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This is more algorithm than software isn’t it? and I suspect MPEG2 has had hardware implementations since day one - so I’m not sure it’s that clear cut. And fr
by lttlrck 9y ago
This is more algorithm than software isn’t it? and I suspect MPEG2 has had hardware implementations since day one - so I’m not sure it’s that clear cut. And frankly, at the time it was state of the art and I imagine requires significant investment.
The patent duration is far too long though.
- thaumasiotes 9y ago> This is more algorithm than software isn’t it? What do you believe the difference is? To me, software and algorithms are the same thing.
- ReAzem 9y agoAn algorithm is not patentable. Inventions may use algorithm but the invention cannot be just an algorithm.
- thaumasiotes 9y agoAlgorithms are indeed patentable. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lempel%E2%80%93Ziv%E2%80%93Welch#Patents https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lempel%E2%80%93Ziv%E2%80%93Wel...
- warent 9y agoI'd say software is typically built up with algorithms and static data. So an algorithm is more of a building block or raw material
- pecg 9y agoSoftware is the implementation of an algorithm using a specific language and tools.
- thaumasiotes 9y agoEvery algorithm is in some language, which means it's software.
- Godel_unicode 9y agoAn English prose algorithm for bubble sort written in chalk is most assuredly not software.
- iAMAGuest 9y ago> To me, software and algorithms are the same thing Algorithms exist outside of software. Algorithms are formulas or functions for solving a problem. Software is usually the implementation of one or more algorithms on a computer.
- thaumasiotes 9y agoWhy not think of your algorithms as software for a machine that doesn't yet exist?
- iAMAGuest 9y agoAlgorithms are not dependent on being implemented in software or run on a machine.
- Godel_unicode 9y agoThe algorithm is the abstract class, or possibly the spec, and software is one possible implementation. They’re at different levels of abstraction.
- paulmd 9y agoBoth software and algorithms are an emergent property of the rules of the systems we create. They are essentially akin to prime numbers, in a direct and provable sense. (1) All computable programs can be expressed as a Universal Turing machine. (2) There are countably many Universal Turing machines (3) In an abstract sense, we can thus assign a unique identifier to each possible computer program. I can tell you "run program 383439343" and that will tell you everything you need to run that function. Most of these programs are of course not correct in the sense that they produce a useful output, or even necessarily terminate. But then, most numbers aren't useful either, it's only because of the emergent properties of our mathematical rules that something like a "prime number" even has a conceptual meaning, and it's only because of our contextual needs that, say, sorting an array would be a useful output. Distinguishing between algorithms and software is a distinction without a difference. If the two implementations produce a different output, then by definition they must be following a different algorithm. And if they are the same algorithm, then they can be reduced to the same Universal Turing machine.
- shmerl 9y agoAlgorithm is more abstract than software which implements it.