Note that software isn't mathematics -
it's language (as in
English)....
Nope.
The language in question is
mathematics, not "as in English".
It is exact. An expression in
mathematics isn't variable. It always has the same exact
meaning.
English evolves over time. The definitions of the language
drift as usage changes. You can't easily read Old English - it is nearly
senseless from the point of view of modern English - yet is is still
"English".
Doesn't happen with Mathematics. If you change the
definitions, the program doesn't work.
This is sort of what happens if
you take a program from one platform to another without re-translating into the
target platform. You are changing the definitions going from an Intel structure
to an ARM. You must first translate the program into the language of the
target.
The two languages are mathematically equivalent - which is why
you get the same results (within the limits of the target). Yes, floating point
answers may not be quite the same - but that is because the target language is
slightly different. The abstract mathematics is identical, even if the
IMPLEMENTATION of the mathematical machine is slightly off. That is the
difference between the hardware reality and the abstract math. [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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