gedanken

3 definitions found

gedanken - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  Gedanken
  
     John Reynolds, 1970.  "GEDANKEN - A Simple Typeless Language
     Based on the Principle of Completeness and the Reference
     Concept", J.C.  Reynolds, CACM 13(5):308-319 (May 1970).
  
     [Jargon File]
  

  gedanken
  
     /g*-dahn'kn/ Ungrounded; impractical; not well-thought-out;
     untried; untested.
  
     "Gedanken" is a German word for "thought".  A thought
     experiment is one you carry out in your head.  In physics, the
     term "gedanken experiment" is used to refer to an experiment
     that is impractical to carry out, but useful to consider
     because it can be reasoned about theoretically.  (A classic
     gedanken experiment of relativity theory involves thinking
     about a man in an elevator accelerating through space.)
     Gedanken experiments are very useful in physics, but must be
     used with care.  It's too easy to idealise away some important
     aspect of the real world in constructing the "apparatus".
  
     Among hackers, accordingly, the word has a pejorative
     connotation.  It is typically used of a project, especially
     one in artificial intelligence research, that is written up in
     grand detail (typically as a Ph.D.  thesis) without ever being
     implemented to any great extent.  Such a project is usually
     perpetrated by people who aren't very good hackers or find
     programming distasteful or are just in a hurry.  A "gedanken
     thesis" is usually marked by an obvious lack of intuition
     about what is programmable and what is not, and about what
     does and does not constitute a clear specification of an
     algorithm.  See also AI-complete, DWIM.
  

gedanken - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :

  gedanken
   /g@.dahn'kn/, adj.
  
     Ungrounded; impractical; not well-thought-out; untried; untested.
  
     `Gedanken' is a German word for `thought'. A thought experiment is
  one
     you carry out in your head. In physics, the term gedanken experiment
     is used to refer to an experiment that is impractical to carry out,
     but useful to consider because it can be reasoned about
  theoretically.
     (A classic gedanken experiment of relativity theory involves thinking
     about a man in an elevator accelerating through space.) Gedanken
     experiments are very useful in physics, but must be used with care.
     It's too easy to idealize away some important aspect of the real
  world
     in constructing the `apparatus'.
  
     Among hackers, accordingly, the word has a pejorative connotation. It
     is typically used of a project, especially one in artificial
     intelligence research, that is written up in grand detail (typically
     as a Ph.D. thesis) without ever being implemented to any great
  extent.
     Such a project is usually perpetrated by people who aren't very good
     hackers or find programming distasteful or are just in a hurry. A
     gedanken thesis is usually marked by an obvious lack of intuition
     about what is programmable and what is not, and about what does and
     does not constitute a clear specification of an algorithm. See also
     AI-complete, DWIM.