The Second Age of Computer Science: From ALGOL Genes to Neural Nets

356 Pages·2018·4.21 MB·English

by  Subrata Dasgupta

The Second Age of Computer Science

The Second Age of Computer Science
FROM ALGOL GENES TO NEURAL NETS
Subrata Dasgupta
1
1
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Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Dasgupta, Subrata, author.
Title: The second age of computer science : from ALGOL genes to neural nets / Subrata Dasgupta.
Description: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2018. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017057808 | ISBN 9780190843861
Subjects: LCSH: Computer science—History—20th century. | Genetic programming
(Computer science) | ALGOL (Computer program language) | Neural networks (Computer science)
Classification: LCC QA76.17 .D363 2018 | DDC 004.09—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017057808
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America
To
Sarmistha (Mithu) Dasgupta
and
Heidi Holmquist

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Prologue xi
1. Algol Genes 1
2. Abstractions All the Way 27
3. In the Name of Architecture 59
4. Getting to Know Parallelism 101
5. Very Formal Affairs 144
6. A Symbolic Science of Intelligence 178
7. M aking (Bio)Logical Connections 227
Epilogue: “Progress” in the Second Age of Computer Science 269
Bibliography 283
Index 309
vii

Acknowledgments
Thank you Jeremy lewis, my publisher at Oxford University Press, who embraced
this project from the day he received the manuscript. As always, it has been a pleasure
working with him.
Thank you Anna Langley, editor at OUP, for all your help.
Lincy Priya steered this project very professionally from final manuscript to print.
I thank her and her production team at Newgen.
My thanks to Victoria Danahy for her careful, nuanced, and informed copyediting.
Her comments as “asides” were always interesting.
Thank you Elman Bashar who took time off from his own work to create the images
that appear in this book.
Four anonymous reviewers read drafts of some of the chapters on behalf of the pub-
lisher and offered thoughtful and invaluable comments. I thank them, though I would
have preferred to acknowledge them by name.
Finally, as always, my thanks to Mithu, Deep, Heidi, and Shome.
ix