[SIGCIS-Members] the nature of computational error

[Annette Vee]

Hi Matt,

This article might be useful to you, from the special issue of *Computational
Culture *on Rhetoric and Computation that Jim Brown and I co-edited:

Matthew Bellinger. “The Rhetoric of Error in Digital Media.” *Computational
Culture* 5 (15th January 2016).
http://computationalculture.net/the-rhetoric-of-error-in-digital-media-2/.

Good luck!
Annette

On Fri, Jul 3, 2020 at 2:37 PM Chuck House <housec1839 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Matthew, the ‘famous’ error before the Pentium bug was the “Inverse Log of
> 2.02” error in the original HP35 handheld calculator.    We wound up
> replacing a lot of firmware as a result.
>
>
>
> The bug is described well down in this article
> http://www.hpcc.org/calculators/wmjarts.html
>
>
>
> For my talk at the ACM History of Personal Computing January 1986, here is
> the video https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102695114
>
> In it at minute 51:00, Tom Osborne, the key creator of HP’s 9100 and HP 35
> describes the issue surrounding this “Inverse log of 2.02” error.   This is
> the only description I’ve ever heard
>
>
>
> Chuck House
>
> www.innovascapesinstitute.com
>
> www.anywhereanytime.io/covid19
>
>
>
> [image: signature_656552628]
>
>
>
> http://innovascapes.blogspot.com
>
> 805-570-6706
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From: *Members <members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Matthew
> Kirschenbaum <mkirschenbaum at gmail.com>
> *Date: *Friday, July 3, 2020 at 10:55 AM
> *To: *members <members at sigcis.org>
> *Subject: *[SIGCIS-Members] the nature of computational error
>
>
>
> Hello all,
>
>
>
> I am interested in a better understanding of the nature of computational
> error. My sense is that actual, literal (mathematical) mistakes in modern
> computers are quite rare; the notorious Pentium bug of the early 1990s is
> the exception that proves the rule. Most bugs are, rather, code proceeding
> to a perfectly correct logical outcome that just so happens to be inimical
> or intractable to the user and/or other dependent elements of the system.
> The Y2K "bug," for instance, was actually code executing in ways that were
> entirely internally self-consistent, however much havoc the code would
> wreak (or was expected to wreak).
>
>
>
> Can anyone recommend reading that will help me formulate such thoughts
> with greater confidence and accuracy? Or serve as a corrective? I'd like to
> read something fundamental and even philosophical about, as my subject line
> has it, *the nature of computational error*. I'd also be interested in
> collecting other instances comparable to the Pentium bug--bugs that were
> actual flaws and mistakes hardwired at the deepest levels of a system.
>
>
>
> Thank you-- Matt
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Matthew Kirschenbaum
> Professor of English and Digital Studies
> Director, Graduate Certificate in Digital Studies
> Printer's Devil, BookLab
> University of Maryland
>
> mgk at umd.edu
>
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