Doing it better 1998-10-18 a ### From Reuben: We may as well do so, and admit to every computer scientist's hubris: we think We Can Do It Better, and build the ultimate computer system. I'm particularly interested in doing it from the ground up, starting with a VM that is essentially a suitable calculus with an escape hatch ("execute this") and building from there. My idea is that the very barest version should be a few pages of C (to bootstrap it; thereafter a couple of kb of virtual/machine code) containing enough of a user interface to allow the entire system to be built up within itself in an exponentially accelerating manner. I think we should arrange regular but infrequent times to talk about aspects of the ultimate project, which should by rights be called Project Omega, but that's terribly clichéd, so let's call it...er...something else. Suggestions? Project Tau (last letter of the Hebrew alphabet); Project One (last letter of the binary alphabet); Project Zero (first ditto, simplicity)...I think we can be more involved. Anyway, it'd be nice if we could (slowly) make progress...even if we end up doing things and throwing them away. (I saw a group called "Programmers Without Deadlines" which sums up the spirit.) -- http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/rrt1001/ | maxim, n. wisdom for fools