Re: Definitions of Software and Database

"dawn" <dawnwolthuis_at_gmail.com> wrote in message news:1139183957.058374.247300_at_z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
>
> Leif B. Kristensen wrote:
> > dawn rose and spake:
> >
> > > Anyway, to get this particular thread started, my question is: What is
> > > a precise definition fof the term "software" when used in the phrase
> > > "software developer" and (how) does software relate to databases?
> >
> > A software developer is a person capable of arranging a collection of
> > ones and zeroes in such a way as to bend a thinking stone to obey his
> > will.
>
> Close, but since they don't direct order the 1's and 0's, it doesn't
> have the same ring, but perhaps:
>
> A software developer is a person capable of causing 0's and 1's to be
> ordered in such a way as to bend a thinking stone to obey their will.

> [Using the singular form of the pronoun "their" for gender-neutral
> English.]

That depends on what you mean by "ordered".

> Of course then we might have to define "thinking" ;-)

If a stone can think it is still a stone ? ;-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automata_theory What happens when one encode the state diagram into some memory ? What happens when one interconnects lots of those ? What happens when one encode the interconnection scheme into some memory ?

See this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Neumann_architecture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_machine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway%27s_Game_of_Life
http://www.fourmilab.ch/autofile/www/chapter2_75.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_automaton
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Constructor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codd's_Cellular_Automaton
http://www.cellmatrix.com/entryway/entryway/core.html

http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/schroedinger/index.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interference

http://www.umich.edu/~newsinfo/Releases/2000/Jan00/r012000b.html
http://www.physorg.com/news2227.html
http://www.quantop.nbi.dk/cell_exp/quant_memory.html
http://www.techspot.com/news/20165-university-of-michigan-develops-quantum-processor.html
http://www.trnmag.com/Stories/2004/071404/Quantum_crypto_network_debuts_071404.html
http://www.primidi.com/2004/07/14.html
http://lists.elistx.com/archives/interesting-people/200306/msg00055.html
http://www.bbn.com/News_and_Events/Press_Releases/05_06_01.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/01/11/atom_chip_at_ces/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/07/hvd_alliance_founded/
http://cam.qubit.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

> > That definition may be indistinguishable from ye lores of olden, but yet
> > it is the plaine truthe.
>
> This would make a "data entry person" a software developer by
> definition, right? Perhaps we can add an intent phrase, although I'm
> not sure that changes it sufficiently:

> A software developer is a person who intentionally causes 0's and 1's
> to be ordered in such a way as to bend a thinking stone to obey their
> will.

How can you tell a data entry person from a software entry person ? :-) Received on Mon Feb 06 2006 - 09:00:49 CST