[Fwd: Re: Arrow System -- Rationale?]

[Jim Little]

Doh!  I've got to remember to check the destination!  :)

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Arrow System -- Rationale?
Date: Thu, 07 Jan 1999 22:31:56 -0700
From: Jim Little <jiml@inconnect.com>
To: "RE01 Rice Brian T. EM2" <BRice@vinson.navy.mil>
References: <AAC4EFB9EB6DD211AA5B004005A2D8D061E7D3@INTRUDER>

"RE01 Rice Brian T. EM2" wrote:

> here are some teasers: (yes, i expect criticism on these. i have so
> little time to work on this stuff)
[...]

Thanks very much for your response, Brian.  I think you still have a lot
of work ahead of you, but you've also convinced me that Arrow has a lot
of potential.  Unfortunately, I'm not a math whiz -- my interests lie in
software engineering and psychology, not computer science.  I know just
enough science to fake it.  :)  In a way, though, I think Prism and
Arrow are different expressions of very similar concepts, especially
since you say:

> the arrow system is a world of possible semantical systems.
> the arrow system has no one standard interpretation.

They're also vastly different, however -- Arrow seems to be more
formalized and to provide greater potential for formal reasoning. 
Prism, on the other hand, strikes me as being more "practical" and
easier to use.  I'm biased, of course :), but these differences do
correspond to our different backgrounds and interests (or so it seems to
me).

One area I think you need to work on is to define your definitions in
the context of Arrow.  You throw around words like "requirements,"
"information," and "statements," but you don't say how these things are
represented in Arrow, or (if there's no "one true way") give any
examples of how they might be.

Related to this, I have one question before I go...

>> But how is information represented in the system?  Define an Arrow
>> system which represents the binary string "00".
>
> finite-state machines and such.

Okay, so how do you represent a finite-state machine in the arrow
system?

> really, the natural numbers and all 
> will be objects in the arrow system as well.

Do you mean that an arrow's slot can point to either an arrow OR an
object (natural numbers, etc)?  If that's what you're saying, I think
you're polluting the purity of the system somewhat.

Either way, I'd like to see a solid example answering my question.  Show
me the money!  Or at least, "00".  Actually, make it (binary) "10",
since that demonstrates both of the binary digits.

Jim Little  (jiml@inconnect.com)