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The effect of programming | 756 comments | Create New Account
Comments belong to whoever posts them. Please notify us of inappropriate comments.
The effect of programming
Authored by: darrellb on Thursday, July 19 2012 @ 09:15 PM EDT
If I dye my white cat's coat black do I have a new cat? Do I have a black
cat?

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

The effect of programming
Authored by: PolR on Thursday, July 19 2012 @ 09:38 PM EDT
My statement: "Having erasable memory for data storage is obviously irrelevant for the 'new machine' argument. "

Your answer: "It depends on how the computer is programmed"

I must have missed something, but I see no link between my statement and your comment.

The link is there many ways to program a computer. Some of these ways do not involve issuing new instructions to the CPU. They involve giving data as input to an old already programmed algorithm. Some of the programming techniques available to programmers cannot be used with PROM. They require RAM because in these cases the program must be in data storage.
In this thread of comments you have now set a new limitation (i.e., changed from 'all cats are white' to 'my cat is white'). You now argue that computers with volatile program storage are not new devices, and I would agree if you also specify that the reprogramming remains an option for the user.
Sir, you have just agreed with the argument from the article.

I have clearly explained in this article that main memory in a stored program computer is volatile and that programs are stored in this memory. I have clearly explained that programs are erasable and the computer may be reprogrammed. This is not a new limitation, this is what the article says.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

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