OT: Crazy Programming

[Tim Roberts]

jacob at boris.cd.chalmers.se.cd.chalmers.se (Jacob Hallen) wrote:
>
>Software on the other hand is build out of ideas that do not come in
>standard shapes and it needs to connect to human minds, which are hard
>to mould to any desired shape.

Exactly.  And as long as we continue to think about software in that way,
we will not be able to create vast systems reliably.  One human being, no
matter how clever or skilled, simply cannot fully grasp the software
required to run a global telephone system, or the full complement of
software needed to control an interplanetary cruise chip, for example.

I grant that it won't be nearly as much fun to be a programmer when putting
together software becomes as complicated as connecting together a component
stereo system, but we have to get to that point eventually, or we will
simply outgrow our own abilities.

>Just like it required the development of technology that exceeded humans
>in the amount of power output to replace menial labour and technology
>that exceeded human precision and human speed in order to replace human
>manufacted goods creation, it is going to require an artificial intelligence
>that is superior to human intelligence to turn software creation into
>an industrial process.

Yes, I would agree with that.
--
- Tim Roberts, timr at probo.com
  Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.