17 Nov
2012
17 Nov
'12
6:18 p.m.
Since I didn't see a message to this effect and because I'm very slow on
catching up with my reading, there's an interesting article in the
November, 2012 issue of IEEE "Computer" titled "Debugging on the
Shoulders of Giants: Von Neumann's Programs 65 Years Later" by Barry
Fagin and Dale Skrein.
Briefly, the two took von Newumann's programming problems described in
the 1947 "Planning and Coding Problems for an Electronic Instrument" by
Goldstine and von Neumann and ran them on an IAS emulator. Not
surprisingly, they discovered a few errors. I say, "not surprisingly"
because at the time, the IAS computer wasn't operational.
It makes a nice read for a rainy afternoon.
--Chuck