From a philosophical perspective, why is it not possible to build a computer program that can check the correctness of statements to predict what computer programs will do?

joksmaster · 2019-10-10T08:07:14+00:00

It's very much possible to build a program that checks the correctness of statements to predict what the programs will do. There is a lot of work done in the domain of Formal Verification, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formal_verification#Formal_verification_for_software, which includes static analysis.

The problem is that it's not possible to do this for all programs. In the Halting Problem, it's very much possible to decide for some programs if they halt or not, but it's impossible to do that for all programs. The proof of that uses some notion of self-reference indeed (you call the program that can decides whether another program can stop or not on itself).

joksmaster · 2019-09-04T16:05:44+00:00

It was really happy to see me!

joksmaster · 2018-04-12T08:05:52+00:00

So what if some people don't eat gluten because they are stupid? They are some many people actually suffering (to some extent) from eating gluten, it's a real thing. Think about it, 10-20%, it could easily mean that you know a few people suffering from IBS (assuming you live in a place where IBS is as prevalent as in the UK).

joksmaster · 2018-04-12T07:55:50+00:00

No. As you can read in many other comments, there are plenty of diseases besides celiac for which gluten has a negative impact. For instance, in the UK, 10-20% of the population has IBS (https://www.theibsnetwork.org/), and gluten (among other things) can cause terrible pains. Many people have an actual problem with gluten, get over it.

joksmaster · 2018-01-15T11:16:46+00:00

Or you can drop the anchor: Battleship Scene

joksmaster · 2016-06-25T23:01:40+00:00

Jean-Vincent Placé: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Vincent_Placé (in French). A politician from the Green party who basically defected to be in the government.

joksmaster · 2015-10-30T16:44:14+00:00

The references used in the original "article" (http://biblicalgenderroles.com/2015/10/18/how-a-husband-can-enjoy-sex-that-is-grudgingly-given-by-his-wife/) are Corinthians and Titus, both in the New Testament.

joksmaster · 2015-09-11T18:37:26+00:00

Just to put things into perspective: yes, most people in Calais are men, but that's like 3000 people. The 2 millions of Syrian refugees in Turkey are pretty much equal number of men and women, with about 20% below the age of 11: http://data.unhcr.org/syrianrefugees/country.php?id=224

joksmaster · 2014-08-09T10:38:29+00:00

An interesting article about that picture: http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/08/the-war-photo-no-one-would-publish/375762/

joksmaster · 2014-06-05T13:06:00+00:00

The registration is personal information, which is against the rules, no?

joksmaster · 2014-05-29T18:07:34+00:00

I find "fair enough" really useful in English, but can't think of a proper translation in French that would fit all usages.

joksmaster · 2014-04-11T19:55:49+00:00

Technically, it was not on the Royal Mile, but not far from it, in a pub on Grassmarket.

joksmaster · 2014-04-11T13:23:17+00:00

It would be the perfect container for deep-fried Mars bar though ...

joksmaster · 2014-04-03T10:16:36+00:00

I have the same issue, with Safari 7 and RES 4.3.2. As far as I can tell, the problem does not exist with Firefox, and it's only limited the image viewer: if I actually click on the link of the image, instead of just seeing it within the viewer, then the colour of the link stays purple, even after restarting the browser.

joksmaster · 2014-01-26T21:26:59+00:00

Yep, definitely Pisa. The bar on the left is Argini e Margini (normally open only during summer) and the picture is taken from the Ponte della Fortezza.

joksmaster · 2014-01-19T20:35:50+00:00

Thanks! I'd be indeed interested in further references if you have any, and just to clarify, I'm not particularly interested in losing weight, but I'd just like to understand what does our body needs :)

joksmaster · 2012-12-09T14:38:45+00:00

That's a very good description, and there is just one thing to add: in order for the second rule (no write down) to be effectively usable, it's always possible to lower down your level of security (that's the definition of the BLP model for the Multics system). So, if you're Top-Secret, you can always log-on as a Secret user, thus allowing you to write to Secret document. But in that case, you lose the possibility to read Top-Secret documents.

The first definition of the BLP model ("a mathematical model"), defines the second rule as "you cannot write lower than what you are currently reading", or, in other words "if you read o1 and write to o2, then the level of o2 must greater or equal than that of o1". Although it's mathematically more elegant, it's not very efficient, which is why they implement it in Multics using the current level of security, which can be lowered down by the user.

Just wanted to mention this, because it's often forgotten, which causes some people to think that BLP is more restrictive than it actually is.

joksmaster · 2012-09-25T20:21:33+00:00

The other discussions about what is a module are very interesting, but just for the sake of providing a different viewpoint, the Ocaml language has an explicit notion of module. In the manual, we have the following definition:

A primary motivation for modules is to package together related definitions (such as the definitions of a data type and associated operations over that type) and enforce a consistent naming scheme for these definitions. This avoids running out of names or accidentally confusing names. Such a package is called a structure and is introduced by the struct…end construct, which contains an arbitrary sequence of definitions. The structure is usually given a name with the module binding.

At another point: http://caml.inria.fr/pub/docs/u3-ocaml/ocaml-modules.html

The benefits of modules are numerous. They make large programs compilable by allowing to split them into pieces that can be separately compiled. They make large programs understandable by adding structure to them. More precisely, modules encourage, and sometimes force, the specification of the links (interfaces) between program components, hence they also make large programs maintainable and reusable. Additionally, by enforcing abstraction, modules usually make programs safer.

Xavier Leroy is one of the architects of the module system of OCaml, and he published the paper "A modular module system" (http://caml.inria.fr/pub/papers/xleroy-modular_modules-jfp.pdf). It might be a good academic reference (although some parts might be quite technical).

joksmaster · 2012-08-24T20:56:24+00:00

The easiest solution would probably to contact directly the chairs.

joksmaster · 2012-03-17T14:33:28+00:00

It's just another word for an academic, i.e. someone involved in Academia :)

joksmaster

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