On Sun, 2006-02-12 at 01:16 +0000, MJ Ray wrote: > simo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Everything can be converted into a set of instructions, does this mean > > that everything is a program ? > > No. "can be" suggests a possibility. "is" would indicate a certainty. > Arguing against the certainty does not argue against the possibility. > I do not claim that documentation is software, but that documentation > can be software.
Well I do not understand how that can happen, probably because I have a stricter idea of what software is. > Everything can be put into words, does this mean everything is an essay? Sorry I do not actually see the analogy. > (Actually, I'm not sure about any of those "everything" claims.) > > > [...] If you run the postscript program and print the result on paper, > > is that not the document anymore? Of course it is, and printed paper is > > not a program. > > Listings magazines and machine-readable strips seemed popular types > of printed paper programs in my youth. Printed paper is not necessarily > a program, but printed paper can be a program. I hope this is clear. I'm sorry, it is not clear to me. I can't see how printed paper can be a program, unless you mean that printed paper is the media from which the computer reads the instructions, but I think it is so a corner case I tend to exclude it. You may have a program written on paper, but I do not think a book (a human readable book, and by human I mean any human that can read not just programmers) can be ever a program (with program being a set of strict instructions run by a computer). Simo. _______________________________________________ Discussion mailing list [email protected] https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/discussion
