The book "Wading through Treacle - dispatches from the next-generation network" is due to go to the publisher sometime in mid to late 2006. One of the reasons for publishing the book on my website as it is being written is to give opportunities for reader feedback, leading to improvements before the text gets frozen into hard copy.
Another reason was to advertise the book and increase sales, but you knew that already!
Please feel free to let me know your thoughts below. This is a moderated site, so I get to preview your comments before deciding if you are in or out. Like slashdot, insightful and/or funny work to your advantage - basically stuff I can use rather than amorphous praise or disdain.
Thanks for the comment!
Nigel, Is it allowable to post requests for future articles ? (When you have time, of course.)
ReplyDeleteHere is a deep one. Is the Telecoms industry lacking a comprehensive mathematical / foundational model for Telecoms networks (perhaps akin to a Turing Model for Computers)? Do some of the confusions and pointless exercises you have reported ultimately spring from this lack?
Interesting question. Turing's model is about the definition of the concept of algorithm equated to computable function, and implemented by his eponymous machine. Everyone in computer science studies it, but it's not really a causal element in practical computer design or software engineering (except perhaps as a boundary condition - you would not want to inadvertently use tools which weren't Turing-complete).
ReplyDeleteIn the case of networks, there is a place for graph theory of course, but most of the issues seem to me to be in the economics space of monopolistic and oligopolistic industry structures, various economies of scale, and in the interplay between new technologies and products.
I will think some more about the fundamental principles in the various disciplines which underpin our understanding of telecoms and its future. Thanks for the point.