4 ms·
Looks like it. A.K. Dewdney did a computer recreations column in Scientific American back in the eighties with a nice exposition of how to do a basic star clus
by buescher 3y ago
Looks like it. A.K. Dewdney did a computer recreations column in Scientific American back in the eighties with a nice exposition of how to do a basic star cluster simulation. Only practical with a lot fewer “stars” on the gear I had available then. It used Euler’s method iirc.
- jhbadger 3y agoSpeaking of which, Dewdney recently passed away on March 9th but I haven't seen any notice of it on HN or other CS-related sites. I know he alienated a lot of people with his unfortunate turn to conspiracy theory after 9/11, but he really contributed a lot to popular interest in CS and recreational mathematics in the 1980s and 1990s through his Scientific American articles and his books.
- buescher 3y agoI'm sorry to hear that. His columns and books were a big influence.
- epiccoleman 3y agoOh man, what a trip to see Dewdney mentioned. I have a copy of The Magic Machine on my shelf which I (unintentionally) stole from my university library at the end of my senior year. His work was pretty influential on me, inspiring me to keep exploring programming at a time when my day to day work in the subject was often painfully boring.