It's all ha-ha until you realize that some versions of Dartmouth BASIC actually had matrix operation primitives, and so might've been a good choice for implementing GPU-accelerated linear algebra kernels. (It was also compiled; Microsoft basically established BASIC's reputation as a slow language by shipping an interpreter-only version for the Altair and later machines. As usual, Microsoft gonna Microsoft.)
Given that the go-to linear-algebra libraries for the past N decades (BLAS, Linpack, etc.) are Fortran, I'd suspect that neural-network people would be rather okay with it, esp. if it could be driven with a Python wrapper (which is how most people use BLAS and Linpack today).
BASIC is roughly to Fortran what Rust is to C++: its creators set out to design a "better Fortran", and realized that the limitations and complexities necessitated creating a whole new language.
The truth is not as strong as I had claimed. BASIC's expressions kinda resemble Fortran's, probably because that was what was lying around. It seems that an easier version of an existing language is what Kurtz wanted, but Kemeny was more interested in starting from scratch, which view Kurtz came around to. From Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dartmouth_BASIC):
When the topic of a simple language began to be considered seriously, Kemeny immediately suggested writing a new one. Kurtz was more interested in a cut-down version of FORTRAN or ALGOL.[14] But these languages had so many idiosyncrasies that Kurtz came to agree with Kemeny:
If we had corrected FORTRAN's ugly features, we would not have FORTRAN anymore. I reluctantly had to agree with John that, yes, a new language was needed.[15]
Um, ackshually, real civil/structural engineers—at least, those in the global north—design bridges, roads, and buildings with huge tolerances (multiple times the expected loads) because unexpected shit happens and you don't want to suffer catastrophic failure when conditions are just outside of your typical use case and have a Tacoma Narrows Bridge type situation on your hands.
We might be arguing semantics, but safety margins aren't considered 'overbuilding' but part of the bare minimum requirements for a bridge to stand. They aren't there "just in case" they are there because it is known for a fact that bridges in the real world will experience degradation and overloading.
If you build a bridge that is rated to carry 100k lbs of weight, and you build it to hold 100k lbs, you didn't build it to barely meet spec -- you under built it -- because overloading is a known condition that does happen to bridges.
It's called "systems analysis". Programmers are generally pretty terrible at it because it requires holistic, big-picture thinking. But it used to take up the bulk of the design activity for a new enterprise system.
And the result was usually a complex system that no one needed and could maintain. Successful refinement is needed when you try to accomplish something from the ground up, refining it as you're adding features. Not locking yourself in the ivory tower drawing UML diagrams and drafting requirements. Doing and thinking go in pair, not separately.
Yeah, the field of software engineering has come a long way since then. But just because previous implementations of the analysis phase were flawed doesn't mean that the phase itself was flawed.
Research conducted by M. Bryce and Associates suggested that use of a structured systems analysis phase before programming began resulted in time and cost savings vs. just "hacking it together" like programmers want to do. Locking yourself in the ivory tower is an unfair way to characterize systems analysis. Systems analysts talk to people in the business to understand what the business requirements actually are, and then design an information system (NOTE: not a computer system or software system; if it cannot in principle be run on pen and paper it is not an information system) that meets those needs. Programmers only come in when the automatable parts of the system need to be implemented, and work from a detailed and precise spec.
> Programmers only come in when the automatable parts of the system need to be implemented, and work from a detailed and precise spec.
A lot of systems are complex enough that you can’t get to that stage (and if you think you do, think again). Mostly because of communication issues and time concerns. Which is where the agile manifesto comes in and recommends the talk-do-show in short cycle. It needs not to be hacked together and the showing helps with communication, the talking guides the doing, and the doing is what pays for everything.
Not enough people give a shit about "general purpose computing" to matter. They use computers for a few things and as long as they can do those things they're fine with it. My wife loves all her Apple gear. It provides her with a wonderful, curated experience. Okay, maybe it hasn't been so good with recent iOS releases but it still beats Android or Microslop. Being able to hack, modify, or install arbitrary stuff on your device is something only a minority of a minority care about, statistical noise in the quarterly sales figures. When you compare that to the harm done by malware, illegal or indecent material, and the negative blowback to YOUR OS's reputation—or worse, the "felony contempt of business model" enabled by a general-purpose OS (piracy, ad blocking, etc.)—it's a no-brainer to implement restrictions.
> Saying that computer/OS manufacturers should prevent malware is effectively equivalent to saying that they should not sell general purpose computers to the public.
(in Gilbert Huph (Wallace Shawn) voice) Yes, precisely!
I'd say Hackernews knows enough people at Google to raise a stink about this, but it's not going to do any good. Sometime at the last WEF or Bilderberg meeting it was decided that KYC level identity verification should be required to use a computer or the internet, with more stringent requirements to program one. This, and much worse, is going to happen whether we like it or not.
That tracks for sika deer. Those are the "sacred deer" that used to be venerated in Nara, and are still protected under Japanese national treasure laws. They are allowed to roam free throughout Nara, and you face big penalties for hurting or messing with them. You are allowed to feed them special deer crackers which local shopkeepers sell, but woe betide you if a deer sees or smells deer crackers on your person! You will be followed or chased, and may be at risk of being gored on a buck's antlers, until you give up the goods. They're attitude on four cloven hooves, those deer.
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