GOTO is a vendor independent international software development conference with more that 90 top speaker and 1300 attendees. The conference cover topics such as .Net, Java, Open Source, Agile, Architecture and Design, Web, Cloud, New Languages and Processes

Tom Stuart, Author, Understanding Computation

Tom Stuart

Biography: Tom Stuart

 
Tom is a computer scientist and programmer. He has lectured on optimizing compilers at the University of Cambridge, co-organizes the Ruby Manor conference, and is a member of the London Ruby User Group. His latest book, Understanding Computation, was published by O’Reilly in 2013.
 
Twitter: @tomstuart

Presentation: Impossible Programs

Time: Monday 17:10 - 18:00 / Location: Grand Ballroom A & B

Every aspect of our lives has been transformed by the invention of general-purpose programmable computers. As a result, it's tempting to believe that computers can solve any logical or mathematical problem; that if we throw enough time, money and developers at a question, we can produce a program which answers it.

Unfortunately the universe is never that convenient. There are hard theoretical limits on what programs are capable of doing, and there will always be easily-stated problems which are impossible for any computer to solve.

This talk uses code to tell a nail-biting, math-free story about the source of a computer's power, the inevitable drawbacks of that power, and the impossible programs which lie at the heart of uncomputability.