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Dear SIGCISers,<br>
<br>
as long as the conversation is going wonderfully astray, I'd like to
seize upon a momentarily less trodden path. Paul wrote:<br>
<font color="#3333ff"><i><br>
</i><i>As an added idea to the discussion on language, we should
also recognize non-written languages use widely by engineers and
modelers (e.g., block languages, or the diagrams of Bush’s
analyzer). These are documented forms of communication, and so
forms of language.</i></font><br>
<br>
I'm writing a little piece at the moment on the Shannon's diagram in
consolidating certain notions of communication in broader scientific
and popular fields. Can anyone recommend relevant literature on the
origins of the block diagram <i>writ large</i>? And I've been
surprised not to see any similar diagrams in the earlier papers by
Nyquist or Hartley. Anyone have any good citations for key moments
in the appearance of block diagrams in electrical engineering-type
fields? <br>
<br>
Apart from Erhard Schuettpelz's "Eine Ikonographie der Stoerung:
Shannons Flussdiagramm der Kommunikation," I haven't found a lot of
super relevant material for zeroing in on this particular problem of
the diagram. David Kaiser and Deleuze have some great tips for
thinking about the work of diagrams and diagrammatic reason but I'd
like to find some primary or secondary literature for thinking about
its development of digital computing, information theory, electrical
engineering, and so on. Tips?<br>
<br>
Thanks for any thoughts,<br>
Bernard<br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:ACD35C53-013E-49B7-9C0B-42B6DA0EAFB4@gmail.com"
type="cite">
<div><br>
</div>
<div>-paul</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>
<div>And, one last thing, does anybody know why did Von
Neumann choose the term "automata"? Just a coincidence ?
<br>
<br>
</div>
Best,<br>
<br>
</div>
David Nofre<br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On 6 November 2014 09:17, Mark
Priestley <span dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:m.priestley@gmail.com" target="_blank">m.priestley@gmail.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<p dir="ltr">Menabrea wrote, concerning the Analytical
Engine:</p>
<p dir="ltr">"the cards are merely a translation of
algebraical formulae, or, to express it better,
another fom of analytical notation" (quoted on p. 60
of my book "The Science of Operations").</p>
<p dir="ltr">which maybe counts as an early explicit
connection between "programming notations" and
"language" (scare quotes emphasized). Even the cards
of the AE are being described here as language-like.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Once you've got mechanical agency, real or
envisaged, it seems to have been very natural for
people - eg Babbage, Stibitz, Hopper - to think in
terms of communication, and the language metaphor
seems to enter as a way of categorizing to the kind of
communication going on between humans and calculating
machines.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Cheers,<br>
Mark</p>
<div class="HOEnZb">
<div class="h5">
<div class="gmail_quote">On 6 Nov 2014 01:04, "David
Alan Grier" <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:grier@gwu.edu" target="_blank">grier@gwu.edu</a>>
wrote:<br type="attribution">
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0
0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc
solid;padding-left:1ex"> If we are going to
Lovelace, then we need to go to the Memoirs of
the Analytical Society. "It is the spirit of
this symbolic language, by that mechanical fact,
which carries the eye at one glance through the
most intricate modifications of quantity, to
condense pages into lines and volumes into
pages; shortening the road to discovery, and
preserving the mind unfatigued by the continued
efforts of attention to the minor parts that it
may exert its whole vigor on those which are
important". Babbage and Herschel wrote it.
Babbage referenced it in his later writings.
Lovelace would have certainly known it.<br>
<br>
<br>
David<br>
--------------------------------<br>
David Alan Grier<br>
Past President, IEEE Computer Society<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://video.dagrier.net/"
target="_blank">http://video.dagrier.net</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://erranthashtag.dagrier.net/"
target="_blank">http://erranthashtag.dagrier.net</a><br>
<br>
Associate Professor, International Science &
Technology Policy<br>
Elliott School of International Affairs<br>
George Washington University<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:grier@gwu.edu" target="_blank">grier@gwu.edu</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On Nov 5, 2014, at 2:07 PM, McMillan, William W
<<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:william.mcmillan@cuaa.edu"
target="_blank">william.mcmillan@cuaa.edu</a>>
wrote:<br>
<br>
> Do these notes by Ada Lovelace count"<br>
><br>
> 'The bounds of arithmetic were however
outstepped the moment the idea of applying the
cards had occurred; and the Analytical Engine
does not occupy common ground with mere
“calculating machines.” It holds a position
wholly its own; and the considerations it
suggests are most interesting in their nature.
In enabling mechanism to combine together
general symbols in successions of unlimited
variety and extent, a uniting link is
established between the operations of matter and
the abstract mental processes of the most
abstract branch of mathematical science. A new,
a vast, and a powerful language is developed for
the future use of analysis, in which to wield
its truths so that these may become of more
speedy and accurate practical application for
the purposes of mankind than the means hitherto
in our possession have rendered possible. Thus
not only the mental and the material, but the
theoretical and the practical in the
mathematical world, are brought into more
intimate and effective connexion with each
other. We are not aware of its being on record
that anything partaking in the nature of what is
so well designated the Analytical Engine has
been hitherto proposed, or even thought of, as a
practical possibility, any more than the idea of
a thinking or of a reasoning machine'<br>
><br>
> [emphasis added]<br>
><br>
> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.fourmilab.ch/babbage/sketch.html"
target="_blank">https://www.fourmilab.ch/babbage/sketch.html</a><br>
><br>
> Her use of "language" here seems to be
specific to the expression of computation and
reasoning.<br>
><br>
> - Bill<br>
><br>
><br>
> ________________________________<br>
> From: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org"
target="_blank">members-bounces@sigcis.org</a>
[<a moz-do-not-send="true"
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target="_blank">members-bounces@sigcis.org</a>]
on behalf of Marie Gevers [<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:marie.gevers@unamur.be"
target="_blank">marie.gevers@unamur.be</a>]<br>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2014 4:13 AM<br>
> To: members<br>
> Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Origin of
'language'?<br>
><br>
> I wonder by whom and when the word
'language' was used for the first time in the
framework of computer sciences.<br>
> Can anybody enlighten me?<br>
> Thanks in advance.<br>
><br>
> Marie<br>
> --<br>
> [<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:cid%3Apart1.03020706.06070701@unamur.be"
target="_blank">cid:part1.03020706.06070701@unamur.be</a>]<br>
><br>
> Prof. Marie d'UDEKEM-GEVERS<br>
> Chargée de cours<br>
> Conseillère à la formation<br>
> Professeure invitée au Collège Belgique<br>
><br>
> Faculté d'Informatique et<br>
> Centre d'Etudes Sciences et PHIlosophie à
Namur (ESPHIN)<br>
> Centre de Recherche Information, Droit
& Société (CRIDS)<br>
><br>
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target="_blank">http://www.academieroyale.be/cgi?usr=bb58g68qxq&lg=fr&pag=919&tab=111&rec=513&frm=368&par=secorig1018&id=5337&flux=83265846</a><br>
><br>
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<div>
<div style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;">Paul Fishwick, PhD</div>
<div style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode:
space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;">Chair,
ACM SIGSIM</div>
<div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode:
space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;">Distinguished
University Chair of Arts & Technology </div>
<div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode:
space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"> and
Professor of Computer Science</div>
<div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode:
space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;">Director,
Creative Automata Laboratory</div>
<div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode:
space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;">The
University of Texas at Dallas</div>
<div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode:
space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;">Arts
& Technology</div>
<div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode:
space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;">800
West Campbell Road, AT10</div>
<div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode:
space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;">Richardson,
TX 75080-3021</div>
</div>
<div style="orphans: 2; widows: 2; word-wrap: break-word;
-webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break:
after-white-space;">Home: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://utdallas.edu/atec/fishwick">utdallas.edu/atec/fishwick</a></div>
<div style="orphans: 2; widows: 2; word-wrap: break-word;
-webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break:
after-white-space;">Blog: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://creative-automata.com">creative-automata.com</a></div>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
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</blockquote>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Dr. Bernard Dionysius Geoghegan
Institut für Kulturwissenschaft
Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.bernardg.com">www.bernardg.com</a></pre>
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