A place where anything is possi
Ble
But nothing of interest is practical.
Alan M. Turing helped lay the foundations of computer science
By showing that all machines and languages capa
Ble 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 capa
Bilities 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 possi
Bly as a classroom exercise),
Because it would
Be horri
Bly 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 su
Bterranean tar leaks to the surface, creating a large puddle (or pit) of tar. Animals wandering or falling in get stuck,
Being una
Ble 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)
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