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Hofstadter's Law
Hofstadter's law is a self-referential adage, coined by Douglas Hofstadter in his book ''Gödel, Escher, Bach, Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid'' (1979) to describe the widely experienced difficulty of accurately estimating the time it will take to complete tasks of substantial complexity:''Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid''. 20th anniversary ed., 1999, p. 152. . The law is often cited by programmers in discussions of techniques to improve productivity, such as ''The Mythical Man-Month'' or extreme programming. History In 1979, Hofstadter introduced the law in connection with a discussion of Computer chess, chess-playing computers, which at the time were continually being beaten by Best chess players, top-level human players, despite outpacing humans in depth of recursion (computer science), analysis. Hofstadter wrote: In 1997, the chess computer Deep Blue (chess computer), Deep Blue became the first to beat a human champion by Deep Blue versus Garry ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Self-referential
Self-reference is a concept that involves referring to oneself or one's own attributes, characteristics, or actions. It can occur in language, logic, mathematics, philosophy, and other fields. In natural language, natural or formal languages, self-reference occurs when a Sentence (linguistics), sentence, idea or Well-formed formula, formula refers to itself. The reference may be expressed either directly—through some intermediate sentence or formula—or by means of some Semantics encoding, encoding. In philosophy, self-reference also refers to the ability of a subject to speak of or refer to itself, that is, to have the kind of thought expressed by the first person nominative singular pronoun I (pronoun), "I" in English. Self-reference is studied and has applications in mathematics, philosophy, computer programming, second-order cybernetics, and linguistics, as well as self-referential humor, in humor. Self-referential statements are sometimes paradoxical, and can also be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computer Chess
Computer chess includes both hardware (dedicated computers) and software capable of playing chess. Computer chess provides opportunities for players to practice even in the absence of human opponents, and also provides opportunities for analysis, entertainment and training. Computer chess applications that play at the level of a Chess title, chess grandmaster or higher are available on hardware from supercomputers to Smartphone, smart phones. Standalone chess-playing machines are also available. Stockfish (chess), Stockfish, Leela Chess Zero, GNU Chess, Fruit (software), Fruit, and other free open source applications are available for various platforms. Computer chess applications, whether implemented in hardware or software, use different strategies than humans to choose their moves: they use Heuristic (computer science), heuristic methods to build, search and evaluate Tree (data structure), trees representing sequences of moves from the current position and attempt to execute ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adages
A saying is any concise expression that is especially memorable because of its meaning or style. A saying often shows a wisdom or cultural standard, having different meanings than just the words themselves. Sayings are categorized as follows: * Aphorism: a general, observational truth; "a pithy expression of wisdom or truth". ** Proverb, adage or saw: a widely known or popular aphorism that has gained credibility by long use or tradition. ** Apothegm/Apophthegm: "an edgy, more cynical aphorism; such as, 'Men are generally more careful of the breed of their horses and dogs than of their children.'" * Axiom: a proposition that commends itself to general acceptance; a well-established or universally conceded principle; a maxim, rule, or law.''Oxford English Dictionary'' Online, accessed 2012-04-28 * Cliché or bromide: an unoriginal and overused saying. ** Platitude: a cliché that is unsuccessfully presented as though it were meaningful, original, or effective. * Epigram: a cle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deep Blue Versus Garry Kasparov
Garry Kasparov, then-world chess champion, world champion in chess, played a pair of six-game matches against Deep Blue (chess computer), Deep Blue, a supercomputer by IBM. Kasparov won the first match, held in Philadelphia in 1996, by 4–2. Deep Blue won a 1997 rematch held in New York City by 3½–2½. The second match was the first defeat of a reigning world chess champion by a computer under tournament conditions, and was the subject of a documentary film, ''Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine''. Impact and symbolic significance Both matches were widely covered by the media, and Deep Blue became a celebrity. After the match, it was reported that IBM had dismantled Deep Blue, but in fact it remained in operation for several years. Prizes were awarded for both matches by the sponsor, IBM Research, with Deep Blue's share going back to IBM. For the first match, the winner was awarded $400,000 and the loser $100,000; for the second match, the winner was awarded $700,000 and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deep Blue (chess Computer)
Deep Blue was a supercomputer for Computer chess, chess-playing based on a customized IBM RS/6000 SP. It was the first computer to win a game, and the first to win a match, against a reigning world champion under regular time controls. Development began in 1985 at Carnegie Mellon University under the name ChipTest. It then moved to IBM, where it was first renamed Deep Thought (chess computer), Deep Thought, then again in 1989 to Deep Blue. It first played world champion Garry Kasparov in a Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov, six-game match in 1996, where it won one, drew two, and lost three games. It was upgraded in 1997, and in a six-game re-match it defeated Kasparov by winning two games and drawing three. Deep Blue's victory is considered a milestone in the history of artificial intelligence and has been the subject of several books and films. History While a doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon University, Feng-hsiung Hsu began development of a chess-playing supercomputer u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Recursion
Recursion occurs when the definition of a concept or process depends on a simpler or previous version of itself. Recursion is used in a variety of disciplines ranging from linguistics to logic. The most common application of recursion is in mathematics and computer science, where a function (mathematics), function being defined is applied within its own definition. While this apparently defines an infinite number of instances (function values), it is often done in such a way that no infinite loop or infinite chain of references can occur. A process that exhibits recursion is ''recursive''. Video feedback displays recursive images, as does an infinity mirror. Formal definitions In mathematics and computer science, a class of objects or methods exhibits recursive behavior when it can be defined by two properties: * A simple ''base case'' (or cases) — a terminating scenario that does not use recursion to produce an answer * A ''recursive step'' — a set of rules that reduce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Recursion (computer Science)
In computer science, recursion is a method of solving a computational problem where the solution depends on solutions to smaller instances of the same problem. Recursion solves such recursion, recursive problems by using function (computer science), functions that call themselves from within their own code. The approach can be applied to many types of problems, and recursion is one of the central ideas of computer science. Most computer programming languages support recursion by allowing a function to call itself from within its own code. Some functional programming languages (for instance, Clojure) do not define any looping constructs but rely solely on recursion to repeatedly call code. It is proved in computability theory that these recursive-only languages are Turing complete; this means that they are as powerful (they can be used to solve the same problems) as imperative languages based on control structures such as and . Repeatedly calling a function from within itse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Best Chess Players
Several methods have been suggested for comparing the greatest chess players in history. There is agreement on a statistical system to rate the strengths of current players, called the Elo system, but disagreement about methods used to compare players from different generations who never competed against each other. Statistical methods Elo system The most well known statistical method was devised by Arpad Elo in 1960 and elaborated on in his 1978 book ''The Rating of Chessplayers, Past and Present''. He gave ratings to players corresponding to their performance over the best five-year span of their career. According to this system the highest ratings achieved were: * 2725: José Raúl Capablanca * 2720: Mikhail Botvinnik, Emanuel Lasker * 2700: Mikhail Tal * 2690: Alexander Alekhine, Paul Morphy, Vasily Smyslov Though published in 1978, Elo's list did not include five-year averages for later players Bobby Fischer and Anatoly Karpov. It did list January 1978 ratings of 2780 for F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
InfoWorld
''InfoWorld'' (''IW'') is an American information technology media business. Founded in 1978, it began as a monthly magazine. In 2007, it transitioned to a Web-only publication. Its parent company is International Data Group, and its sister publications include '' Macworld'' and '' PC World''. ''InfoWorld'' is based in San Francisco, with contributors and supporting staff based across the U.S. Since its founding, ''InfoWorld''s readership has largely consisted of IT and business professionals. ''InfoWorld'' focuses on how-to, analysis, and editorial content from a mixture of experienced technology journalists and working technology practitioners. The site averages 4.6 million monthly page views and 1.1 million monthly unique visitors. History The magazine was founded by Jim Warren in 1978 as ''The Intelligent Machines Journal'' (IMJ). It was sold to IDG in late 1979. On 18 February 1980, the magazine name was changed to ''InfoWorld''. In 1986, the Robert X. Cringely colum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adage
A proverb (from ) or an adage is a simple, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and are an example of formulaic speech, formulaic language. A proverbial phrase or a proverbial expression is a type of a conventional saying similar to proverbs and transmitted by oral tradition. The difference is that a proverb is a fixed expression, while a proverbial phrase permits alterations to fit the grammar of the context. Collectively, they form a folklore genre, genre of folklore. Some proverbs exist in more than one language because people borrow them from languages and cultures with which they are in contact. In the West, the Bible (including, but not limited to the Book of Proverbs) and medieval Latin (aided by the work of Erasmus) have played a considerable role in distributing proverbs. Not all Biblical proverbs, however, were distributed to the same extent: one scholar has gathered evidence to show th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Extreme Programming
Extreme programming (XP) is a software development methodology intended to improve software quality and responsiveness to changing customer requirements. As a type of agile software development,"Human Centred Technology Workshop 2006 ", 2006, PDFHuman Centred Technology Workshop 2006 /ref> it advocates frequent releases in short development cycles, intended to improve productivity and introduce checkpoints at which new customer requirements can be adopted. Other elements of extreme programming include programming in pairs or doing extensive code review, unit testing of all code, not programming features until they are actually needed, a flat management structure, code simplicity and clarity, expecting changes in the customer's requirements as time passes and the problem is better understood, and frequent communication with the customer and among programmers. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Mythical Man-Month
''The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering'' is a book on software engineering and project management by Fred Brooks first published in 1975, with subsequent editions in 1982 and 1995. Its central theme is that adding manpower to a software project that is behind schedule delays it even longer. This idea is known as Brooks's law, and is presented along with the second-system effect and advocacy of Software prototyping, prototyping. Brooks's observations are based on his experiences at IBM while managing the development of OS/360. He had added more programmers to a project falling behind schedule, a decision that he would later conclude had, counter-intuitively, delayed the project even further. He also made the mistake of asserting that one project—involved in writing an ALGOL compiler—would require six months, regardless of the number of workers involved (it required longer). The tendency for managers to repeat such errors in project development led Brooks to qui ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
