Computer Folks, Does this change everything? (or kills us?)

[hollywood]

HP is reportedly to launch an entirely new type of computer in the next few years, which in addition to transistors, capacitors and inductors a device called the "memristor." (Memory + Resistor).

Computer programmers would no longer be restricted to Binary code and you would not need a hard drive type device. In addition, these machines would take significantly less electricity to operate (which I would presume would generate far less heat.)

This looks like it will be the next great leap in tech, as HP has already built the first chip using this tech back in 2008 and IBM is reportedly on their heels to move into commercial production. It seems like to me, that computer programmers may have to start all over to some degree. This will be an incredible opportunity for someone. (lots of someones)

This post was edited on 3/2 12:17 PM by hollywood

Memristor

 

[hollywood]

Re: Does this change everything?...or, Is this the one that kills us?

So questions for programmers or those with knowledge of computer languages, if we were able to take advantage of this new chip:

1. Would the escape from the restriction of binary make things easier?

2. Would the resulting "code" be much shorter. (I'm figuring that currently to represent the number 500, the binary system requires the use of its equivalent - 111110100 so it would seem that many objects could be represented much easier by an alternative to binary.)

3. Would the languages tend to be more "natural" (familiar to those of us who grew up using Decimal) and thus more comprehensible by the average person?

4. Would programming likely become even more accessible to the nominally intellectually inclined person. (In other words, could it be dumbed down a bit compared to current programs and more easily used by the masses?)

 

[csh]

Re: Does this change everything?...or, Is this the one that kills us?

I'd have to read a lot more and think a lot more to really answer your questions. But the immediate impact I see is increased storage density. A 4 bit binary memory can express values from 0 to 15, i.e. 2^4 possible combinations. If you could have 4 logic levels (states) in stead of just 2, the same 4 bit memory could express values from 0 to 255, or 4^4. So, a 100kb photo with 16 color depth could jump to 256 color depth while still occupying the same 100kb of memory. But yeah, if you had a storage bit with 10 states, expressing and decoding numbers would be really easy, referring to your 2nd and 3rd points.

 

[EvilPOKES]

If binary is a non-issue than man it will take some serious brain power to develop a new scheme. I have no clue where they would even begin.

 

[Cowpoke]

Re: Does this change everything?...or, Is this the one that kills us?

Code has been slowly getting easier due to hardware improvements allowing a lot of the trickier stuff (memory management) to be handled at a layer under what the user interacts with. And the fact that you just don't have to worry about optimization as much nowadays for simple programs due to cheap memory and storage. This may help further that along, but I don't think this affects that much in the short term.

Easy to learn, more like regular english languages, are entirely possible to create now. Heck some of the easiest to learn languages (cobol, basic, etc) are decades old, though limited. The barrier is more demand than anything. If you are writing a large program you don't want to use a language where you are having to type out complete sentences. There just isnt much of a demand from the average joe for a fully functional language that is simple to learn and type.

 

[kruxter]

Programmers do not write in binary code with 0's and 1's. They write source code using words, acronyms and symbols. A compiler or run-time interpreter converts the source code to machine level executable code upon which the CPU operates. New compilers and interpreters will be required however to run source code on the new architecture.

 

[BvillePoker]

Besides the obvious benefits of memory density and power consumption this will allow the resistor to remember the last state it was in before power was removed. This basically is a huge step towards machines that act like "brains" with synapsis and capabilities of machine learning. There is no "RAM" that is forgotten or cleared when power is removed from the circuit.

 

[EvilPOKES]

Originally posted by BvillePoker:
Besides the obvious benefits of memory density and power consumption this will allow the resistor to remember the last state it was in before power was removed. This basically is a huge step towards machines that act like "brains" with synapsis and capabilities of machine learning. There is no "RAM" that is forgotten or cleared when power is removed from the circuit.

That will sure as hell help boot times

 

[twiza]

The first thing I think of, is that it would revolutionize the Asynchronous Programming. However, I feel like I'm too dumb to take in all the possibilities of this.

 

[Ostatedchi]

There goes that boolean algebra class I took.

Seriously, processing non-one non-zero results is simply a quantum leap and will take a long time to adjust the code. However if it can be processed on the same hardware then we are a huge step ahead.

Algorithm logic will have to progress. I think this will solve the whole 'big data' processing issue.