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| Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, April 25 2012 @ 10:29 PM EDT |
> OK. Now fill in the blanks with something from
> everyday life. Maybe use Dan Bornstein's dog.
I don't think a dog is a great analogy, but I can manage it if you permit me to
substitute a robot dog so that copyright applies to aspects of its behaviour.
* API = named idea.
The idea "Play Dead". You can't copyright this idea.
* API name and syntax = the interface between humans and computers. The name and
syntax are functional and fixed because computers are absolutely literal.
The spoken command "Play Dead Spot". If the human speaks a different
phrase like "Die Spot", the dog won't recognise it. If the dog is
programmed instead to respond to the phrase "initiate trick 37" then
the human won't be able to get it to perform. If robot dogs are common and
expected to respond in the same way then this becomes a purely functional `word'
in the language by which humans expect to talk to robot dogs.
* API Specification = a precise description of the named idea in human
language.
The text in the robot dog "instruction manual". For example "The
spoken command 'Play Dead Spot' will cause the rover3000(tm) robot dog to roll
over on its back and imitate a dead dog for ten seconds." You can copyright
the instruction manual.
* API Implementation = code to tell a computer how to do perform the activity
described by the named idea.
The millions of lines of complicated program code needed to enable the robot dog
to recognise the spoken command and move its little robot legs in the right
sequence to carry it out. You can copyright this code too.
[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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- close... - Authored by: xtifr on Thursday, April 26 2012 @ 12:15 AM EDT
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