Randomness
From Maze
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(→Randomness and Aesthetics Before Computing) | (→The Emergence of Randomness in Computing) | ||
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=== The Emergence of Randomness in Computing === | === The Emergence of Randomness in Computing === | ||
| − | The RND command acts as the algorithmic heart of 10 PRINT, its flip-flopping beat powering the construction of the maze. It is also a paradox. The function of the RND token in 10 PRINT is immediately known yet its output is entirely unknown. Unpredictable. A cipher, the manifestation of a much deeper latent content, operating underneath the surface of the machine. | + | The RND command acts as the algorithmic heart of 10 PRINT, its flip-flopping beat powering the construction of the maze. The RND function is as fully specified and known as any BASIC keyword, but its output is, by that definition, unpredictable. This paradoxical function manifests a much deeper, latent sequence, operating underneath the surface of the machine. |
An obvious question to ask about randomness is why bother at all? Why have the ability in the first place to generate random numbers? Computers are supposed to calculate with exactitude. Computers are supposed to order the world. Computers are supposed to sift through reams of data and model possible outcomes, possible futures. Yet a function to create random numbers was present in the first Dartmouth BASIC. Every version of BASIC since then has had one or more ways to create random numbers. Finally, nearly every contemporary programming language, including Python, Perl, Java, Javascript and C++, has a way to generate randomness. It turns out to be impossible to model any kind of process without taking into account randomness. It is a defining feature of life—and the universe for that matter. | An obvious question to ask about randomness is why bother at all? Why have the ability in the first place to generate random numbers? Computers are supposed to calculate with exactitude. Computers are supposed to order the world. Computers are supposed to sift through reams of data and model possible outcomes, possible futures. Yet a function to create random numbers was present in the first Dartmouth BASIC. Every version of BASIC since then has had one or more ways to create random numbers. Finally, nearly every contemporary programming language, including Python, Perl, Java, Javascript and C++, has a way to generate randomness. It turns out to be impossible to model any kind of process without taking into account randomness. It is a defining feature of life—and the universe for that matter. | ||
