3 ms·

tl;dr a variation of merge sort. Which is still one of the best sorting algorithms ever devised. Pretty impressive for the first stored computer program ever.

by varjag 2y ago

larodi 2y ago
Impressive also Knuth decided to represent the math as assembly for CLARITY. Sounds like a major blow to math notation when it comes to algorithms…
- 082349872349872 2y ago
  Given that von Neumann had his name lent to "von Neumann regular" elements and rings (exercise: what, if any, is the relation to "regular expression"?), I suspect he could've come up with an algorithm notation that was both (a) exceedingly well suited to expressing FSM implementations, yet (b) inscrutable to all of us who grew up with assembly as a lingua franca.
- vajrabum 2y ago
  His books are filled with assembly code. He created a machine and an assembly language to be vendor independent for his famous book series The Art Of Computer Programming. I first saw this in 1978 when I took data structures and I remember thinking that was a bit idiosyncratic even then. Among all the things Professor Knuth is famous for is writing an Algol compiler for the Burroughs 205 in assembly on paper over one summer just after he graduated from college. There's a handwritten listing of it at the computer history museum. It's pretty interesting and shows off how he programmed and thought about programming in 1960-1961. It's probably not terribly different from how other people programmed back then but he was better at it than most. https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102724576 https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/10272457...
  - pmcjones 2y ago
    And here is Paul Kimpel's story about how he got that compiler running (or at least limping) on his B205 emulator: https://datatron.blogspot.com/2015/11/knuths-algol-58-compiler.html https://datatron.blogspot.com/2015/11/knuths-algol-58-compil...
    - vajrabum 2y ago
      That was wonderful. That equipment is 2 or 3 generations older than my first experiences, but I remember some of the same fiddly nature when doing bare metal (well cross assembler) programming in the late 1970s on a TI-980B that had a card reader, tape, a small removable disk, and some sort of terminal. Maybe a silent 700? I don't quite remember. It was fun at the time.
082349872349872 2y ago
Stored program computing didn't spring out of Zeus' forehead; radix and merge sorting were already a computing thing in the epoch of punched cards.
- varjag 2y ago
  Merging on a collator is different from merge sort. And yes, the concept of sorting was known before von Neumann. Still, not sure about you but my first computer program was quite a bit more basic, so allow me to remain impressed.
  - Sharlin 2y ago
    Well, out of all people it was von Neumann, who at six years old could divide eight-digit numbers in his head, and who even his fellow "Martians" [1] speculated might not be merely human. "I have sometimes wondered whether a brain like von Neumann’s does not indicate a species superior to that of man." – Hans Bethe "von Neumann would carry on a conversation with my 3-year-old son, and the two of them would talk as equals, and I sometimes wondered if he used the same principle when he talked to the rest of us." – Edward Teller “There was a seminar for advanced students in Zürich that I was teaching and von Neumann was in the class. I came to a certain theorem, and I said it is not proved and it may be difficult. von Neumann didn’t say anything but after five minutes he raised his hand. When I called on him he went to the blackboard and proceeded to write down the proof. After that I was afraid of von Neumann” – George Pólya [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martians_(scientists) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martians_(scientists)
    - 082349872349872 2y ago
      > he went to the blackboard and proceeded to write down the proof. cf Kolmogorov, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40444641 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40444641
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

tl;dr a variation of merge sort. Which is still one of the best sorting algorithms ever devised. Pretty impressive for the first stored computer program ever.

by varjag 2y ago

tl;dr a variation of merge sort. Which is still one of the best sorting algorithms ever devised. Pretty impressive for the first stored computer program ever.

larodi 2y ago

Impressive also Knuth decided to represent the math as assembly for CLARITY. Sounds like a major blow to math notation when it comes to algorithms…

082349872349872 2y ago
Given that von Neumann had his name lent to "von Neumann regular" elements and rings (exercise: what, if any, is the relation to "regular expression"?), I suspect he could've come up with an algorithm notation that was both (a) exceedingly well suited to expressing FSM implementations, yet (b) inscrutable to all of us who grew up with assembly as a lingua franca.
vajrabum 2y ago
His books are filled with assembly code. He created a machine and an assembly language to be vendor independent for his famous book series The Art Of Computer Programming. I first saw this in 1978 when I took data structures and I remember thinking that was a bit idiosyncratic even then. Among all the things Professor Knuth is famous for is writing an Algol compiler for the Burroughs 205 in assembly on paper over one summer just after he graduated from college. There's a handwritten listing of it at the computer history museum. It's pretty interesting and shows off how he programmed and thought about programming in 1960-1961. It's probably not terribly different from how other people programmed back then but he was better at it than most. https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102724576 https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/10272457...
- pmcjones 2y ago
  And here is Paul Kimpel's story about how he got that compiler running (or at least limping) on his B205 emulator: https://datatron.blogspot.com/2015/11/knuths-algol-58-compiler.html https://datatron.blogspot.com/2015/11/knuths-algol-58-compil...
  - vajrabum 2y ago
    That was wonderful. That equipment is 2 or 3 generations older than my first experiences, but I remember some of the same fiddly nature when doing bare metal (well cross assembler) programming in the late 1970s on a TI-980B that had a card reader, tape, a small removable disk, and some sort of terminal. Maybe a silent 700? I don't quite remember. It was fun at the time.

082349872349872 2y ago

Stored program computing didn't spring out of Zeus' forehead; radix and merge sorting were already a computing thing in the epoch of punched cards.

varjag 2y ago
Merging on a collator is different from merge sort. And yes, the concept of sorting was known before von Neumann. Still, not sure about you but my first computer program was quite a bit more basic, so allow me to remain impressed.
- Sharlin 2y ago
  Well, out of all people it was von Neumann, who at six years old could divide eight-digit numbers in his head, and who even his fellow "Martians" [1] speculated might not be merely human. "I have sometimes wondered whether a brain like von Neumann’s does not indicate a species superior to that of man." – Hans Bethe "von Neumann would carry on a conversation with my 3-year-old son, and the two of them would talk as equals, and I sometimes wondered if he used the same principle when he talked to the rest of us." – Edward Teller “There was a seminar for advanced students in Zürich that I was teaching and von Neumann was in the class. I came to a certain theorem, and I said it is not proved and it may be difficult. von Neumann didn’t say anything but after five minutes he raised his hand. When I called on him he went to the blackboard and proceeded to write down the proof. After that I was afraid of von Neumann” – George Pólya [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martians_(scientists) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martians_(scientists)
  - 082349872349872 2y ago
    > he went to the blackboard and proceeded to write down the proof. cf Kolmogorov, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40444641 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40444641

deleted 2y ago

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