Black Boxes
 

So I've been working a little on writing my 'popular science' article about computers and I had a question:

How familiar are you with the concept of a 'black box' in terms of abstracting a function? I ask, because I have no clue what the results of this poll will be for a population group such as the one that visits this forum.

Re: Black Boxes
 

What is a computer science related field? I did two years of comp sci subjects alongside my other subjects but don't have a degree in it.

That said, I wouldn't know what you were talking about except for my compsci classes. Ditto for what 'abstracting a function' means in programming.

Re: Black Boxes
 

I wasn't looking for anything specific. In fact, I probably worded it too strongly in terms of "having a degree." Your sort of experience would definitely count. In fact, your case helps confirm my suspicion that, outside of CS, people generally aren't exposed to this type of concept. I think I need to add a little explanation about that to my article.

Re: Black Boxes
 

People with physics degrees would know about the black box.

Melch

Re: Black Boxes
 

People with degrees in chemical engineering don't know what a black box is? Mind you, I didn't really do any computer stuff other than C++.

Re: Black Boxes
 

[ QUOTE ]
People with physics degrees would know about the black box.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not that I don't believe you, but I'm curious where this would come up. As an ME student, I obviously took a lot of physics, but I can't recall a spot where the black box concept was really emphasized. Of course, I could also just be brain-damaged.....

Re: Black Boxes
 

[ QUOTE ]

Not that I don't believe you, but I'm curious where this would come up. As an ME student, I obviously took a lot of physics, but I can't recall a spot where the black box concept was really emphasized. Of course, I could also just be brain-damaged.....

[/ QUOTE ]

It happens in studying nuclear and particle physics. Because alot of times we don't know exactly what is happening in a reaction. Granted it isn't used in Classical or Relativistic Physics, but when you get down to the QM level alot of times, we don't understand whats going on, just the results of an interaction.

Melch