Re: Is this math test too easy?

From: Richard Henry (rphenry_at_home.com)
Date: 11/28/04 

Date: Sat, 27 Nov 2004 21:29:08 -0800

"Mxsmanic" <mxsmanic@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:o4niq0l12et8i86l9cm5krue46auh6ggms@4ax.com...
> Richard Henry writes:
>
> >
> > "Mxsmanic" <mxsmanic@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> > news:kfliq0d6pomlucr486sit9cd8rfehnihls@4ax.com...
> > > Richard Henry writes:
> > >
> > > > Really?
> > >
> > > Yes, really.
> > >
> > > > Suppose you encounter a memory location containing the hexadecimal
value
> > > > "30".
> > >
> > > You don't _encounter_ memory locations in programming. You _specify_
> > > them.
> >
> > Evasion noted.
>
> There is no evasion here. Computer programs do not discover the use of
> memory, they assign it. Thus, they do not "encounter" memory locations
> containing values; they assign memory locations and fill them with
> values.
>
> In any case, this is unrelated to my original point, which was that
> computer programs are unambiguous. They have to be, since computers
> cannot resolve ambiguities. A blob of code in a computer program that
> does not have an unambiguous interpretation is an error.

I will return to work Monday morning, programming computers (among other
things) relieved to know that here are no longer any computer errors.