On the notion of "von Neumann vicious circle" coined by John Backus

TL;DR

This paper discusses the 'von Neumann vicious circle' in computer science, highlighting how the current paradigm limits development of non-von Neumann architectures and introduces a framework aiming to break this cycle.

Contribution

It introduces a framework acting as a higher order functional HDL to challenge the prevailing paradigm and facilitate non-von Neumann architecture development.

Findings

Proposes a new framework for non-von Neumann architectures.

Challenges the symbolic computation paradigm for higher order objects.

Aims to enable development of alternative computer architectures.

Abstract

"The von Neumann vicious circle" means that non-von Neumann computer architectures cannot be developed because of the lack of widely available and effective non-von Neumann languages. New languages cannot be created because of lack of conceptual foundations for non-von Neumann architectures. The reason is that programming languages are high-level abstract isomorphic copies of von Neumann computer architectures. This constitutes the current paradigm in Computer Science. The paradigm is equivalent to the predominant view that computations on higher order objects (functionals) can be done only symbolically, i.e. by term rewriting. The paper is a short introduction to the papers arXiv:1501.03043 and arXiv:1510.02787 trying to break the paradigm by introducing a framework that may be seen as a higher order functional HDL (Hardware Description Language).