7/29/2019 Computer TheNewSciences

1/7

The Computer and Information Sciences: A New Basic Discipline

Author(s): Saul GornReviewed work(s):Source: SIAM Review, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Apr., 1963), pp. 150-155Published by: Society for Industrial and Applied MathematicsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2027479 .

Accessed: 13/06/2012 23:20

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend

access to SIAM Review.

http://www.jstor.org

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=siamhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/2027479?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/2027479?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=siam

7/29/2019 Computer TheNewSciences

2/7

SIAM REovIEwVol. 5, No. 2, April,1963Printed n U.S.A.

THE COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SCIENCES:A NEW BASIC DISCIPLINE*SAUL GORNtINTRODUCTION

IT IS THE BELIEF OF THE AUTHOR thata newbasicdiscipline s emerging hichmightbe called "The Computer nd Informationciences". This fieldmakesapplicationofconceptsfrom he traditionalfieldsof mathematics, hilosophy,linguistics, sychology, ngineering,management cience, ibrary cience, etc.Like all well-definedisciplinesthas, inreturn, pplications ootherdisciplines,and especially o those ustmentioned. xamplesofgeneral opicsofstudy n itmightbe programmingystems, omputer ystemdesign, rtificialntelligence,informationetrieval, tc. The probabilistic nformationheoryof Shannonclearly belongsto this area, but there s a theoryofmechanisticnformationand itsprocessingwhichmust also be included.Thus a central opicinthe newdisciplinewouldbe thesynthesisnd analysisof mechanical anguages nd theirprocessors.To justify he beliefs nd attitudes ust expressedrequires everaltypesofconsideration.Firstof all one shoulddescribe n reasonabledepthsome characteristicsfthe newdiscipline.This we will do by discussingmechanical anguages',withwhich he authorhas beendirectly oncerned.Secondly, ne shoulddescribehow todistinguishhe newarea from hecloselyrelatedones with reasonablesharpness.How would one know,forexample,whether student's ttitudesplace him in this area rather han in one oftheestablished nes? Whatbackground oes he needtogo intothisnewareadeeply,and does thisbackground ifferppreciably rom hatneeded n anyone oftheother reas?

Finallyone should estimatehow such a new discipline an be expectedtodevelop in the present nvironmentf establisheddisciplines.There are mostcertainly oliticalproblemsnitsacceptance n suchenvironments.*Receivedby the editorsDecember17,1962and in revisedformFebruary16, 1963.Presented o theIFIP Congress 2: Session50,Panel Discussionon University ducationin Informationrocessingt Munich,Germany,August 7-September, 1962.An abstractof thispaperwill appearin the Proceedings f thisCongress.The backgroundworkonmechanical anguageswas originally upported y theU. S.Army ignalCorpsfrom 958 o 1960 nderContractDA-36-039-SC-74047othe UniversityofPennsylvania'snstitute orCooperativeResearch nd The MooreSchoolofElectricalEngineering.hisworkwas alsomadepossiblebya jointsupport rom heNational ScienceFoundation NSF-G-14096), heAir Force Officef Scientific esearch (AF-49(638)-951),and ContractAF-30(602)-2382ponsored y theRomeAirDevelopmentCenter,GriffissAir ForceBase, Rome,N. Y.tMechanicalLanguagesProjects,The Moore School ofElectricalEngineering, ni-versity fPennsylvania, hiladelphia.150

7/29/2019 Computer TheNewSciences

3/7

COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SCIENCES: A NEW BASIC DISCIPLINE 151MECHANICAL LANGUAGES

The study fmechanicalanguages s concernedwith hesynthesis nd analysisof systems farrangementsf symbols, nd with the synthesis nd analysis ofprocessorswhichgenerate,recognize, ranslate,and generally nterpret uchsystemsnvariousways.The symbolsmaybe any kindsofsignalswhichmay be sensed,whether heybe visual,aural,tactile, lfactoryrmotor; rwhether heybe electrical, lectro-magnetic,mechanical, eat, bodilymotions, rwhatever.The arrangementsfthe signalsmay be in time or space orboth. The signalsmay be continuousor discrete. Their interpretationmay proceed purely se-quentially rbyan interlocking rocesswithmany partial nterpretationsoingon simultaneously. he arrangementsf the signals may be linear, as on thispage,orinmultidimensionalorm,s inmulticolored iagrams, abular formats,etc.Thus,musicand dancingmight e consideredanguagesby some,but, nanyevent,the score of a symphony, nd the choreographic otationalscore of adanceareexamples fprograms specificationsfprocesses) nmultidimensional,simultaneous-acting,igital,mechanicalanguages.Mechanical languagesare invented o approximate,nd symbolize pproxi-mationsof, processes bout which communications desired. Theirgenerationand interpretation,owever, re also processes, nd,as such, lso needspecifica-tion in some languageor languages,preferablymechanical.The mostcleverlydesignedmechanicalanguages eemto be suchthatthey voke,psychologically,an automaticcomparison etween he interpretive rocesses n the mechanicallanguage itself and the main processesthat that language was inventedtosymbolize.Anexampleheremight e themultidimensionalanguageof tructuralformulaen chemistry.This psychological, houghvague, isomorphismetweenthe linguistic nter-pretationprocess nd the processes he languagewas mainlydesigned o sym-bolize may even carryover to the studyof natural anguages.In any event,it has somethingo do with variousphenomenawhich have becomeapparentrecently ecause of the manifoldmechanical anguages nventedto deal withgeneralpurposedigitalcomputingmachinesn a varietyofapplications nd fora variety fusers nd audiences:a. No matterhow well adapted a mechanical anguage is in its abilitytosymbolize bjectsto a certain udience, herewill nevitably e a desire osymbolizemoreobjectsand to somewhat ifferentudiences.b. No matter how many processesa mechanical anguage can 'simulate',therewill lwaysbea desire o haveitsimulatemore nd somewhat ifferent

processes.c. No matter owmany nterpretiverocessorsreavailablewithin mechani-cal language forthe generation nd recognition f appropriate symbolarrangements,nevitablymore uchprocessorswillbe demanded.d. The more mechanicalanguagehas inthewayofflexibilitynd capability

7/29/2019 Computer TheNewSciences

4/7

152 SAUL GORNofgrowth,uchas forreasons , b, or c above, the greaterwillbe thede-mandsfor dditionalflexibilitynd capability fgrowth.Thus manyof the same forces n communication equirementsperateonmechanical anguagesas theydo on natural anguages.The result eemsto bethatmechanicalanguages endto developmanypropertieslreadypossessedbynatural anguages,namely:a. A tendency o growby permitting ew arrangementsf symbolsto begenerated nd interpreted.b. A tendency o growby permittingewsymbols o be introduced.c. A tendency o growbypermitting ewinterpretersfthe symbols, epre-senting ew processes,o be introduced;ften his sachievedbysomebasicstandard assemblyprocessesforming igger nterpretersut of smallercomponentnterpreters.d. A tendency o permit lusters fsymbol rrangementsnd interpretersoform ublanguages or pecialized reas and specialized udiences.e. A tendency oward universalityn its expressivenessfany area, and forany audience,and of any processof interpretationany computation fanythingomputable nanyconvenientmanner).f. As a corollary fthistendency owarduniversality,here s the tendencytowardcapabilityofgenerationnd expression fthelinguistic rocessorsthemselves.n otherwords, here s a tendency or he anguageto be self-referencing.g. As anothercorollaryof this tendencytowarduniversality here is thetendency orthe languageto developthe abilityto permit nalysisandsynthesis f its own linguistic rocesses;the result s a tendency orthelanguageto include ts own syntax n twoforms, ne to make statements(for nalysis), nd oneto makedemands for ynthesis).We willcall thisatendencyodevelop 'mixeddescriptivend command yntax'.h. A final corollary f the tendency owarduniversalitys the tendency odevelopambiguities nd paradoxes;the sameexpressionsmayhave differ-ent 'meanings'by havingthemselvesprocessed n differentontextsbydifferentnterpreters;he same 'meanings'mayhave differentxpressionsin differentublanguages,whichmay possess translation rocessors romone to another; nterpretations ay be shifted, ometimesusefully ndsometimesmeaninglessly,nd the meaninglessnessmay becomefarfromobvious. In summary,f the languagehas become powerfulnoughto ex-presseverythingomputable, t mustalso be capable of expressing on-sense; and ifit is powerfulnoughto specify verycomputation,t mustalso be capable of specifyingomputationswhichwill neverproduce.Assoonas it becomespowerfulnough o be universal,tbecomes ncapableofbeingfool-proof,nd therefore enerates n the userthe responsibilityouse it properly.It is clearfrom his discussion f mechanicalanguages lone,thata disciplineis involvedwhichmustusea number f reas n eachofmathematics,hilosophy,

7/29/2019 Computer TheNewSciences

5/7

COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SCIENCES: A NEW BASIC DISCIPLINE 153linguistics, sychology, nd engineering.t seemsto me equally clear that eachofthesedisciplines ould expect n returnmuchthat they could apply in theirown problems.But, having ndicated he area ofstudy,we mustnow showhow to distinguishit from thers.Otherwisewe have onlymarked t as being nterdisciplinary.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE NEW AREA AND THE RELATED DISCIPLINESWecandivide he characteristicsistinguishingheComputernd InformationSciences into roughly wo areas, namelyessentialdifferencesn attitudeandessential differencesn background requirements. et us considerattitudes

first.It is reallynot toodifficulto distinguish hether person'smain nterests incomputernd informationcience rwhethert s inone oftherelateddisciplines.For example, mathematician ike Gauss was wellknownto be able to thinkonone occasion ikea puremathematiciannumber heory, ifferentialeometry,etc.) and onother ccasions ikean appliedmathematicianPhysics,Astronomy,Statistics, tc.). But besideshisactivitynpuremathematics, herehedevelopedformalizedbstracttheories ending o be purely yntactic nd independent fsemanticcontent, nd besides his activity n applied mathematics,wherethesemantic ontent ftheconcepts e.g.electrostaticharge)wereofdirect oncernand notto be ignored, e had a pragmatic oncernwith the designofpsycho-logically levernotation e.g. the notation or ongruencennumber heory) ndpsychologicallylevercomputational rocedurese.g. tabulararrangementsndprocedures orsolving east square approximation roblems, arge systemsoflinearequations,problems festimating rrors,tc.). Now I am sureall mathe-maticianswillagreethat, althoughhis symbolic nd procedural levernesswasjustwhat onemight xpectofGauss, itwas notas such a mathematical ctivity.Clearly t was not puremathematics, ut it seemsto me that it was not evenappliedmathematics. nappliedmathematicians concerned boutthemeaningsof the symbols nd expressions e uses, but he expectsthesemeanings o beindependentfthe userorinterpreterftheexpressions, hetherheybe humanor mechanical.He may grant hata certainnotation s clumsy, ut he does notconsider ucha judgment o be a centrally ermane neto hissubject.The Computer nd Informationciencesdoes consider hepragmatic uestionof the relation of symbolsto users and interpreters central ssue, even aslinguistics,sychology, hilosophynd engineering ust.Thus a studentofnumerical nalysiswhodesignsor studiesan algorithmsthinkingikea mathematicianfhis onlyconcern s its existence rvalidity;heis thinkingikea computernd informationcientist fheconsiderst a processorand is concernedwith tsefficiency,imingnd control,abular ayoutorstorageallocation,etc. In the latter case his concern s not purelyextensional, s thephilosophers ut it; he is concernedwith he intent' s well.Similarly, studentof a procedurewhichexhibits daptive control kin tointelligences thinkingikea psychologistfhismainconcern s whether ehas a

7/29/2019 Computer TheNewSciences

6/7

154 SAUL GORNgoodmodel of thebehaviorof someanimal;he is thinking bout artificialntel-ligence, topic n computernd informationcience,fhe is onlyconcernedboutits usefulnesss a control lement,whether t s like someanimalbehavior rnot.A student fa generative r recognitionalrammars thinkingike a linguistif his main concern s whether natural anguageactuallyworksthat way, orgrewthat way; he is thinking ike a computer nd informationcientist f hismainconcern swhether n informationystem an be efficientlyontrolledhatway. Thus thelinguistmaybe concerned bout a push-down ontrolled toragebeingnodeeper hansevensince omeconsiderhat this s the ocalmemorypanofa human;an informationcientistwouldnot necessarily.

A studentofa processingmechanismwho is concerned bout whether omeportion f t has enoughpowerto drive t,or enoughresistance o cutdown itssensitivitys thinkingikean engineer;fhis only concerns the logical purposeofthe components,heirscheduling nd timing,he is thinkingn informationscience.Finally, student f an abstractingnd informationetrieval ystemmight ethinking rimarilyikea linguist,ikea library cientist, r likea computerndinformation cientist. t all dependson whetherhis primary oncern s withwhether umansact thatway,or whether heycould act thatway,orwhethertherecipient f theinformation aynoteven be human.So muchforthe distinctionn attitudes nd purposes.Considernow thedis-tinction y necessary ackground.In the Computer nd Information ciencescurriculumt the Moore Schoolof Electrical Engineering, niversity f Pennsylvania, t is assumed that theentering tudenthas had a backgroundn logic,and in abstractalgebra; ad-vanced analysis s needed fthe studentwillhavetogomoredeeply ntonumeri-cal analysis.Also assumed is an undergraduate egreewitha major in eithermathematics,neofthephysical ciences, hilosophy,inguistics,rpsychology.Either he studenthasgonedeeply ntoundergraduatemathematics ut willcon-tinue n a non-mathematicalrea,or he comesfrom nother rea but is expected

to have informationrommathematicswhich that area does not require. nadditionhe mustimmediately cquire the basic conceptsofdigital computersand the basic principles f computerprogramming, hichnone of theseotherareasrequires.This completeshe casefor hedistinction.THE EXPECTED DEVELOPMENT IN VARIOUS ENVIRONMENTS

The computerorientedpeople in differentniversitieshave appeared inclustersn differentepartments.n some universitiesucha core has appearedwithin he mathematics epartment, specially ftherehas been a strong ra-ditionofappliedmathematicsnthatenvironment. t otheruniversities uchacoremayhave collected n the schoolofengineering,f, s at theUniversityfPennsylvania, strong radition fcomputer evelopment xists.Othersmighthave such a groupturning p in a philosophy epartmentwheretherewas astrongnterestn the foundations f ogicand logicalsemantics. n someplaces

7/29/2019 Computer TheNewSciences

7/7

COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SCIENCES: A NEW BASIC DISCIPLINE 155structuralinguists nd psychologists ave joinedtogether. uch activitieshaveevenbeenunder heaegisofa physics epartment,ra departmentfstatistics,or a schoolofbusinessadministration.The situation n Europe,forexample,where hestrong epartmentaltructureoes notexist ntheAmerican attern,is, ofcourse, uitedifferent.)It isnaturalfor achenvironmentohave suchan activity merging here hecore ofinterested eoplehappento be located. But can such a rapidlygrowingdisciplinewithclearlydifferentnterestsnd requirementsontinue ndefinitelytobe carriednan essentially ifferentnvironmenthere ccidenthas caused itto gestate? Would not the motherdiscipline of the particularenvironmenteventually ave to limit henourishmenttcan afford oprovide o sucha grow-ingchild f t is notto limit tsowngrowth nd development?n sucha case thenewdisciplinewouldhave to be able to fendfor tself.Like all disciplines t a university,he Computer nd Information cienceswould have to providegeneral ducationofthe iberal rtstype n itsarea, andadvancedspecialized ducationfor hosetakingup thesubject n a professionalway.But thisnewdisciplinemust lso provide third ypeofeducation,namely'toolcourses'foruse inmanydisciplines.n thisrespect t is inthesamepositionas mathematics nd the department oncernedwiththemother ongueoftheuniversity. uch a three-foldunctionmpliesa largedepartmentwhichcouldsoonstarve tsmother. his is especially hecase iftheactivity s askedto sup-port and maintainexpensiveequipmentand relatedpersonnelforthe wholeuniversity.However,many, ncluding heauthor,believesuch a policvto be amistake.)It seemstomethatsucha developmentwill,willy-nilly,ave to stabilize, ndwhen tdoes therewillbe a completely ewdepartment esponsible or henewdiscipline.