From: mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de   
      
   On 2023-02-09 09:42, David Brown wrote:   
      
   > /Real-world/ programs always halt.  Most of the programs I write have an   
   > "infinite loop" - "while (true) { .... }" in them.  But they stop when   
   > someone switches off the board they are running on.  Even the last of   
   > the Novel Netware servers will stop with the heat death of the universe.   
      
   Here you are talking about a computing system, not the program it runs.   
   The computing system may halt = stop functioning. However arguably it   
   does not stop, it ceases to exist as a computing system.   
      
   The program does not. Per definition properties of a program are   
   independent on the computing system. It is like 1+1=2, even if some   
   beads of the abacus are built out of antimatter so that they annihilate   
   when touching other beads. Same stupid argument.   
      
   > You /could/ argue that non-halting programs are just mathematical   
   > fantasies.   
      
   All programs are mathematical fantasies. After all, they are immaterial.   
      
   > So let's please stick to the normal definitions of the terms, and not   
   > add hidden assumptions about real-world limitations to simple   
   > mathematical concepts.   
      
   Right.   
      
   --   
   Regards,   
   Dmitry A. Kazakov   
   http://www.dmitry-kazakov.de   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)