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‘The Singularity’ is Coming … Or is it?
(The first of two posts distilled from a talk given at the 2011 Wrexham Science Festival. The second part, ‘Dawn of the Intelligent Machines?, appears separately. However, both have a common thread...
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The Glorious Gödel
This might seem a bit off-track but a blog inspired, even loosely, by Alan Turing, can hardly not mention Kurt Gödel. In simple terms, it could be said that Gödel was to Mathematics what Turing was to...
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Dawn of the Intelligent Machines?
(The second of two posts distilled from a talk given at the 2011 Wrexham Science Festival. The first part, ‘The Singularity is Coming … Or Is It?‘, appears separately. However, both have a common...
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How to Write a Really Bad Program
(A case study in bad and good algorithm design. Hopefully, a bit of fun for anyone in a programming frame of mind, but also serving as a useful reference for the ‘Are There Any Hard Problems?’ post...
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The ‘Real’ Internet of Things
(This post is derived from a talk given at the 2012 Wrexham Science Festival.) There are so many different ways of describing the Internet of Things. On the one hand, maybe it’s what the original...
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Are There Any Hard Problems?
That looks like a hopelessly vague question, and it is unless we’re prepared to clarify it a bit. On the other hand, we already know there are some impossible problems so surely there are some that...
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Maths and Programming Working Together
When the Four Colour Theorem (FCT) was finally ‘proved’ in 1976, it upset a lot of mathematicians. It was the first significant mathematical concept to be proved with a good deal of help from a...
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An Alternative to “Hello world!”
There’s an appreciable risk that this post may be considered sacrilegious within the programming world. If there’s one thing, even just one tiny, single thing, that every programmer knows about...
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The Problem with ‘Futurology’
What’s your favourite terrible technological prediction? There are plenty to choose from, that’s for sure. The following is just a brief list of the most infamous computing-based futurology howlers...
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Restarting Computing in UK Schools
A somewhat more down-to-earth post, this one; an overview of, and a case study in, the wonderful revolution in Computing and Computer Science currently taking place in British schools. Adapted from a...
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“To the Finish”… and Beyond?
Can we continue to make computing devices smaller and/or faster? Can we do this without limit? If so, how? What’s the next generation? Microchip designers use a wonderful armoury of terminology,...
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A Christmas Cracker Algorithm!
T’is the season to be jolly … and silly. So here’s a seasonal and jolly silly example of why it’s hard to implement high-level languages efficiently. Liberties are taken with the hardware/software...
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The Algorithm of Evolution
(Does nature ‘run programs’? And, if it does, are the ‘algorithms’ any good?) So, what is an algorithm? No, not that; this is a far more fundamental question. What IS is algorithm? Animal?...
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‘Things’ Ain’t What They Used to Be
(or “Is ‘Everything’ Going to be OK?”) A very brief note, this one, along the lines of, “Why do we always over-hype ideas? Even the good ones?” So is it the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) or the ‘Internet...
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Whatever Happened to Computing in Wales?
Two years ago, Wales was leading the way in the Computing revolution in schools. Now it’s falling behind the rest of the UK. What happened? 2012 was an exciting year to be involved in schools...
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It’s That Time of Year Again!
Universities are being increasingly forced to take ‘league tables’ seriously and the next month or so will see a variety of versions appear but how useful really are they? Movement up and down the...
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What Does the Turing Test Test?
So, a computer has passed the ‘Turing Test’ for ‘intelligence’, has it? No, not really; in fact, no, not at all. But, boy, has it stirred up some public interest in the subject? That alone has to be...
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To Be or Not To Be? A Logical Perspective
Another silly one, this month; it’s summer, it’s hot and time is short both for writing and reading. Even computer scientists are allowed time off … OK then … “To be, or not to be, that is the...
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Shazam for People?
When Shazam first arrived on the scene, it was pretty amazing stuff; now, we rather take it for granted. But could the same idea soon work for people? We know the scenario … You’re in a bar or a shop...
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How Many Computer Scientists Does it Take to Change a Light Bulb?
… and other wild and carefree – probably offensive – stereotypes. A collection of ‘light-hearted’ (see what we did there?) thoughts and anecdotes trying to get to the bottom of what makes a Computer...
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