I'm not so sure of that. It's important to learn how a real computer works -- not down to the level of the copper on the board, but the basics of what a pointer is, for example. While turning machines and real computers are largely equivlent after an isomorphisism, it's a fairly harsh isomorphisism. Understanding a turing machine won't allow you to grok pointers, because turing machines don't have pointers, or, indeed, RAM -- Random Access Memory. Memory on a turing machine is purely serial, and infinite in extent.

On the other hand, the differences between the arch of an x86 box vs a PPC box are at a level of detail to be irrlevant to most perl programmers.

Knowing how a water pump works, even though a water pump is isomorphic to a heart, isn't all that useful for a heart surgon. OTOH, knowing how a rat's heart works would be very useful even though there are differences between a rat's heart and a human heart.

Warning: Unless otherwise stated, code is untested. Do not use without understanding. Code is posted in the hopes it is useful, but without warranty. All copyrights are relinquished into the public domain unless otherwise stated. I am not an angel. I am capable of error, and err on a fairly regular basis. If I made a mistake, please let me know (such as by replying to this node).

In reply to Re^3: The Tao of Perl by theorbtwo
in thread The Tao of Perl by Mago

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