Digital Twin applied to Software
Aik-Siong Koh
askoh.com

There has been a major dichotomy in computing right from the beginning: Statically Typed vs Dynamically Typed programming languages. The former languages produce fast executables but are inflexible to program. The latter are just the converse. This dichotomy has been frustrating to programmers who always feel they have to make sacrifices when making a choice. It also often leads to futile language wars. The Digital Twin concept was introduced in engineering where a physical system is modeled digitally in geometry, simulation and other information. The concept has proven so successful that it is being applied to almost everything in engineering from simple mouse traps to complex whole cities. It occurred to the author that this concept can be extended to software too. For example, execution in C++ is famously fast. But development in C++ is notoriously difficulty because of language complexity and long build times. A flexible digital twin can be a program written in Smalltalk which is famous for live programming. "Development at the speed of thought" is the motto and is real. What is gained by this duplication? Firstly, the flexible twin can be use to explore new algorithms, features, solutions and fix bugs quickly. Only desired codes are translated to C++ manually or automatically. Secondly, the two programs can check each other so that bugs are reduced significantly. These two gains will define future programming productivity and quality. The Digital Twin concept will also drive the automatic translation of the flexible language to the fast language.

Bio

Dr Aik-Siong Koh has a PhD from The University of Texas at Austin where he programed in FORTRAN to simulation mechanical systems. While teaching at Texas Tech University and Nanyang Technological University, he developed interest in Multibody Dynamics. To develop his own Multibody Dynamics simulator, he researched for the most productive programming language and discovered Smalltalk. The live programming capabilities of Smalltalk permitted him to build a successful simulator which he then proceeded to commercialize. His later experience with C++ at Mechanical Dynamics and MathWorks gave him the idea of Digital Twin for Software.