Here’s Edsger Dijkstra discussing the birth of the use of axiomatics in computer science – the start of “formal methods” research. What’s striking is the
Read moreRecursion and state
Despite some deep results, algebraic automata theory has fallen out of favor in theoretical computer science. Reasons include the disciplines failings such as a love
Read moreAre threads evil? (updated)
This paper by Prof. Edward Lee explains something of why “threads” are such a painful abstraction. As Prof. Lee notes, threads intrinsically create unspecified program
Read moreDijkstra versus Perlis (updated)
Dijkstra wrote: He [Perlis] published a very obnoxious paper arguing against a mathematical approach to programming cite The paper by De Millo, Lipton and Perlis starts as
Read moreMeaning of concurrent programs and IP
Most of the new draft of the Concurrent Programs paper has to do with trying to specify problems and solutions in synchronization via an atomic
Read moreUpdated: meaning of concurrent programs
Updated rough draft available with thrilling descriptions of atomic compare and swap and some comments on “formal methods”. Bonus photo
Read moreNew paper “H2” on operating system semantics
Please see a new version here. I am continuing to try to develop a practical engineering mathematics for operating system and other complex system code.
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