22 Feb
2006
22 Feb
'06
2:18 p.m.
On Tue, Feb 21, 2006 at 11:06:20PM -0600, pjfjacks wrote:
A computer program is much more than an integer - it
is a collection of
Words (translated through many layers) into zeros and ones that represent
A unique solution to a problem.
No - that's also an important mistake. It's not unique. I printed
out the integer for /bin/arch on my workstation at work. I did the
same here at home. Unsurprisingly, the same "program" has non-unique
representations! The source code, on the other hand may be unique.
A computer doesn't care about your source code anymore than your body
cares about a doctor's "GATAACTGAT.." notation of your DNA. It's
merely notation - in that notated form, the DNA/program is completely
non-functional.
Nevertheless, they do represent the intent of the
author to create a unique
Solution to some problem.
If you are talking about source code, I do agree. But source code is
as useless to a computer as a picture of a liver is your bloodstream.
It's just not gonna do anything.
I disagree that a computer program and its source code are
identifiable. They are obviously bear some relation to one another,
but that relation is certainly not identity!
That is like saying no one can patent a piece of
electric powered machinery
because it is all just electrons, and no one has a patent on electrons.
The patent is not on the electrons, but on the unique way they are used.
No, not at all. A machine is a physical object that functions with
it's non-digital representation. Completely different.
--
Ross Vandegrift
ross(a)lug.udel.edu
"The good Christian should beware of mathematicians, and all those who
make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians
have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine
man in the bonds of Hell."
--St. Augustine, De Genesi ad Litteram, Book II, xviii, 37