算法与理论计算机2018pubsonline.informs.org
Richard Bellman 谈动态规划的诞生 (2002)
Richard Bellman on the Birth of Dynamic Programming (2002)
入门 · 约 30 分钟读完前置知识：动态规划基本概念
导读
这是对动态规划创始人 Richard Bellman 的访谈，讲述动态规划诞生背后的故事：包括他在 RAND 公司的研究经历，以及为何在国防部长 Wilson 憎恨'research'一词的环境下，刻意选用'dynamic programming'这个不会引起反感的名字。访谈还涉及他在斯坦福与 RAND 之间的职业选择等经历。
HN 关注点：动态规划是计算机科学的核心概念之一，HN 读者对它的命名由来和 Bellman 本人的第一手讲述很感兴趣。
后来怎么样
这篇访谈记录了'dynamic programming'一词的命名由来，成为计算机科学史上广为流传的轶事，常被引用以说明术语背后的历史背景。
HN 评论精选
这几条评论里：支持 1 补充 1
补充转述论文中最有趣的部分：动态规划这个名字是为躲避国防部长对'research'的敌意而刻意起的
我最喜欢关于'dynamic programming'这个名字（可以说是计算机科学里最糟糕的术语）的部分：1950年代不适合做数学研究。华盛顿有个叫 Wilson 的国防部长，对'research'这个词有病态的恐惧和憎恨——不是夸张，是精确描述——有人在他面前用这个词，他就会涨红脸、变得暴躁，对'mathematical'一词更是如此。RAND 为空军工作，而空军实际上归 Wilson 管，所以我得想办法向 Wilson 和空军掩盖我在 RAND 里实际做数学的事实。我对规划、决策感兴趣，但'planning'因种种原因不是个好词，于是决定用'programming'；我想传达这是动态的、多阶段的、随时间变化的，就选了'dynamic'——这个词在经典物理意义上有精确含义，而且作为形容词不可能被用作贬义。
OskarS查看英文原文
I love the section on the name "dynamic programming" (arguably the worst term in all of computer science): The 1950s were not good years for mathematical research. We had a very interesting gentleman in Washington named Wilson. He was Secretary of Defense, and he actually had a pathological fear and hatred of the word, research. I’m not using the term lightly; I’m using it precisely. His face would suffuse, he would turn red, and he would get violent if people used the term, research, in his presence. You can imagine how he felt, then, about the term, mathematical. The RAND Cor- poration was employed by the Air Force, and the Air Force had Wilson as its boss, essentially. Hence, I felt I had to do something to shield Wilson and the Air Force from the fact that I was really doing mathematics inside the RAND Corporation. What title, what name, could I choose? In the first place I was interested in planning, in decision making, in thinking. But planning, is not a good word for various reasons. I decided therefore to use the word, ‘programming.’ I wanted to get across the idea that this was dynamic, this was multistage, this was time-varying. I thought, let’s kill two birds with one stone. Let’s take a word that has an absolutely precise meaning, namely dynamic, in the classical physical sense. It also has a very interesting property as an adjective, and that is it’s impossible to use the word, dynamic, in a pejorative sense. Try thinking of some combination that will possibly give it a pejorative meaning. It’s impossible. Thus, I thought dynamic programming was a good name. It was something not even a Congressman could object to. So I used it as an umbrella for my activities Basically: "I more or less randomly picked two words that sounded good in a government bureaucracy". Makes sense!
支持认为访谈很有价值，Bellman 的工作影响深远，职业抉择的故事尤其有趣
读来很棒。Bellman 的工作影响着今天的许多技术。听他讲述自己的故事很有意思，尤其是他在斯坦福和 RAND 之间的职业路径抉择。
mark_l_watson查看英文原文
That was a great read. Bellman’s work affects much of technology today. Interesting to hear his story, especially the Stanford vs. Rand career path decision.
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