On Tue, Feb 12, 2008 at 08:54:43AM -0800, Darren New wrote: > >A better example would be, "If you wrote a calculator program that always > >gave > >the right answer would that mean you completely understand the *rules* of > >arithmetic?" And the answer would be yes. > > For sufficiently trivial problems, this is true. But who understands the > rules better? The person who wrote the calculator program, or the people > who invented modern arithmetic? How many programmers do you think can > write a program to add two numbers? How many of those same programmers > do you think could prove that 2's compliment arithmetic works?
You can always get more understanding. Implementing more and more layers of abstraction in software would make you understand more and more. That would be the foundation of understand that would allow one to consider proofs like what you suggested. cs -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-lpsg
