A Brief History of Computers

Re:A Brief History of Computers by DiscourseFan on Saturday July 22, 2023 @11:39AM (#36827142)

Yeah, there was a lot of work on logic in both India and the West in the medieval period, which was very influential in later thought, its just that what we conceive of as the "modern" form of logic only took shape in the 19th century. But reading medieval tracts on logic is fascinating.

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Re:A Brief History of Computers by jll29 on Saturday July 22, 2023 @11:49AM (#36827251)

Also between the middle ages and the 19th century: e.g. The Logic and Grammar of Port Royal were very influential - c.f. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/port-royal-logic/

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Re:A Brief History of Computers by DiscourseFan on Saturday July 22, 2023 @12:27PM (#36827549)

I meant "medieval" here to refer to any time between the beginning of neoplatonism and the industrial revolution: quite a large space, but it seems like those are the only two time periods people are generally aware of in the history of thought, since we teach kids that everything between then was the "dark ages."

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Re:A Brief History of Computers by jazzyjackson on Saturday July 22, 2023 @01:58PM (#36828267)

Wish I had a source but I've read Mr and Mrs Boole were both involved in the study of Indian mathematics, and that "Bool" as a datatype might be more true to its namesake if it included "maybe" or "null"

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