Subject: Re: [lojban] samselpla vs. samjva

From: Steven Furlong <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 02 Sep 2000 20:18:16 -0400

Taral wrote:
<<terms for computer program>>
> I dunno... I think that the concept of "computer" needs to be in there
> somewhere. Otherwise, the words for "computer" and "computer program" are
> not at all related. Somehow that strikes me as wrong.

Well, a computer program need not be executed on a computer. For
example, it could be walked through by hand.

In general, a computer program is a means of transforming some input
into some output. Mathematical algorithms were often executed by hand
before the common availability of the computer. Of course, many
programs wouldn't make sense outside of the computer context; a
shoot-em-up game might not have quite the excitement without a
processor and video screen.

Possibly we should have a word for "algorithmic recipe", which is more
specific than <pruce>. This would include the concept of what we
normally call computer programs, but would not be identical to it.
We could throw a <skami> in if needed.

-- 
Steve Furlong, Computer Condottiere Have GNU, will travel
518-374-4720 [email-masked]