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Chemical Computing

  • Conference paper
Unconventional Programming Paradigms (UPP 2004)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 3566))

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Abstract

All information processing systems found in living organisms are based on chemical processes. Harnessing the power of chemistry for computing might lead to a new unifying paradigm coping with the rapidly increasing complexity and autonomy of computational systems. Chemical computing refers to computing with real molecules as well as to programming electronic devices using principles taken from chemistry. The paper focuses on the latter, called artificial chemical computing, and discusses several aspects of how the metaphor of chemistry can be employed to build technical information processing systems. In these systems, computation emerges out of an interplay of many decentralized relatively simple components analogized to molecules. Chemical programming encompassed then the definition of molecules, reaction rules, and the topology and dynamics of the reaction space. Due to the self-organizing nature of chemical dynamics, new programming methods are required. Potential approaches for chemical programming are discussed and a road map for developing chemical computing into a unifying and well grounded approach is sketched.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bio Systems Analysis Group, Jena Centre for Bioinformatics (JCB) and Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, D-07743, Jena, Germany

    Peter Dittrich

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  1. Peter Dittrich
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Université de Rennes I and INRIA/IRISA, Campus de Beaulieu, 35042, Rennes Cedex, France

    Jean-Pierre Banâtre

  2. INRIA Rhône-Alpes - POP ART project, 655 avenue de l’Europe, 38330, Montbonnot, France

    Pascal Fradet

  3. LaMI UMR 8042 CNRS – Université d’Evry, Genopole, 523 place des Terrasses de l’Agora, 91000, Evry, France

    Jean-Louis Giavitto  & Olivier Michel  & 

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© 2005 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Dittrich, P. (2005). Chemical Computing. In: Banâtre, JP., Fradet, P., Giavitto, JL., Michel, O. (eds) Unconventional Programming Paradigms. UPP 2004. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3566. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/11527800_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11527800_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-27884-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-31482-0

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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