Obviously my point about languages was a metaphor for CS and Math and wasn't meant to be taken literally.
The language I am creating has an absolute definition and that is called source code (the source code you would write in rather than the source code I used to create it.). This is not Mathematics. I will give an example. Many computer languages have many levels of precedence in evaluating expressions. Some have up to 20 levels. In Math the expression: y=5 + 2*b This means 2 times b plus 5 store to y. It's left to right but multiplication has a higher precedence than addition in Math. In my Code this would mean 5 plus 2 times b store in y. I have no precedence levels in expressions so they compute left to right. Note: In Math and in my language, anything enclosed in round brackets is executed first. My point is that the above expression in Math and in my language are different. It looks the same but it describes something different. All functions and variables in my language were designed for either computer hardware reasons or for systems and programming concerns. I have a whole group of math functions like log, tan, cos etc but they are only included because they are available for free and would be difficult to duplicate if a programmer needed them. I have never used such functions in hundreds of thousands of lines of code myself. David Clark Bottom line, CS is not Math. From: Steve Richfield [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: January-08-13 10:41 AM To: AGI Subject: Re: [agi] Why Logic & Maths Have Sweet FA to do with Real world reasoning Apparently, there aren't people into language translation on this forum to let this pass... On Mon, Jan 7, 2013 at 11:06 PM, Aaron Hosford <[email protected]> wrote: I challenge you to describe something in a foreign language that can't be formulated in English? If necessary, I will just incorporate whatever foreign word you say into English to make sure I win! Obviously every language is English, right? There are a very finite number of words and ways of arranging them, and so there is a collection of things that can be said, in a continuum of things that can NOT be said. German partially addresses this by allowing any number of words to be run together to craft a specific meaning. Arabic partially addresses this by abolishing the idea of correct spelling, and encouraging varying spelling for emphasis, e.g. by proceeding ever sooooo slowly. When I traveled to Saudi Arabia, I saw the same English words spelled as many as 3 different ways on the same OFFICIAL documents, along with the ubiquitous red stamp DEATH TO DRUG DEALERS. To see an attempt to do a really good job, just look at any of the translations of the Koran. There, you will see more notes than direct translation, and in reading the notes, it becomes clear that there is a LOT lost in the best possible translation. Of course, even notes have their limitations. You have to be there to understand what there is all about. Different places even smell different. Steve ------------------------------------------- AGI Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/21088071-f452e424 Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=21088071&id_secret=21088071-58d57657 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
