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I logged in to say this exact thing. This is not a programmable computer any more than a printing press was a programmable computer. This is an EXTREMELY clev
by aedocw 13y ago
I logged in to say this exact thing. This is not a programmable computer any more than a printing press was a programmable computer.
This is an EXTREMELY clever and complicated printer.
- USNetizen 13y agoA printer IS a computer. The fact that it translates a language (the "bumps" on the cams) into action is the computational part.
- derekp7 13y agoI think this comes down to, does a device need to be Turing complete to be considered a computer? If not, then what level of complications is needed for it to be a computer? For example is a watch, or a record player, a computer?
- catmanjan 13y agoComputer: an electronic device which is capable of receiving information (data) in a particular form and of performing a sequence of operations in accordance with a predetermined but variable set of procedural instructions (program) to produce a result in the form of information or signals.
- ledge 13y agoI disagree with the "electronic" part. That disqualifies Charles Babbage's early mechanical computers, not to mention all of biological/chemical computing.
- eru 13y agoAnd the electro-mechanical computers of the 40s and 50s.
- andrelaszlo 13y agoHow do you separate the data from the instructions in this case? I'd say it's the same thing. You can change the word, but not how a word is translated into hand movements without rebuilding the whole thing (please don't!). Isn't the word configuration more like input, than a program? On the other hand, this definition is very vague...
- saraid216 13y agoA Turing machine is a subset of computers. http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=computer&allowed_in_frame=0 http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=computer&allowed_in_fra... The level of complication necessary is "can compute stuff". Whether you want to include any kind of functional transformation as a computation or not is up to you.
- bunderbunder 13y agoI don't know that it needs to be Turing complete, but I'm inclined to say that it should have at least some control operations to qualify as a computer. Example: Consider a hypothetical machine that implements standard SQL in hardware. Such a device would not be Turing-complete. Would you still call it a computer? I would.
- v-yadli 13y agoIMHO as long as it has states, and it actually accepts some input while rejecting others, it is a computer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_computation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_computation EDIT: Thus a printer IS a computer, not for the procedural operations, but for that you can feed in some illegal input through the interface(no matter serial, peripheral or USB), and it will either send you back some complaint, or disconnect from you, or burn itself down.
- timdiggerm 13y agoBut can you feed this pinoccoscribe illegal input?
- pliny 13y agoProbably not, since the correct response to illegal input is to never arrive at a halting state, and putting aside mechanical considerations, it doesn't seem like the boy is supposed to loop over anything in such a way that would allow it (in intention, not in practice) never to halt.
- v-yadli 13y agoNot 'but' but 'and' right?
- bunderbunder 13y agoIt's a bit oversimplistic to equate this with movable type. It's also sensationalist to describe it as an early computer, of course. But I'd be perfectly happy with characterizing it as a very early precursor to the computer. It's common to trace the lineage of modern computers back through the Analytical Engine and the Difference engine to the Jacquard loom. And what the Jacquard loom is, is an apparatus which takes input in the form of a digital code and performs a distinct action for each possible value in the input. The Writer is also an apparatus which takes input in the form of a digital code and performs a distinct action for each possible value in the input. The key difference is that the Jacquard loom's input is composite: It's a series of bits, each of which indicates whether a corresponding harness should be raised or lowered. That's enough of an incremental difference that I think it'd be totally fair to treat The Writer as another step back in the modern computer's lineage.
- eru 13y agoIt would be fun to create a loom that could weave holes, and then feed its output into it as input.
- JonnieCache 13y agoA knitted quine?
- sp332 13y agoThis is more of a computer than movable type is, but it's not more programmable.