Quothe Tony Duell, from writings of Thu, Feb 21, 2002 at 08:19:11PM +0000:
> I don't much care for PCs either, but the FAQ specifically mentions them
While I don't like them much either, I paid a lot for my IBM-PC XT
when it was new, and I plan to keep it working as long as possible to
get my money's worth from it. :-)
> I think that for anybody on this list, there's stuff that's certainly
> related to 10-year-old+ computers that doesn't interest them. C64s and
> Apple ][s don't interest me much. The home micro collectors probably have
> little interest in PDP8s and PDP11s. I really don't think we should further
> restrict the range of machines covered to suit the interests of one (or a
> few) people
I agree.
> OK, can we come up with an exact definition of 'computer'. then?
If this question pertains to digital electronic computers: A user
programmable electronic device capable of at least performing the same
mathematical functions that people can perform with the assistance of
their fingers and toes, and typically faster.
> Let's think about digital machines for the moment (I'll happilly accept
> that analogue machines are very much on-topic as well, of course).
I agree.
> Does it have to be user-programmable? Out of the box? (in which case the
One could argue that one can program one's fingers and toes for use in
binary, hexadecimal, octal or decimal mode. :-)
--
Copyright (C) 2001 R. D. Davis The difference between humans & other animals:
All Rights Reserved an unnatural belief that we're above Nature &
rdd_at_rddavis.org 410-744-4900 her other creatures, using dogma to justify such
http://www.rddavis.org beliefs and to justify much human cruelty.
Received on Fri Feb 22 2002 - 20:59:21 GMT