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Hmm would software like Nix function as a practical example of 'reversible computing'?
by WAthrowaway 8y ago
Hmm would software like Nix function as a practical example of 'reversible computing'?
- qubex 8y agoNo: Reversible Computing embraces the (quantum mechanical) notion that information cannot ever be lost (cfr the “Black Hole Information Paradox”), and that therefore the output of a computation can only be a reshuffled but complete permutation of the input. Nix (for example) allows you to delete stuff and/or initialise a variable by zeroing it out and thus obliterating information. A reversible computing paradigm would not allow this. (In practical terms this information is dissipated as heat when memory deletes information.)
- krastanov 8y agoI am confused by the downvotes. The above post is correct even if not using the clearest of phrasings. But I would like to nitpick: You really do not need to involve quantum mechanics. These effects are present in classical thermodynamics. They are just more explicit in quantum mechanics.
- WAthrowaway 8y agoThank you for the insight, that makes a lot of sense! I just ordered the Feynman Lectures on Computation, excited to read.