ABSTRACTION, LAW, AND FREEDOM IN COMPUTER SCIENCE.
Laws of computer science are prescriptive in nature but can have descriptive analogs in the physical sciences. Here, we describe a law of conservation of information in network programming, and various laws of computational motion (invariants) for programming in general, along with their pedagogical...
| Publicado en: | Metaphilosophy Vol. 41; no. 3; pp. 345 - 365 |
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| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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Wiley-Blackwell
Apr2010
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=49205858&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 49205858 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00261068 9OM jtl: Metaphilosophy issn: 00261068 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Apr2010 vid: 41 iid: 3 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell artinfo: ui: 49205858 10.1111/j.1467-9973.2010.01631.x ppf: 345 ppct: 20 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 252KB tig: atl: ABSTRACTION, LAW, AND FREEDOM IN COMPUTER SCIENCE. aug: au: COLBURN, TIMOTHY SHUTE, GARY affil: Department of Computer Science, University of Minnesota, 320 Heller Hall, UMD, Duluth, MN 55812, USA su: Abstract thought Computer science Liberty Jurisprudence Philosophy sug: subj: Abstract thought Computer science Liberty Jurisprudence Philosophy keyword: abstraction computer science freedom invariants law ab: Laws of computer science are prescriptive in nature but can have descriptive analogs in the physical sciences. Here, we describe a law of conservation of information in network programming, and various laws of computational motion (invariants) for programming in general, along with their pedagogical utility. Invariants specify constraints on objects in abstract computational worlds, so we describe language and data abstraction employed by software developers and compare them to Floridi's concept of levels of abstraction. We also consider Floridi's structural account of reality and its fit for describing abstract computational worlds. Being abstract, such worlds are products of programmers' creative imaginations, so any “laws” in these worlds are easily broken. The worlds of computational objects need laws in the form of self-prescribed invariants, but the suspension of these laws might be creative acts. Bending the rules of abstract reality facilitates algorithm design, as we demonstrate through the example of search trees. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Metaphilosophy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Metaphilosophy holder: Wiley-Blackwell dt: @attributes: year: 2010 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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