4 ms·
one small detail to clarify. We can't build a general 'halting determiner' for any arbitrary program. But to say that for any particular program a halting mac
by altruios 3y ago
one small detail to clarify.
We can't build a general 'halting determiner' for any arbitrary program.
But to say that for any particular program a halting machine can be developed is a different proposition.
A simple example is the fact we don't have to run this code for ever to determine if it halts or not:
```
while(true){}
```
but we won't ever get a function() named X that outputs halt/not where x(turning machine / computer program).
we able to, however, make a X(TM/C) where it outputs trivially halts or undetermined (past y steps).
- abetusk 3y agoYes you're right. I should have said "it's impossible to create a program that, in general, for all input programs, determines whether it halts or not (in finite time)." The whole of mathematics and computer science is, in some sense, analyzing those programs which we can prove to halt.