Monday, June 16, 2008
Many years ago I used to write computer programs. I learned a very profound point.
You could either program 'top down' or 'bottom up'
I have found this way of looking at things quite useful.
So what is the difference?
Bottom up.
This entails writing separate modules, to cope with various inputs and outputs first. Then joining the separate modules together, sort of ad hock. Like starting to write a novel as a stream of consciousness and having no clear idea of where the novel might end.
Once all the modules are written they are joined together in an giant endless loop. Also necessary is a way of exiting the loop.
Top down.
The giant loop is written first. This means the routines are named before they are written, this is called structured programming.
Both methods have their advantages and their disadvantages.
Top down is tidier and quicker to write, but a lot less powerful and you have to keep reinventing the wheel.
Bottom up, tends to write tighter routines, nature tends to program like this via evolution.
The point it makes is, science is bottom up and religion is top down
Many people eschew any big picture thinking, because they say you cannot test a big picture. Personally I love the big picture. To some people - everything is just details.
Philosophy is an attempt to disentangle the big picture. Philosophers specialize in generalization.
Unix is written bottom up
You could either program 'top down' or 'bottom up'
I have found this way of looking at things quite useful.
So what is the difference?
Bottom up.
This entails writing separate modules, to cope with various inputs and outputs first. Then joining the separate modules together, sort of ad hock. Like starting to write a novel as a stream of consciousness and having no clear idea of where the novel might end.
Once all the modules are written they are joined together in an giant endless loop. Also necessary is a way of exiting the loop.
Top down.
The giant loop is written first. This means the routines are named before they are written, this is called structured programming.
Both methods have their advantages and their disadvantages.
Top down is tidier and quicker to write, but a lot less powerful and you have to keep reinventing the wheel.
Bottom up, tends to write tighter routines, nature tends to program like this via evolution.
The point it makes is, science is bottom up and religion is top down
Many people eschew any big picture thinking, because they say you cannot test a big picture. Personally I love the big picture. To some people - everything is just details.
Philosophy is an attempt to disentangle the big picture. Philosophers specialize in generalization.
Unix is written bottom up
