Ok - that makes sense. Good point. Would it be fair to say that we're really searching for is a formally specified processor that makes the programmer as efficient as possible?
Michael
On Mar 7, 2010, at 23:25 , Pascal J. Bourguignon wrote:
>
> On 2010-03-05, at 00:06, Michael Arnoldus wrote:
>> So my suggestions was to use complexity in the context of improving
>> programmer (FSE) productivity. And I hinted at some possible measurements
>> that might be useful for this. I however do not in any way pretend this is
>> clear enough to work as a clear definition of complexity or even metrics.
>> And - for me at least - is not clear to me that a single metric will be
>> sufficient with the chosen context and purpose (I'm aware we're not even
>> clear on purpose yet).
>>
>> I'm not able to pick a single definition of complexity that fits my (maybe
>> our?) context and purpose. I suspect that finding the right meaning and
>> definition of complexity in this context is more than half the solution - as
>> it is with most really interesting problems.
>>
>> If you have a suggestion I'm all ears :-)
>
> I'm afraid that you cannot ask either to improve the programmer productivity
> without specifying a target "processor".
>
> Taking again the example of ("Compute the pay of each employee of my company"
> + programmer) system, the productivity of programmer A could be infinite, if
> the target "processor" is programmer B and A can say to B: "Compute the pay
> of each employee of my company".
>
> But if we consider as "processor" in the target (program+processor) system a
> programmer C who doesn't know anything about pay, then programmer A will have
> more work, and his productivity will be finite: he will have to specify to
> programmer C a program where all the pay relative algorithms are explicited.
>
> And if the target processor is an 6502, then the productivity of programmer A
> will be abysmal, without tools. If you add tools, eg. a C compiler, then it
> means the target processor is not a 6502, but a C machine, and the
> productivity of programmer A is accordingly increased.
>
>
> Well, this not new, it has been known since the 60's that the productivity of
> programmers is in direct proportion to the high levelness of the target
> machine, that is the "programming language" used, what I call "processor" in
> my (program+processor) systems.
>
> --
> __Pascal Bourguignon__
> http://www.informatimago.com/
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> fonc mailing list
> [email protected]
> http://vpri.org/mailman/listinfo/fonc
smime.p7s
Description: S/MIME cryptographic signature
_______________________________________________ fonc mailing list [email protected] http://vpri.org/mailman/listinfo/fonc
