Quote:
Originally Posted by CraigD
A good point, IMHO. I tend to equate “algorithm” with “function”, and define function as “something that takes input and returns output”. By this definition, a program that can never end can never return an output, so can’t implement a function.
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Well, more formally, a function that does not return does not produce a return value, but that does not prevent it from producing output *while it's running*....
Quote:
Originally Posted by CraigD
In wider usage, however, algorithm seems to be used more generally to include both programs that can end, and ones that can’t.
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And that's what I've always gone with, otherwise, we need a new term for the thingies for which Turing's Halting Machine would return "No!"
SO, anyone want to try to take a shot at really explaining why a "non-halting function/program" isn't an "algorithm?"
To follow, without halt, one aim: There's the secret of success,
Buffy
