eugene@eos.UUCP (Eugene Miya) (10/03/89)
In article <4125@pegasus.ATT.COM> psrc@pegasus.ATT.COM (Paul S. R. Chisholm) writes: >Yeah, I know, the last thing software people need is more chaos.-) But >seriously, I'm partway through CHAOS: THE MAKING OF A NEW SCIENCE by A great joke! 8) The problem with this book is the non-linear dynamics has become yet another scientific fad. One can't even go into a restaurant locally to hear someone say some nonsense. I do not work in the field, but know a few people who do. Do not use the word "chaos" near some of them anymore. (Like the expression "Santa Cruz [the University] does not do chaos any more.") >Has anyone found any references to applying chaos theory to software? See Hubermann's The Ecology of Computation. Hubermann is in the last chapter of Gleick, he also has a Virtual Journal. If you want pictures, Cliff Pickover's journal at IBM is popular. Hum.... No one mentioned either of these? Another gross generalization from --eugene miya, NASA Ames Research Center, eugene@aurora.arc.nasa.gov resident cynic at the Rock of Ages Home for Retired Hackers: "You trust the `reply' command with all those different mailers out there?" "If my mail does not reach you, please accept my apology." {ncar,decwrl,hplabs,uunet}!ames!eugene Live free or die.
UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) (10/03/89)
I don't know of any hard mathematical work, but if you are willing to accept
analogies, consider:
Most models exhibiting chaotic behavior share three traits. (1) The system
is characterized by a state descritpion, (2) the system is embedded in an
environemnt that is also characterized by a state description, and (3) the
new state of the system depends in a non-linear way on the previous system
state and the environment state.
Now, to me, this sounds like an accurate though very abstract descritpion
of just about every big computer system I've ever seen.
What can we (tentatively) conclude? We should expect our systems to be
very difficult to control. Sounds like reality, no?
lee