Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!apple!claris!sts!octopus!avsd!childers From: childers@avsd.UUCP (Richard Childers) Newsgroups: comp.software-eng Subject: Re: Chaos theory for software engineering? Keywords: chaos Message-ID: <2118@avsd.UUCP> Date: 3 Oct 89 22:27:34 GMT References: <4125@pegasus.ATT.COM> Reply-To: childers@avsd.UUCP (Richard Childers) Organization: Metaprogrammers International Lines: 83 psrc@pegasus.ATT.COM (Paul S. R. Chisholm) writes: >Has anyone found any references to applying chaos theory to software? Well, I don't know if this fits your bill, but my dad shared a favorite chapter of a book of his with me. The book is called ... Introduction to Operations Research A Kaufman, Institute Polytechnique de Grenoble, Grenoble, France R. Faure, Paris Transport Authority, Paris, France ( translated from French by Henry C. Sneyd ) Academic Press, 1968, New York and London ... and the one particular chapter my dad copied for me is called ... Dinner A La Francaise ( in which we may see that the theory of Graphs and Boolean Algebra may be useful in the kitchen ) ... where one of the authors uses a significant portion of his expertise at analyzing hideously complex and massively interdependent systems, to help a friend chart an economical and aesthetically pleasing path through a dinner made more complicated than it might otherwise need to be by the presence of about three dozen excellent and diverse wines, none of which quite go with any of the others without considerable management of the order and context of their presentation. The story, which is perhaps a dozen pages long, uses truth charts to look at the combinatorial possibilities, flow charts to analyze sequential aspects of the meal ( IE, which wines _must_ follow which other wines, in the context of a multiple-course meal which is equally problematic ), and even a few Venn diagrams to clarify which things just can't go together, in a way that was simple for his friend to accept as accurate, and which expedited the process of planning the meal considerably. Is this Chaos theory ? I don't know, I still haven't read much on Chaos, but from what I understand Chaos Theory is a way of approaching very large and complex problems, using tools derived from Operations Research and General Systems Theory. The problem isn't chaotic, but if you added a few opinionated French chefs to the problem, it might be ... (-: Be that as it may, this book is an excellent introduction to the application of Vast Organizational Laws to the petty problems of everyday life, as each chapter illustrates sophisticated use of organizational approaches to simple problems in a way that is very friendly. IE, Chapter 1 Story of a News Vendor ( A problem of stock ) Chapter 2 How Should Investments Be Distributed ? ( A combinatorial problem of allocation ) Chapter 3 The Puppet Manufacturer ( Markov chains, a problem of sequential decisions ) Chapter 4 Patience In The Face Of Delays ( Tool distribution, theory of waiting-line phenomena ) ... et caetera. I've found the methods within applicable to many of the set-oriented problems I face on a daily basis as a WAN administrator, and I'd guess they could be coded as software for network management, as well. So, if Chaos Theory isn't applicable to software engineering yet, I'm sure it will be. Certainly, queueing theory is relevant to computer programming, especially in these network-intensive days ... ( I tried to turn two bosses onto this methodology, but they kind of turned off at the prospect of hideously detailed intellectualizing of what they regarded as simple problems, easy to resolve ... ) >Paul S. R. Chisholm, AT&T Bell Laboratories -- richard -- * "Domains constitute a futile attempt to defeat anarchy and otherwise * * retard progress." (Steve Bellovin, Peter Honeyman, pathalias(l)) * * * * ..{amdahl|decwrl|octopus|pyramid|ucbvax}!avsd.UUCP!childers *