Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Understanding what a progam can do
Princeton's Ed Felten has posted a fun little essay explaining why it's often impossible to know what computer programs do, and how that makes comedy out of the idea of rating a video game based on all the possible scenarios it can depict.
Senator Sam Brownback has reportedly introduced a bill that would require the people rating videogames to play the games in their entirety before giving a rating. This reflects a misconception common among policymakers: that it’s possible to inspect a program and figure out what it’s going to do...LinkNonexperts are often surprised to learn that programs can do things the programmers didn’t expect. These surprises can be vexing; but they’re also the main reason computer science is fun.
posted by Cory Doctorow at 09:54:51 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments
