Re: Definitions of Software and Database
Date: Mon, 6 Feb 2006 17:00:49 +0200
Message-ID: <ds7obv$e2h$1_at_domitilla.aioe.org>
"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://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/schroedinger/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interference
> > That definition may be indistinguishable from ye lores of olden, but yet
> A software developer is a person who intentionally causes 0's and 1's
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.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
> > 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:
> 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 - 16:00:49 CET