I concur. This is a fallacy. I think this argument can be further
supported with a reference to computation theory. The notion of algorithm does
not depend on the physical characteristics of the computing agent. The
mathematical assumption is that the computation will be carried out to its end
no matter how long it takes and how much storage for the symbols are required.
This is part of the definition of the concept.
In modern
computers, the task that I've assigned to the user in my abacus example are now
an integral part of the machine. The user no longer needs to load and execute.
Merely run or activate.
The intent of the mathematicians is
to put the focus on the procedure. They don't want a procedure for addition to
stop being an algorithm when the number has more digits than it is possible to
write them. They don't want an algorithm to stop being an algorithm because the
user gets bored and stop computing before the end. The identity of the computing
agent doesn't matter. When the limitations of the agent are hit, the remedy is
often to find a more powerful computing agent.
Indeed, and
I haven't made any suggestion that these intermediary values should be the focus
of a patent. Perhaps a functional unit that contains a complete implementation
or idea could though.
There is another presumption which
should be revisited, that the functions of software result from hardware
activity. It is contents.
I contend that hardware executes
instructions contained in software. Those instructions may cause the hardware
to manipulate contents. In most useful software, it's interesting to save the
hardware state so it can later be reexamined or moved. These save operations
normally result in a file containing content representative of the machine state
during the save, sometimes the machine state is translated into something more
meaningful like XML first. In fact, most early Microsoft Word and Excel files
where simply memory dumps of the allocated system memory associated with an
instance within the program. That's why, when opened with notepad, they had
that peculiar binary format that took reverse engineering to understand if you
didn't want to use the original program. [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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