|
|
 |
Distinguished Lecturer Series
Sponsored by the Arthur and Rochelle Belfer
Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science
Professor Moshe Vardi
Department of Computer Science
Rice University
will speak on
And Logic Begat Computer Science: When Giants Roamed the Earth
Abstract
During the past fifty years there has been extensive, continuous, and growing
interaction between logic and computer science. In fact, logic has been called
"the calculus of computer science". The argument is that logic plays a
fundamental role in computer science, similar to that played by calculus in
the physical sciences and traditional engineering disciplines. Indeed, logic
plays an important role in areas of computer science as disparate as
architecture (logic gates), software engineering (specification and
verification), programming languages (semantics, logic programming), databases
(relational algebra and SQL), artificial intelligence (automated theorem
proving), algorithms (complexity and expressiveness), and theory of
computation (general notions of computability). This non-technical talk will
provide an overview of the unusual efectiveness of logic in computer science
by surveying the history of logic in computer science, going back all the way
to Aristotele and Euclid, and showing how logic actually gave rise to
computer science.
The lecture will take place in the Lecture Hall, Room 1, Ziskind Building
on Monday, May 24, 2004
at 14:00
Light refreshments will be served after the lecture
|
