Re: Generation of permutations

[tmoran@acm.org]

> > but to determine whether a set of instructions

> > So the set of instructions emitted by Gnat when it

> >sort is indeed a general sorting algorithm. We can't for
> >a moment assume that Tom *really* thinks that it is undecidable :-)
>
> So the only reading of Tom's message is an attempt to
> disprove what I wrote by example.

  Another reading is that Tom foolishly left off the smiley when he tried
to point out that things must be stated more carefully, and in particular,
"a" set of instructions is different from "any" set of instructions, and
if "a" had really been meant, then the statement would imply, for
instance, that when "a set of instructions" happened to be the particular
"set of instructions emitted by Gnat...", the sort couldn't be proved to
work.  Tom assumed that reader's of the message would not assume someone
was ignorant of, or attempting to disprove by example, undecidability.
Tom assumed wrong.
  ("Know your audience" & "Don't leave off smileys")**100