3 ms·

Refer to "The Halting Problem" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halting_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halting_problem

• dottrap 11y ago
  In short, Alan Turning proved these problems are "undecidable" for the general case (under our model/definition of computing, now know as the Turning Machine).
  • dottrap 11y ago
    Thus we cannot build general purpose tools to tell us if our program is correct as there is no general rigourus mathematical proof that we can apply. Any attempt would require heuristics which are not guaranteed to work.
    • dottrap 11y ago
      Obligatory xkcd https://xkcd.com/1266/ https://xkcd.com/1266/
    • seanwilson 11y ago
      There is no algorithm to prove the correctness of programs in general but you can still prove correctness of specific programs.