Re: high-school presentation, suggestions?

On 24 Mar 2024 01:49:31 -0000
kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

Stefan Ram <ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de> wrote:

kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote or quoted:

I explained to the CIO of a large government agency that a particular
system wasn't a computer at all because it wasn't a finite automaton,

You don't say what the context of the discussion was but I assume that some
practical issue was concerned. I can't think of a practical situation where
the most useful reply is around the lines of whether the system involved is a
computer or a finite automaton.

 What is a computer?

 
It's a finite automaton.
 

 Is this your own definition, or did you quote it from someone else?

 
I like to quote from Andrew Tennanbaum's book on the subject.
 

 Are there any other definitions?

 
I suppose there are, since there are people whose job title is "computer"
and we do have devices like the B-29 fire control computer which compute
but are not actually finite automata.
 
Our computer security people wanted us to put encryption software on E-6B
slide rules because they were on the inventory as "portable computers."

Is this the same thing as the CIO discussion you mention above or something
else ? Anyway , if someone wanted to install any kind of software on slide
rules and they didn't know that "portable computers" in this context refers
to slide rules , I would point out to them that it does. If they did know that
slide rules were involved and they seriously wanted to install software on
them , I would be at a loss for words.

By the way , I hadn't heard of E-6B .Cool thing.

 How do you know which definition to choose as the correct one?

 
I think in the 21st century, everyone assumes a computer to be a finite
automaton or something mathematically equivalent.  That is, turing-machine-
equivalent except for having a finite length tape.

I don't know who "everyone" is. I don't think that most people or even most
IT professionals bother to think of a general definition for "computer".
Ultimately the question is philosophical. Is the human mind a computer ? Is
the whole universe a computer ? I only think of "finite automaton" or "Turing
machine" in connection with mathematical theorems. For practical computing
purposes I don't think they are useful terms.

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