Re: Low-level vs. High-level programming (was My First Computer)

[pausch@saaf.se (Paul Schlyter)]

In article <bZMIa.922$jy1.468@newssvr19.news.prodigy.com>,
Kelly Hall <hall@priest.com> wrote:
 
> "Paul Schlyter" <pausch@saaf.se> wrote in message
> news:bcvu90$1tms$1@merope.saaf.se...
> 
>> Nevertheless, it is possible to implement the Game of Pong in HTML,
>> just like any other kind of state machine.  Admittedly though, a Pong
>> implemented in pure HTML would not be particularly enjoyable to
>> play...
> 
> The difference is that in a state machine there's sequencing, represented
> and processed *within* the state machine.  A state machine is a *dynamic*
> process.
> 
> In the PONG example, the sequencing is a chunk of text (a URL) that is used
> to issue an HTTP request.  There's no sequencing possible without the
> browser issuing an HTTP request to fetch a new HTML page.  HTML is static.
 
Likewise, the source text of any real programming language, as well as
the binady code image of the compiled program, is static: without a
CPU+OS to run that code, your program will do absolutely nothing.
 
The HTTP requests are to HTML what the CPU+OS are to the "real" program.
 
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