fundamentally (as significant to software), physics gets you Pauli Exclusion, relative time, distance, and of course energy (computational power). This has huge ramifications for software and why it resists becoming an 'engineering' field. But it does -not- imo preclude the possibility of effective and comprehensive notation for software definition. p.s. since you are a lisper, you are already 1/2 way there to a universal modeling approach. I assume you would answer in affirmative to the question 'is there a viable universal textual notation for defining software?' with "Yes, it's called s-expression'. [In that case you would be] simply denying that a graphical analog can be developed. On that, consider the janky [early] attempts of everyone's ancestors in developing their alphabet/glpyh systems, currently in use.
- lisper 4y ago
  > programming is a very elaborate means of modeling physical events The operative word being events. Hardware design is not about events, it's about putting the right kind of atom in the right place, which is a lot harder than moving some electrons from A to B at the right time.

by lisper 4y ago

eternalban 4y ago

One can get lost talking about such details. It is a fact that the act of programming is a very elaborate means of modeling physical events. In fact we can simply map language->compiler->machine-code->physical-device and note that our programs in language x are in fact obscure models directing physical devices. Fundamentally (as significant to software), physics gets you Pauli Exclusion, relative time, distance, and of course energy (computational power). This has huge ramifications for software and why it resists becoming an 'engineering' field. But it does -not- imo preclude the possibility of effective and comprehensive notation for software definition. p.s. since you are a lisper, you are already 1/2 way there to a universal modeling approach. I assume you would answer in affirmative to the question 'is there a viable universal textual notation for defining software?' with "Yes, it's called s-expression'. [In that case you would be] simply denying that a graphical analog can be developed. On that, consider the janky [early] attempts of everyone's ancestors in developing their alphabet/glpyh systems, currently in use.

lisper 4y ago
> programming is a very elaborate means of modeling physical events The operative word being events. Hardware design is not about events, it's about putting the right kind of atom in the right place, which is a lot harder than moving some electrons from A to B at the right time.