3 ms·

I just wrote a very detailed comment on this thread on why ternary computers aren't a thing, probably can't be a thing, and thus will probably never become a th

• pmoriarty 6y ago
  "2. By theorem, all bases are equivalent in power with respect to their capabilities of encoding information and processing/computing said information, and binary logic can be used to bootstrap any other multi-valued logic system desirable (goes for ternary logic and 64-bit integer computation alike). Thus, the decision to make a base-3 falls back pretty much entirely on circuit efficiency" This reminds me of Alan Perlis' famous admonition to "Beware of the Turing tar-pit in which everything is possible but nothing of interest is easy." There are many programming languages which are Turing complete, and so are interchangeable as far as their computing power goes, but as you know they don't tend to compete on efficiency alone. People want to use the right tool for the job, and many other considerations come in to play.