DIGITAL COMPUTING
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 924 ▶ |
| Object type | Discipline oriented |
Computing based on the use of a code consisting of two signs or positions only.
Digitalization is the base of our actual computers, in constrast to analogue computing which uses continuous signals of variable intensity.
A. G. BARTO states: “Digital computing and discrete models are influencing our conception of real world systems and the role classical mathematics methods are to play in modelling them…” (1978, p.163). (See “Dichotomy”).
Physicists, chemists, engineers, etc. accustomed to the successful use of differential equations “… have strongly developed intuitions in which continua and rates of change are powerful conceptual primitives. Those whose intuition has developed more directly under the influence of digital computing, on the other hand, find it very natural to think in terms of such concepts as algorithms, data structures and automata. In many applications of these discrete concepts, the availability of theoretical results is replaced by the computational power of digital computers” (Ibid).
This is really a very basic conceptual evolution, since, as noted by BARTO, “…actual digital computers can manipulate only finite sets” (p.164) of discrete data, while classical mathematics uses extensively the continuity and infinity concepts.
These two approaches are complementary rather than opposed to each other, but a clear understanding of their different nature is needed. See hereafter for more comments.