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| Authored by: Ian Al on Tuesday, May 15 2012 @ 05:39 AM EDT |
Processors use unknown voltages to symbolise the value '1' (around 3V ?) and '0'
(around 0V ?). I might have those reversed. We just don't know what the
designers decided.
The memory designers and the motherboard designers do something similar. When
the things are interconnected as a computer, there has to be a standard for the
electrical signal symbols between the components.
Processors and programs assign numerical values to groups of eight symbols in
memory. This is not the same in every computer because the Endian Wars have not
concluded. Apple changed sides relatively recently.
A number in memory is a symbolic representation of a symbolic representation. A
virtual machine must use the same symbolic meaning for numeric values if it is
to be cross-platform. The symbolic representation of numeric values in a VM is a
symbolic representation of a symbolic representation of a symbolic
representation of a numeric value.
Program source code in a file does not use the above symbolic representation
thread. Instead, it uses numbers from the above thread to symbolise characters
in an alphabet that symbolise the numeric values. It also symbolises every other
thing in the source code using the same symbology. Only the computer language
conventions (e.g. "This is a text string" and max() ) distinguishes
between numeric values, characters and language constructs.
'Dr. Mitchell: Not at all, a number can be a symbolic reference.' A number in a
computer is always a symbolic reference for the reasons given above. In the
context of the Java language and platform, it is a lie.
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Regards
Ian Al
Software Patents: It's the disclosed functions in the patent, stupid![ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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