Christiaan Huygens, Software and Physics
This is my first contribution since quite a while. You haven’t missed anything in the intervening period! Have you ever been struck by the similarities between the engineering of software systems and the application of physics? I learned to write a program in Algol 60 and to program the IBM 360 series in assembler. During my studies, it was quite natural to use mini-computers to control and verify experiments. After my studies, I started working in the field of production automation in the Philips’ factories.
In the course of my career, I noticed that I could put my knowledge of physics to good use. Thinking in terms of service applications (which is nowadays very popular in the context of Service Oriented Architecture) is a natural way of establishing systems in physics. Measuring properties of subjects and processes is also a common practice. Although unfamiliar to most software practitioners, one can measure characteristics such as complexity and size (and much, much more).
In the coming contributions to this blog, I will elaborate further on this subject, as well as on Christiaan Huygens. Yes, he was the great Dutch physicist, who lived in the 17th century - yet he was alas not very well respected! As a matter of fact, he happened to live very close to the place where I do now. Most people are aware that he invented the pendulum clock - but few know that he also categorically & clearly stated that motion is relative! Christiaan would have been overjoyed if he could have seen the rings of Saturnus, as viewed by the Hubble satellite or as a piece of software animation, portrayed on an Apple computer.
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