‹ob›: Miser Obs Synopsis

Last updated 2002-07-14-11:13 -0700 (pdt)

The basic data elements of Miser are different from the structures used in conventional programming systems.  These elements, the Miser Obs, are related to the elementary data structures that arise in Lisp and other list-processing languages.  They provide an elementary data organization that can be used as an all-purpose carrier or encoder for anything else we may require.  

It is intentional that Obs be unfamiliar, without direct resemblance to the kinds of data we are accustomed to using: it is an avenue for becoming more aware of how we interpret and use data without noticing.  While it remains novel, it also provides an avenue for appreciating our relationship to language and the relationship that theories and computation have to language.

Obs are first introduced as mathematical entities.  The mathematical structure, ‹ob›, provides an abstract theory that is honored so successfully by the Miser Project computer software that we say Miser manifests ‹ob›.  We explore the inescapable differences between the theoretical interpretation of ‹ob› and the computational interpretations of Obs and investigate their use for highly-practical purposes.

See Also:

The oMiser Sketch

Establishment of Miser Obs contributes to five of the seven Miser Project themes:

1. Universality

having an elementary data representation that is sufficient as a basis for (representing) all data of any kind

2. Completeness

providing a demonstration of the notion of computational completeness by using Obs as a universal data structure

3. Interpretation

Show what is essential and what is inessential (and unavoidable) in the implementation of abstractions by computation.

4. Representation

strengthening our grasp on what it means to represent something in a computer system

6. Fidelity

confirming an implementation's fidelity to a theoretical model

As this project area is expanded, we will tie in exactly how each of these themes is supported by particular developments and elaboration on Miser Obs.

-- Dennis E. Hamilton
Aeroporto della Malpensa, Milano, Italia
2000 June 1

created 2000-06-01-08:39 +0200 (it) by orcmid
$$Author: Orcmid $
$$Date: 02-07-14 11:23 $
$$Revision: 10 $