From: Chad Perrin <perrin@...>
Date: 2006-08-09T03:18:58+09:00
Subject: Re: Language chatter

On Wed, Aug 09, 2006 at 02:47:12AM +0900, Francis Cianfrocca wrote:
> Steven Lumos wrote:
> 
> > Turing machines derive from a model of a human working with pencil and
> > paper.  That's pretty fundamental.
> > 
> > Steve
> 
> So then you would argue that imperative languages are fundamentally more 
> natural for people to program in than functional languages? 
> Notwithstanding that they are mathematically equivalent?
> 
> I'm not an FP partisan myself so I won't argue with you, but I have a 
> feeling some Lisp and Ocaml fanboys are firing up their blowtorches for 
> you ;-)

I don't know what Steven meant, but I know what I'd mean if I said that:

Turing machines and Lisp machines are equivalently fundamental.  After
all, I can work with mathematical functions with pencil and paper, too.

-- 
CCD CopyWrite Chad Perrin [ http://ccd.apotheon.org ]
"The measure on a man's real character is what he would do
if he knew he would never be found out." - Thomas McCauley