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That's fine. Plenty of mathematical theories still have theorems left to prove. It still doesn't change the fundamental and theoretical nature of the discipline
by dkarapetyan 10y ago
That's fine. Plenty of mathematical theories still have theorems left to prove. It still doesn't change the fundamental and theoretical nature of the discipline. I'm trying to drive the point home that much of hardware and software design is a lot like "a^2 + b^2 = c^2" and patents in that context don't make sense.
- rayiner 10y agoIn my opinion, you have to distinguish between situations where you use math to evaluate particular points in a design space, and situations where there is a correct solution that follows directly from the math. Most things in software are not examples of the former. They're just different points in a design space of solutions, just like with any other engineering field. The MIPS unaligned load instructions are an example of that. Just one way to do things. Not even a particular good way, considering that they've long been out of patent protection and nobody has implemented them in another architecture.