LIS-3353 - Software I Spring 2026
Big Ideas and Math
Some big ideas
..YMMV
But first, a quick personal note
But first, a quick personal note
THERE IS NO FUTURE
Just realized why this seems so cool to me...
BIG IDEAS - Influencers!
(no, not that kind)
- Economics
- Law
- Etiquette
- Psychology
- CODE/TECHNOLOGY
A L'IL ECON
The marginal cost of software (and anything else "digital") is zero,
and economics (for better or worse) tells us that its real price will approach zero.
A reasonable idea
If software is infinitely reproduceable and can be shared everywhere for free;
then no piece of software should *ever* be rewritten;
and everyone should always have the best one.
A reasonable idea THAT DEFINITELY DID NOT HAPPEN
If software is infinitely reproduceable and can be shared everywhere for free;
then no piece of software should *ever* be rewritten;
and everyone should always have the best one.
The Ticker Tape Theme
Human communication? NO. DATA.
(there are a LOT of ways to express this)
This...
Before THIS????
YUP I WAS THERE
Nassim Taleb's..
Evolution
Individual pieces of software are sometimes intelligently designed...
...but the ecosystem is DEFINITELY evolution.
Evolution (sometimes sucks)
(i.e., a lot makes no sense
Our knees TOTALLY bend the wrong way.
Top 2 Games at the Innovation Hub: #2
#1
Why do we still have these?
What is a computer?
Simplest Computer?
HUGE CONCEPT #1
All computers do is “numbers”
- you put numbers into them
- it messes with the numbers
- it gives you some numbers back
(but, you can store anything in numbers)
Charles Babbage
“The whole of arithmetic now appeared within the grasp of mechanism.”
The Difference Engine
..which is this
HUGE CONCEPT #1
All computers do is “numbers”
- you put numbers into them
- it messes with the numbers
- it gives you some numbers back
HUGE CONCEPT #1
All computers do is “numbers”
- you put numbers into them
- it messes with the numbers
- it gives you some numbers back
(but, you can store anything in numbers)
The first “program?”
Ada Lovelace
From “Difference Engine” to “Analytical Engine”
which
'might act upon other things besides number... the
Engine might compose elaborate and scientific
pieces of music of any degree of complexity or
extent'.
aka
From “Difference Engine” to “Analytical Engine”
"Computers might not just do math, but also pictures and stuff"
"Are you crazy, lady?"
Ada wins this one, for sure
"Ada Lovelace in front of a powerful gaming computer making AI art, looking at camera smiling because she was right"
HUGE CONCEPT #1
ANYTHING IN NUMBERS
yields
HUGE(R) CONCEPT #2
HUGE(R) CONCEPT #2
All computers do is follow a very
precise list of instructions that one or
more people wrote.
(much more on this later, but .. Kaleidoscope)
other set of slides please
3353-binary.pdf
HUGE CONCEPT #1
ANYTHING IN NUMBERS
yields
HUGE(R) CONCEPT #2
HUGE(R) CONCEPT #2
All computers do is follow a very
precise list of instructions that one or
more people wrote.
Backlinks: Misc:Raw LIS3353 Slides