PROGRAM (COMPUTER)
Charles François (2004). PROGRAM (COMPUTER), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics, 2(2): 2668.
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 2668 ▶ |
| Object type | Discipline oriented |
- “A list of statements or instructions in a special purpose programming language that directs a computer to undertake a certain computer task” (K. KRIPPENDORFF, 1986, p.61).
In fact, such a program is a more or less complex algorithm.
T.ÖREN writes: “A computer program is a knowledge transducer similar to any energy transducer. A computer program has an input knowledge and an output knowledge. A knowledge transducer, i.e. a computer program, can do three types of knowledge processing:
1) It can transform its input knowledge into output knowledge.
2) It can provide knowledge about an input knowledge, and
3) based on an input (a query for example), it can process some knowledge that exist in a knowledge base, to provide an output knowledge“ (1990, p.13).
For the use of the word “knowledge” instead of “information” see B. ZEIGLER comments under “Knowledge: a pragmatic and operative views”.