"In the digital universe, there are two kinds of bits: bits that represent structures (differences in space) and bits that represent sequence (differences in time). Digital computers - as formalized by Alan Turing, and developed by John von Neumann - are devices that translate between these two species of bits according to definite rules."
—George Dyson: Turing’s Cathedral
About a year ago, I finished reading Turing’s Cathedral.
At that time, my interests were focused towards engineering, and I never really crossed paths with programming or computer science. Even in my academic life as an undergraduate studying chemistry, the world bound by code was much of a mystery.
The book recounts the amazing history that blew up into the birth of the first computing devices. It was truly fascinating story. Within the biographical context contained some of my old personal heros like Richard Feynman, whose lectures and texts are legendary for any student of the physial sciences. As well, I picked up some new heroes as well, like John von Neumann and Alan Turing Namesakes of the Von Neumann Architecture and Universal Turing Machines, still make up the foundations of computation as we know today.
Afterwards I then made up my mind on trying to learn how to write my own computer programs and see where it would lead me.
Since then it’s been a remarkable year.