What is Computation and Information?

objectives:

• an attempt at unpacking in layman's terms what is computation and information.
• explore humanity's current implementation of computation.

def computation¹: the transformation of sequences of symbols by precise rules(Konrad, 2015:6)

• symbols = {1,0,*,{,;,<,>,...}
  • example sequences:
    • 11010
    • ;*>{11}
      i.e. any sequence of the valid symbols
• precise rules = steps to follow

def computation²: The evolution process of some environment, by a sequence of "simple, local" steps (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).

plain english:

• def computation: a list of steps to do something
• def compute: to do/run a computation.

a formal classification scheme is maintained here:

• https://dl.acm.org/ccs
• https://zbmath.org/classification/?q=cc%3A68

History:

• https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/computing-history/

State of the art:

• Quanta Magazine: https://www.quantamagazine.org/computer-science/
• ACM: https://dl.acm.org/
• Development: https://www.infoq.com/development/
• Architecture & Design: https://www.infoq.com/architecture-design/
• AI, ML & Data Engineering: https://www.infoq.com/ai-ml-data-eng/ https://read.deeplearning.ai/the-batch/
• Culture & Methods: https://www.infoq.com/culture-methods/
• DevOps: https://www.infoq.com/devops/

Community:

Computer Scientists:

• ACM Turing Interviews: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUJ01nRE7r0&list=PLn0nrSd4xjjaSLBSzmno-3Ods6FJE9nlO&index=16

References:

• Konrad H. 2015. Computation in Science. Morgan & Claypool Publishers.
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. The Church-Turing Thesis. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/church-turing/.

Legend:

Q: Question for later research

MYINC: My Insight/Conjecture [Could Be Unoriginal/False and Likely Is]

Disclaimer: This is an ongoing and incomplete project to unpack these concepts and serve as distributed memory.