Created
March 18, 2018 18:55
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Halting problem simple proof in Ruby
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# Assume we are able to write a function, magical_solver, which can magically | |
# determine whether or not a function halts | |
def magical_solver(source_code) | |
# outputs 'true' if fn.source_code halts | |
# outputs 'false' if fn.source_code doesn't halt | |
end | |
def always_halt | |
# Always halts | |
end | |
def never_halt | |
# Never halts (goes into infinite loop) | |
end | |
def flipper(source_code) | |
# If fn halts, output a program that doesn't halt | |
# If fn doesn't halt, output a program that does halt | |
if magical_solver(source_code) | |
never_halt.source_code | |
else | |
always_halt.source_code | |
end | |
end | |
magical_solver(flipper(always_halt.source_code)) # false | |
magical_solver(flipper(never_halt.source_code)) # true | |
# What if we pass flipper into itself? | |
magical_solver(flipper(flipper.source_code)) | |
# Possibility A: flipper is a good program | |
# magical_solver will tell us that flipper is a bad program | |
# Possibility B: flipper is a bad program | |
# magical_solver will tell us that flipper is a good program | |
# Both possibility A and possibility B are contradictions, therefore magical_solver cannot exist, | |
# and we can never determine whether or not a program halts. |
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