Exotic Computing

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

For the last 80 years computation has been inexorably intertwined with the von Neumann model of computing: a pre-specified sequential step-by-step application of relatively small operators to small pieces of named data. However, the daily headlines about AL and machine learning, quantum and neuromorphic, DNA and optical computing, are making it clear that there are alternatives. The goal of this course is to summarize in a somewhat standardized fashion and with standard terminology a hopefully large cross-section of both the computing models of today, and the newer computing models that we may encounter in the near future. A big part of this is thus to step back and ask over and over again "What do we really mean by computing?" The emphasis is not on programming languages or architectures, but on the underlying way in which computation is carried out, usually expressed mathematically, and done in a way that allows a comparison to the power of the von Neumann model. Topics at a minimum include lambda calculus, cellular automata, Petri nets, logic-based, reversible, neuromorphic, DNA-based, and quantum, with other topics added as driven by time and class interest.