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Eh, I dunno. "Turing complete" is a pretty easy concept to understand: such a language is capable of simulating a universal Turing machine. "Turing incomplete

Eh, I dunno. "Turing complete" is a pretty easy concept to understand: such a language is capable of simulating a universal Turing machine. "Turing incomplete" could just be "not Turing complete." It's pretty clear that this is a well-defined definition, because every computer language either is, or is not Turing complete.

hinkley 6y ago
You are living in a bubble. The people who make budgetary decisions are not in this bubble, which is a big part of why we keep getting overruled on important things. We can either go on acting surprised, or we can figure out how to do the work of communicating. We have decades of evidence that the rest of the world really doesn't give a damn, and are willing to pay a lot of money to continue not giving a damn. Turing complete sounds like something people want to have. Why are you the "good guy" for trying to make something incomplete? Wouldn't it be more desirable if we completed it?
- pmiller2 6y ago
  Well, then, that's where you explain the principle of least privilege. Besides, why are you even using terms like "Turing complete" with people who don't have a CS or SWE background, anyway?
- beagle3 6y ago
  That reminds me, I was once going into a clinic, and a guy coming out was looking at a paper in his hand, then at me, and said "Positive is good, right? It says here HIV positive. That's good, right?" The people who want the turingness to be complete are the ones who want the HIV to be positive. And I've never met any of those making budgetary decisions, though I'm sure some exist. (For the record, it was someone I knew, and he was a joker. He was not HIV positive, this was just a joke).
  - hinkley 6y ago
    That is not a funny joke, and yet I can see a couple of my relatives making it. It's often less about Turing Complete specifically and more about feature factory thinking. "You mean we could have a feature for a bit more (or less) work right now? Why wouldn't we want to have that? Think of all the money we can make!" followed 18 months later by pathological inability to understand why development has slowed down so much due to opportunity costs for which they spent the bonus check so long ago they can't even remember if they had fun spending it.
- a1369209993 6y ago
  > We can either go on acting surprised, or we can figure out how to do the work of communicating. Or we can figure out how to fix the fact that incompetent people are the ones who make budgetary decisions, or we can go on not acting surprised that they make bad decisions.

hinkley 6y ago

You are living in a bubble. The people who make budgetary decisions are not in this bubble, which is a big part of why we keep getting overruled on important things. We can either go on acting surprised, or we can figure out how to do the work of communicating. We have decades of evidence that the rest of the world really doesn't give a damn, and are willing to pay a lot of money to continue not giving a damn. Turing complete sounds like something people want to have. Why are you the "good guy" for trying to make something incomplete? Wouldn't it be more desirable if we completed it?

pmiller2 6y ago
Well, then, that's where you explain the principle of least privilege. Besides, why are you even using terms like "Turing complete" with people who don't have a CS or SWE background, anyway?
beagle3 6y ago
That reminds me, I was once going into a clinic, and a guy coming out was looking at a paper in his hand, then at me, and said "Positive is good, right? It says here HIV positive. That's good, right?" The people who want the turingness to be complete are the ones who want the HIV to be positive. And I've never met any of those making budgetary decisions, though I'm sure some exist. (For the record, it was someone I knew, and he was a joker. He was not HIV positive, this was just a joke).
- hinkley 6y ago
  That is not a funny joke, and yet I can see a couple of my relatives making it. It's often less about Turing Complete specifically and more about feature factory thinking. "You mean we could have a feature for a bit more (or less) work right now? Why wouldn't we want to have that? Think of all the money we can make!" followed 18 months later by pathological inability to understand why development has slowed down so much due to opportunity costs for which they spent the bonus check so long ago they can't even remember if they had fun spending it.
a1369209993 6y ago
> We can either go on acting surprised, or we can figure out how to do the work of communicating. Or we can figure out how to fix the fact that incompetent people are the ones who make budgetary decisions, or we can go on not acting surprised that they make bad decisions.