Re: Command Languages Versus Programming Languages

On Sat, 12 Oct 2024 21:25:17 -0000 (UTC)
Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> boring babbled:

On Sat, 12 Oct 2024 08:42:17 -0000 (UTC), Muttley wrote:
>

Code generated by a compiler does not require an interpreter.

>
Something has to implement the rules of the “machine language”. This is
why we use the term “abstract machine”, to avoid having to distinguish
between “hardware” and “software”.
>
Think: modern CPUs typically have “microcode” and “firmware”
associated
with them. Are those “hardware” or “software”?

Who cares what happens inside the CPU hardware? It could be a group of pixies
with abacuses for all the relevance it has to this argument. Standalone
binaries contain machine code that can be directly executed by the CPU.

If you want to go down the reductio ad absurdum route then the electrons
are interpreters too.

>
<https://www.americanscientist.org/article/the-computational-universe>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_physics>

Thats heading off into philosphy.