Path: csiph.com!x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net!usenet.pasdenom.info!news.albasani.net!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Keith Thompson Newsgroups: comp.programming Subject: Re: Is binary a "language"? Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2011 11:59:11 -0700 Organization: None to speak of Lines: 21 Message-ID: <87d3l88mf4.fsf@smov.org> References: <48ecad59-950d-40ff-9fa6-6f107008335a@fu15g2000vbb.googlegroups.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Injection-Info: mx01.eternal-september.org; posting-host="F8AiNQ8jYpC5Si2nniI+dQ"; logging-data="11301"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX19KRcTMeMSi836zkuQaXe5d" User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/23.1 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:Ss9zRVogTfAJwyMmB97AcYFNGW0= sha1:smszLyTANictPXGYVyLgg1f7BDE= Xref: x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net comp.programming:154 Willem writes: > Todd Carnes wrote: > ) If you accept the definition of "language" as "a particular kind of > ) system for encoding and decoding information", which is one of the > ) definitions given at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language, then > ) "binary" DOES qualify as a language. > > No it doesn't. Not by itself. You also need a system to assign > informational meanings to the encoding. That system is the language. > > In other words: You can't encode information with binary *alone*, you > also need some kind of definition/system that tells you what the binary > endocing *means*. Like XML? -- Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst-u@mib.org Nokia "We must do something. This is something. Therefore, we must do this." -- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"