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Another angle on this is that there’s many formal axiomatic ways to define computing. Everything is just a Turing machine. Everything is just a function. Every

Another angle on this is that there’s many formal axiomatic ways to define computing. Everything is just a Turing machine. Everything is just a function. Everything is the Conway’s game of life. The fact that all of these forms are equally expressive is quite a surprise when you first discover this. Importantly, it doesn’t mean that any one set of axioms is “more correct” than the other. They’re equally expressive.

brudgers 2y ago
Everything is just a Turing machine. That one ends in a tarpit where everything is possible but nothing of interest is easy.
- Animats 2y ago
  That's the generic problem with "Everything is a ...". Trying to force things into a paradigm that doesn't fit well complicates things.
  - brudgers 2y ago
    The generic problem is every generation thinks they invented sex. https://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/perlis-alan/quotes.html https://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/perlis-alan/quotes.html
  - grugagag 2y ago
    It is a simplification that makes easier to grasp a paradigm. Sure, it could be taken to extremes and pretend nothing else exists outside this ‘everything is a … “ bubble. Luckily we can learn from others’ mistakes and not fall into traps too often.
- zahlman 2y ago
  >where everything is possible but nothing of interest is easy. Real development IMX is not much different. People just have low standards for "interesting" nowadays, and also have vastly increased access to previous solutions for increasingly difficult problems. But while modern programming languages might be more pleasant to use in many ways, they have relatively little to do with the combined overall progress developers have made. Increased access to "compute" (as they say nowadays), effort put into planning and design, and the simple passage of time are all far more important factors in explaining where we are now IMO.

brudgers 2y ago

Everything is just a Turing machine. That one ends in a tarpit where everything is possible but nothing of interest is easy.

Animats 2y ago
That's the generic problem with "Everything is a ...". Trying to force things into a paradigm that doesn't fit well complicates things.
- brudgers 2y ago
  The generic problem is every generation thinks they invented sex. https://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/perlis-alan/quotes.html https://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/perlis-alan/quotes.html
- grugagag 2y ago
  It is a simplification that makes easier to grasp a paradigm. Sure, it could be taken to extremes and pretend nothing else exists outside this ‘everything is a … “ bubble. Luckily we can learn from others’ mistakes and not fall into traps too often.
zahlman 2y ago
>where everything is possible but nothing of interest is easy. Real development IMX is not much different. People just have low standards for "interesting" nowadays, and also have vastly increased access to previous solutions for increasingly difficult problems. But while modern programming languages might be more pleasant to use in many ways, they have relatively little to do with the combined overall progress developers have made. Increased access to "compute" (as they say nowadays), effort put into planning and design, and the simple passage of time are all far more important factors in explaining where we are now IMO.