From: Eleanor McHugh <eleanor@...>
Date: 2007-03-23T21:54:23+09:00
Subject: Re: Object/Relational Mapping is the Vietnam of Computer Sci

On 23 Mar 2007, at 05:43, Chad Perrin wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 23, 2007 at 10:20:50AM +0900, Pe�a, Botp wrote:
>> if language is data, then from whence did it came from?
>
> Language is an abstracted, reformulated (or refactored) form of
> preexisting data.  The only argument for the spontaneous generation of
> data from processes that really strikes me as particularly  
> believable is
> based on the idea of human creativity.
>
> On the other hand, the Taoist in me wants to say that these divisions
> between process and data are illusory, and both are one and the same.
> Still, when programming it's generally far more useful to program  
> to the
> data, rather than imagine that you're using data to support the  
> program.

The physicist in me would tend to agree. Being and Doing are merely  
useful abstractions for the 'time'-dependent asymmetries of phase space.


Ellie

Eleanor McHugh
Games With Brains
----
raise ArgumentError unless @reality.responds_to? :reason