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6 definitions found
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) : [ foldoc ]
Turing tar-pit
A place where anything is possible but nothing of interest is
practical. Alan M. Turing helped lay the foundations of
computer science by showing that all machines and languages
capable of expressing a certain very primitive set of
operations are logically equivalent in the kinds of
computations they can carry out, and in principle have
capabilities that differ only in speed from those of the most
powerful and elegantly designed computers. However, no
machine or language exactly matching Turing's primitive set
has ever been built (other than possibly as a classroom
exercise), because it would be horribly slow and far too
painful to use.
A "Turing tar-pit" is any computer language or other tool that
shares this property. That is, it's theoretically universal
but in practice, the harder you struggle to get any real work
done, the deeper its inadequacies suck you in. Compare
bondage-and-discipline language.
A tar pit is a geological occurence where subterranean tar
leaks to the surface, creating a large puddle (or pit) of tar.
Animals wandering or falling in get stuck, being unable to
extricate themselves from the tar. La Brea, California, has a
museum built around the fossilized remains of mammals and
birds found in such a tar pit.
[{Jargon File]
(1998-06-27)
From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) : [ jargon ]
Turing tar-pit n. 1. A place where anything is possible but nothing of
interest is practical. Alan Turing helped lay the foundations of
computer science by showing that all machines and languages capable of
expressing a certain very primitive set of operations are logically
equivalent in the kinds of computations they can carry out, and in
principle have capabilities that differ only in speed from those of the
most powerful and elegantly designed computers. However, no machine or
language exactly matching Turing's primitive set has ever been built
(other than possibly as a classroom exercise), because it would be
horribly slow and far too painful to use. A `Turing tar-pit' is any
computer language or other tool that shares this property. That is, it's
theoretically universal -- but in practice, the harder you struggle to
get any real work done, the deeper its inadequacies suck you in. Compare
bondage-and-discipline language. 2. The perennial holy wars over
whether language A or B is the "most powerful".
From English Wiktionary: All languages (2023-07-27) : [ dictinfo.com:wikt-en-ALL-2023-07-27 ]
Turing tarpit
n.
(lb en computing) The situation in which a programming language is
only minimally Turing complete, so that "everything is possible but
nothing is easy". <!--Perlis' words-->
From English Wiktionary: English language only (2023-07-27) : [ dictinfo.com:wikt-en-en-2023-07-27 ]
Turing tarpit
n.
(lb en computing) The situation in which a programming language is
only minimally Turing complete, so that "everything is possible but
nothing is easy". <!--Perlis' words-->
From English Wiktionary: Western, Greek, and Slavonic languages only (2023-07-27) : [ dictinfo.com:wikt-en-Western_Greek_Slavonic-2023-07-27 ]
Turing tarpit
n.
(lb en computing) The situation in which a programming language is
only minimally Turing complete, so that "everything is possible but
nothing is easy". <!--Perlis' words-->
From English Wiktionary: Western languages only (2023-07-27) : [ dictinfo.com:wikt-en-Western-2023-07-27 ]
Turing tarpit
n.
(lb en computing) The situation in which a programming language is
only minimally Turing complete, so that "everything is possible but
nothing is easy". <!--Perlis' words-->
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