[1966]The synthesis of algorithmic system电子版.pdf

1 9 6 6 T u r i n g A w a r d Lecture The Synthesis of Algodthmic Systems ALAN j. PERLIS Carnegie Institute of Technology Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Introduction Both knowledge and wisdom extend man's reach. Knowledge led to computers, wisdom to chopsticks. Unfortunately our association is overinvolved with the former. The latter will have to wait for a more sublime day. On what does and will the fame of Turing rest? That he proved a theorem showing that for a general computing device--later dubbed a '"Ihring machine"--there existed functions which it could not compute? I doubt it. More likely it rests on the model he invented and employed: his formal mechanism. This model has captured the imagination and mobilized the thoughts of a generation of scientists. It has provided a basis for arguments leading to theories. His model has proved so useful that its generated activity has been distributed not only in mathematics, but through several technologies as well. The arguments that have been employed are not always formal and the consequent creations not all abstract. Presented at the 21st ACM National Conference,August 1966. Author'spresent address: ComputerScienceDepartment,YaleUniversity,P.O.Box2158, Yale Station,New Haven, CT 06520-2158. Indeed a most fruitful consequence of the Turing machine has been with the creation, study and computation of functions which are com- putable, i.e., in computer programming. This is not surprising since computers can compute so much more than we yet know how to specify.