Hi Folks,
"Okay Roger, let's suppose that what you say is true and every sentence is an instruction. So what?"
Here's the so what:
- Instructions elicit behavior.
- Instructions have semantics.
- Semantics can be represented by an interpreter.
Got two data formats and you want to know if they are equivalent? Comparing the data formats item by item is a Sisyphean task. Instead, write an interpreter for each data format, run instances of the data formats through the interpreters and compare their outputs. If their outputs are the same, the data formats are equivalent. If their outputs differ, the data formats are not equivalent.
Running unknown code has risks, and testing can only tell you the formats are different, not that they are the same.
Do you agree with my argument?
No.
/Roger
David
