previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=191212
Richard Feynman and The Connection Machine (1989)
11–14 of 14 posts
Re: Richard Feynman and The Connection Machine (1989)
#12"""So why were people always asking him for it? Because even when Richard didn't understand, he always seemed to understand better than the rest of us."""
What a gift of a human.
Re: Richard Feynman and The Connection Machine (1989)
#13Favorite part: "Since the only computer language Richard was really familiar with was Basic, he made up a parallel version of Basic in which he wrote the program and then simulated it by hand to estimate how fast it would run on the Connection Machine."
I would've hoped someone of Feynman's level would've easily picked up a better language.
Feynman may have found the arbitrary nature of syntax for a new language a tedious learning exercise.
Re: Richard Feynman and The Connection Machine (1989)
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would've hoped someone of Feynman's level would've easily picked up a better language.
Someone like Feynman is capable of inventing a new language for parallel computing and correctly simulating its execution by hand . That's a much more impressive skill than just learning another language.
I don't think so. He didn't invent a new language, but extended an existing one. And I simulate what a program does in my head all the time when debugging (including multithreaded stuff, but I agree that's hard).