Re: LCC and blobs
On Sat, 18 Dec 2004 16:40:33 +0100, Peter 'p2' De Schrijver <p2@mind.be> said:
> Hi,
>>
>> No. Information encoded electronically, in 0's and 1, usually.
>>
> Punchcards and paper tape were used to store computer programs (see
> any old mainframe). Computer programs are commonly understood to be
> software. So, software can be encoded in a non-electronic form. Some
> computers are mechanical rather then electronic devices and they run
> programs. IMO software isn't about the encoding, but about the
> nature of the information. BTW : CDs and DVDs store information
> using pits on a disk. That's not an electronic encoding either, it's
> just read by means of electronics.
>> Things related to computers are either software, hardware, or
>> wetware.
>>
>> > In that case, you'd certainly agree that the information stored
>> > on a punch card is software.
>>
>> Umm, no. Nor is stuff on a printed page that can be scanned using
>> OCR. The card is physical, I can feel it, make holes in it, and it
>> is hardware.
>>
> The card is hardware, the information stored on it can be software.
You have a funny, and imho wrong, definition of software. The
information under discussion is an abstract notion, and can be
represented in hardware, or ir can manifest itself as software. The
abstraction is the information.
>> When read by a card reader (or when a page is scanned in), it gets
>> an electronic representation in the machine, and then is software.
>>
> The information on the card is copied exactly into the machine, so
> the information is software, even when it's on the card.
No. The information was originally represented in hardware,
and, on passing through the reader, is now represented as
software. The information itself is not the representation.
manoj
--
Whoever tells a lie cannot be pure in heart -- and only the pure in
heart can make a good soup. -- Ludwig Van Beethoven
Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org> <http://www.debian.org/%7Esrivasta/>
1024D/BF24424C print 4966 F272 D093 B493 410B 924B 21BA DABB BF24 424C
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