The Next Mainstream Programming Language: A Game Developer'sPerspective:: Redux

[Bruno Medeiros]

BCS wrote:
> Bruno Medeiros wrote:
>> BCS wrote:
>>
>>> Reply to Pragma,
>>>
>>>> There are moments where I wish I could think *like* Rain Man,
>>>> especially when it comes to concurrency.
>>>>
>>> [...]
>>>
>>>> If nothing else, it illustrates that there's something
>>>> extraordinary about such abilities that may be permanently
>>>> out-of-reach for normal people, despite the fact that some people are
>>>> just born that way.
>>>>
>>>
>>> I have wondered if this is something like incomputableity with 
>>> regards to a Turing machine. Might the normal brain be like a Turing 
>>> machine and the autistic brain be something like a brain not limited 
>>> in the same way? Given that some people can, for instance, identify 
>>> large primes in near constant time, I'd say this is a distinct 
>>> possibility.
>>>
>>> At risk of sounding politically incorrect; does anyone known of an 
>>> autistic person who might be interested in learning programming?
>>>
>>>
>>
>> Autism is not synonymous with savantism, which is what you where 
>> thinking of.
>>
> 
> No, I was not necessary thinking of savantism. More generally I was 
> thinking about people whose brains function abnormally. This covers 
> autism, savantism, insanity, Psychopathy and genius[*] among others. 
> Autism just happens to be (if I understand correctly) the more profound 
> and general (savantism seems to be a subset) abnormality with regards to 
> the type of intellect associated with CS style tasks.
> 
> * If you ask me, insanity is where the brain works differently and it 
> get in the way, genius is where the brain works differently and it 
> helps. They are not mutually exclusive and if fact probably correlate 
> quite well.

Well, this conversation was centering on extraordinary abilities that 
made a human be able to do computer-like calculations (processing large 
amounts of input instantly, calculating primes, etc.).
That is savantism, not autism. Autism is a wide variety or mental and 
behavioral disorders (which savantism is a part of), most of them are 
not very pleasant or even programming-friendly. You should check 
wikipedia and the web, because autism is kinda of a fuzzy term, and it 
took me a while to start understanding it, since it seems some people 
use the term with slightly different (and possibly incorrect) meanings.
For instance, one of my AI/Agents teacher used the term autism as if it 
meant "not processing external output" which is hardly autism. I also 
don't think autism in general is a "type of intellect associated with CS 
style tasks", although some of it's sub-disorders may be (which then?).

(There was a fellow in the D NG some time ago who had Asperger's 
Syndrome, an autism disorder, but again, autism is not what you were 
looking for)

-- 
Bruno Medeiros - MSc in CS/E student
http://www.prowiki.org/wiki4d/wiki.cgi?BrunoMedeiros#D