Two questions about trev

[Jim Bufalini]

Richard Gaskin wrote:

> ...Since the whole computing thing is just smoke and mirrors anyway (who
> bothers to notice that it's just a machine too dumb to count past 1?),
> for the end-user it may be very useful to hide complexity whenever
> practical.  The whole experience is just an illusion, so better to make
> it a pleasant one. :) ...

When you think about it, or ever programmed in Assembly, there are only
5-things a computer can do:

1. It can add and subtract (multiplication and division are just rapid
looped additions and subtractions).
2. It can compare two bits/bytes and determine equal to, greater than or
less than (how you know when to stop subtracting in a "division" and call it
a remainder).
3. It can move bits/bytes from one location to another (storage to memory,
memory to monitor, to processor, etc.)
4. It can replace instances of one bit/byte in memory with another.
5. It can jump execution to an offset location in memory (actually a
variation of 3).

Oh yeah, there is a sixth:

6. It can crash. :-)

All the illusion is based on combining these simple 5-capabilities and the
shattering of illusion is in the 6th. :-)

Aloha from Hawaii,

Jim Bufalini