MEMBRANE COMPUTING: HISTORY AND BRIEF INTRODUCTION

At the moment when these notes are written, membrane computing is only eight years old. Is this an age when a “history” can be recalled? The doubt suggested by the mere formulation of this question is removed by the personal feeling that, actually, the domain has a long history, a feeling grounded on the large number of notions, research directions, results, applications, publications, and events related to membrane computing. The second part of these notes will (try to) prove these assertions, providing the reader with a quick introduction to membrane computing, pointing out mainly basic ideas and types of results and of applications. Before that, the first part of the paper, provides a personal view about these last (more than) eight years, remembering facts which might not have a great significance for somebody not involved in this field or not knowing the persons which will be mentioned below, but significant for me. This is, indeed, a personal history of membrane computing.

Consequently, the reader is asked not to evaluate this text with modest/non-modest measures. I used to say several times (e.g. in interviews for Romanian newspapers) that, while everybody tries to become a name in science, I “failed”, because I just became a letter: the computing devices studied in membrane computing are called P systems. It is not easy to become a letter and then to discuss about it in conferences or in texts like the present one, but, at the same time, your vanity is highly pleased when doing it. This should be the same for everybody, the only difference being that customarily the people do not admit that they are vanitous. Moreover, in general, the scientists are not modest, and mathematicians still less. Pretending to be exact, they promote themselves, without any thought paid to any shame, because no thought is paid to any self-promotion. The same with my recollections here: I will just try to be exact.