Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!crdgw1!procyon!nielsen From: nielsen@procyon.crd.ge.com (paul e nielsen) Newsgroups: comp.theory Subject: Re: Question on halting problem Keywords: for 10 bonus points... Message-ID: <19191@crdgw1.crd.ge.com> Date: 2 May 91 22:04:21 GMT References: <18974@crdgw1.crd.ge.com> <1991May2.190138.15254@unx2.ucc.okstate.edu> Sender: news@crdgw1.crd.ge.com Organization: GE Research, Schenectady NY Lines: 22 In article <1991May2.190138.15254@unx2.ucc.okstate.edu> unx20491@unx2.ucc.okstate.edu (Inscrutable Eric) writes: >I'll bet that there is no computer in the world that will execute this >code without returning an error when a, or any other of the variables, >exceeds the computer's MaxInt. Seems like a silly point, but this code >doesn't seem to follow all of the rules. For example, it probably won't >execute without errors. >>P.S. Where can I redeem my 10 points? >Nowhere, your code fails to comply with all of the rules for such code. Interesting point for most computer languages, but Lisp has bignums. "Unlike most programming languages, Common Lisp in principle imposes no limit on the magnitude of an integer; storage is automatically allocated as necessary to represent large integers." (CLtL 2nd ed, p.16) Thus the upper bound on the size of an integer is limited by the size of the computer's total memory, rather than the word size or some MaxInt. Of course total memory is assumed to be infinite. -- =============================================================================== Paul Nielsen VOICE: (518) 387-5141 GE Corporate R&D Center INET: nielsen@crd.ge.com Schenectady, NY 12345 UUCP: uunet!crd.ge.com!nielsen