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| Authored by: BitOBear on Friday, February 01 2013 @ 03:39 PM EST |
Not to decry you for cherry-picking examples... but... 8-)
I am of the opinion that not all computer programs are math. I've had this
argument here before so here it is in brief.
atomic_t semaphore;
while compare_and_exchange(semaphore,1,0) == 1);
means "wait until semaphore is available (e.g. == 1) then make it zero and
proceed".
This _fundamental_ operation in multiprocessing, the "Taking of a
semaphore" can be _described_ using math, but it doesn't exist as a
mathematical operation. That is, it's not part of any done-on-a-chalk-board
mathematical stricture. Actual math doesn't change based on _when_ it's done.
Actual computer programs do change based on those sorts of circumstances.
Software is _largely_ math, but it is also _more_ _than_ math, but
mathematicians don't believe _anything_ is more than math so this assertion
makes them angry.
Someone will say that such software constructs don't count because they are
"just housekeeping".
In the alternate someone like PoIR will jump in here and point to his paper
where he _describes_ these operations, and claim that being able to describe
them _with_ math makes those operations math itself. And I will remain un-swayed
because I know we can describe gravity (and weather and everything else) with
math but that doesn't make them the same thing...[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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