http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=168325

A discussion recently ensued on slashdot concerning Steve Wolfram's new book, A New Kind of Science. Wolfram posits that the rules that govern the universe could perhaps be written in 4 lines or so of Mathematica.

I couldn't help but notice the obligatory post by a Perl Hacker:

  Pfft!

  I could have done it in 2 Lines with Perl!

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: The best sig ever?
by tjh (Curate) on May 22, 2002 at 03:53 UTC
    Starky ++ lol

    There's a nice article about Wolfram (different link) in a June 2002 Wired Mag article here. Fascinating reading, well written article. I made the mistake of starting the article at the wrong time last week and was very late for a meeting.

    The book, A New Kind of Science, has a fairly expansive web site is here.

    A quote from Wolfram:

    "What started my work on A New Kind of Science are the discoveries I made about what simple computer programs can do. One might have thought that if a program was simple it should only do simple things. But amazingly enough, that isn't even close to correct. And in fact what I've discovered is that some of the very simplest imaginable computer programs can do things as complex as anything in our whole universe. It's this point that seems to be the secret that's used all over nature to produce the complex and intricate things we see. And understanding this point seems to be the key to a whole new way of thinking about a lot of very fundamental questions in science and elsewhere. And that's what I develop in A New Kind of Science."
         - from http://www.wolframscience.com/qanda/

    From a Newsweek article:

    "Wolfram’s fierce independence, along with his chronically low opinion of the establishment, led him to a 10-year descent into solitude, from which he emerged only last week with a phone-book-size tome, “A New Kind of Science,”...

    Frankly, I can't wait to read it, at least the parts I'll be able to understand. Apparently there is quite a bit in the book that is digestible by the rest of us...

    I was worried that Wolfram had seen some of my Perl code - often a single line of code produces the most complex, and unanticipated, results. ;) Truly an example of 'sensitive dependence on initial conditions' and the butterfly effect rolled into one line...

      And in fact what I've discovered is that some of the very simplest imaginable computer programs can do things as complex as anything in our whole universe.

      Well, I suppose this is no revelation but as far as I know the Artifical Life mob (Emergent Properties, Bottom up, etc) have been saying this for ages. Maybe im cynical but why does it only make Newsweek when Wolfram says it?

      Does Wolfram remind anyone else of Kosko? (Fuzzy Logic evangelist)

      Ps Ill still probably buy the book though...

      Yves / DeMerphq
      ---
      Writing a good benchmark isnt as easy as it might look.

        Because they have been saying it only about the AL domain. Wolfram is saying it about everything! And to be fair, his CA work predates most of the AL work, so it is not like he's a new-comer to the band wagon, or the parade for that matter.

        –hsm

        "Never try to teach a pig to sing…it wastes your time and it annoys the pig."
Re: The best sig ever?
by tadman (Prior) on May 22, 2002 at 03:13 UTC
    So where would you categorize the GUT module on CPAN?
Re: The best sig ever?
by lshatzer (Friar) on May 22, 2002 at 15:19 UTC
    It would take him 2? I did it in 1!
    perl -le 'print "The rules that govern the universe"'
      lshatzer writes:

      It would take him 2? I did it in 1!

      Careful.

      There's a theory that says that if we can ever reduce the rules that govern the universe to the smallest possible expression, then the universe will cease to exist and be replaced by something even more bizzare and inexplicable.

      There's another theory that says this has already happened. :-)

      Peace,
      -McD

      ...with apologies to the late great hitchiker himself...

Re: The best sig ever?
by FoxtrotUniform (Prior) on May 22, 2002 at 15:43 UTC
      ...the rules that govern the universe could perhaps be written in 4 or so lines of Mathematica. [...] ...or two lines of Perl

    Or twenty characters of APL, the most appallingly dense language on the face of the Earth.

    Update: fix square brackets issue.

    --
    :wq

Re: The best sig ever?
by zjunior (Beadle) on May 23, 2002 at 01:16 UTC
    Thanks God to forgot "use strict;"
    Thanks God to "use warnings;"
    Thanks God, for all the Universe code be an obfuscation.
    Thanks God to use Perl. All the good job was done in seven days and in the sunday She could play Tetris and learn pack.
Re: The best sig ever?
by etcshadow (Priest) on Mar 26, 2004 at 06:00 UTC
    Pfft... I could do it in 20,000 lines of brainf*ck.
    ------------ :Wq Not an editor command: Wq