It is a common belief that Computer Science is a very recent discipline, developed in the last century with the diffusion of computers and, even more recently, with the pervasive nature of internet and the Web. On the contrary, the fundamental notions of this “new” scientific discipline are the notion of algorithm, i.e. a finite method for providing a solution to a generic problem, often expressed as a calculus (of an area, of a path, of a quantity of time, etc.), the notion of formal language and the notion of automaton or computing machine. If we accept this point of view, the historic roots of Computer Science can be traced back to the development of algorithmic methods, already very sophisticated in the Egyptian era, and of mechanical device for aiding the calculus. History of Computer Science, Automata , Logic and Technology are strictly related: we only recall various mechanical devices for measuring time (clocks), for industrial applications (looms), for leisure (carillons), and, of course, for calculating (abaci, Pascal’s machine…). Particularly fascinating, also from a philosophical point of view, are mechanical devices that aim to simulate human beings or, more generally, living beings; “organic” mechanisms that in the 17th century had their first golden age, but that have a second golden age nowadays, called robots. A turning point in this long history of mechanical devices, in the 20th century, is the consequence of the fundamental works of Turing, Goedel, Von Neumann: the new theoretical development on automata provides a precise definition of computing machine, together with a deep comprehension of its computational limits. Furthermore, the new idea of communicating machines leads to nets, distributed calculus, internet and the Web, with its enormous sociological impact.
In this course we will approach some of these above described topics, in particular:
Automata in ancient Greek, in the medieval era, in the golden age (Vaucasson, Droz)
Computing devices, from abaci to Pascal’s and Leibniz’s machines, Babbage’s machine, modern computers.
Artificial Intelligence and its philosophical and social implications
Programming Languages, from Ada Byron Lovelace to Chomsky’s grammars