interaction_conjectures,results and myths.pptVIP

7 June 2005 CWI ?Interaction: Conjectures, Results, and Myths Dina GoldinUniv. of Connecticut, Brown University/~dqg Fundamental Questions Underlying Theory of Computation Shared Wisdom(from undergraduate Theory of Computation courses) computation: finite transformation of input to output input: finite size (e.g. string or number) closed system: all input available at start, all output generated at end  behavior: functions, transformation of input data to output data Church-Turing thesis: Turing Machines capture this (algorithmic) notion of computation The Operating System Conundrum Outline Rethinking the mathematical worldview Historical perspective Algorithmic vs. interactive computation Wegner’s conjecture Driving home from work Persistent Turing Machines (PTMs) PTM expressiveness Sequential Interaction Thesis The Myth of the Church-Turing Thesis Future work The Mathematical Worldview “The theory of computability and non-computability [is] usually referred to as the theory of recursive functions... the notion of TM has been made central in the development. Martin Davis, Computability Unsolvability, 1958 “Of all undergraduate CS subjects, theoretical computer science has changed the least over the decades.” SIGACT News, March 2004 “A TM can do anything that a computer can do.” Michael Sipser, Introduction to the Theory of Computation, 1997 Rethinking Shared Wisdom:(what do computers do?) computation: finite transformation of input to output input: finite-size (string or number) closed system: all input available at start, all output generated at end  behavior: functions, algorithmic transformation of input data to output data Church-Turing thesis: Turing Machines capture this (algorithmic) notion of computation computation: ongoing process which performs a task or delivers a service dynamically generated stream of input tokens (requests, percepts, messages) open system: later inputs depend on earlier outputs and vice versa (I/O entanglement