From: Paul Koning Sent: Thursday, September 17, 2015 9:02 AM > In any case, I do not believe the original statement. First of all, it is > well known that no computer can solve "all problems" (see Gödel). For those > it *can* solve, as far as I know, a Turing machine can solve a superset of > what a stored program computer can handle,
All right so far. > and a Turing machine does NOT have self-modifying code. <choke><spit><soda on keyboard> Excuse me???? A Turing machine is the very essence of self-modifying code, by its very definition! You have the infinite memory tape, divided into cells, a reader, and a writer. The reader looks at a cell and performs the action required by the symbol read there. Possible actions include erasing the symbol already present and writing a new symbol; once that is done, the reader looks at the new symbol and performs the action required by *that* symbol. Lather, rinse, repeat. (Interrupt when out of shampoo.) Rich Rich Alderson Vintage Computing Sr. Systems Engineer Living Computer Museum 2245 1st Avenue S Seattle, WA 98134 mailto:ri...@livingcomputermuseum.org http://www.LivingComputerMuseum.org/