Classic versus modern computing: analogies with classic versus modern physics.
János Végh · arXiv (Cornell University) · 2019
More than hundred years ago the was it its full power, with just a few unexplained phenomena; which however lead to a revolution and developing the physics. Today the computing is in a similar position: computing is a sound success story, with exponentially growing utilization, but with a growing number of difficulties and unexpected issues as moving towards extreme utilization conditions. In the physics studying the nature under extreme conditions (like approaching the speed of light, studying atomic and sub-atomic interactions, considering objects on the scale of the Universe) has lead to the understanding of the relativistic and quantal behavior. Quite similarly, in the computing some phenomena, acquired in connection with extreme (computing) conditions, cannot be understood on the basis of the computing paradigm. Using analogies with the classic vs. modern physics, the need for a computing paradigm is introduced and underpinned. The analogies do not want to derive direct correspondence between certain physical quantities and some computing phenomena. Rather, the paper wants to call the attention to both that under extreme conditions qualitatively different behavior may be encountered in both worlds, and that pinpointing certain, formerly unnoticed or neglected aspects enable to explain the new phenomena.