COMP 4036

Computability
Overview
· not all functions are computable

· (almost) all programming languages are suitable to ex-

press all computable functions

· computability limits power of programming languages in

general
Partial Functions & Computability
?
· program ≡ function from inputs to outputs

· theory and practice...

Expressions and Values
· What is the value of 3 + 2, 232, sin(π), 3/0?

· computation: error termination; nontermination

· examples: error termination 3/0; nontermination ...

Nontermination
f(x:int) = if x = 0 then 0 else x + f(x - 2)

f(4) =?
f(5) =?
Nontermination
f(x:int) = if x = 0 then 0 else x + f(x - 2)

f(4) = 4 + f(2) = 4 + 2 + f(0) = 4 + 2 + 0

f(5) = 5 + f(3) = 5 + 3 + f(1) = 5 + 3 + 1 + f(-1) =
...

=⇒ partial
Partial Functions
· functions in programming differ from functions in math:
partial vs. total

· total function: takes every element from its domain to a

unique element in its range

· partial function: may not map some of its domain ele-

ments (“undefined”)
Programs and Partial Functions
· recursion, loops, . . . → possible nontermination

· example: f(x:int) = if x = 0 then 0 else x + f(x

- 2)

· x ≥ 0 and x is even: terminates with a value

x < 0 or x is odd: computation can go on forever without
giving a result

Note g(x:nonnegeven) = if x = 0 then 0 else x + g(x

- 2) is a total function. g(-1) or g(5) are illegal expres-
sions → type checker
Computability
· computable?

− f : N → N. f (x) = 3x

− g : N → N. g(x) = x

true if the tooth fairy exists

n
− h : B. h =
false otherwise
− k : N → N. k(x) = the first 10x digits of π

· computable: there is a program that computes it

Computability as Criterion
· programming languages differ

Can we implement something in one programming lan-

guage but not in another?

· Church’s Thesis

All computing devices can compute exactly the partial

recursive functions.

· Characterizations of partial recursive functions, e.g.:

− Turing machines

− Lambda calculus (details later)

· (almost) all programming languages are Turing complete

Turing Machine
· very primitive computational model, here: multi--tape

· k tapes, infinite to one side, divided into cells

· tape symbols

· read--/write--head per tape on exactly one cell

· finite control, state

· computation step:

1. state change

2. replace symbols under heads

3. move heads (per tape L, R, S)

Turing Machines more formal
A Turing machine M is defined by:

M = (Q, T, I, δ, b, q0, qf )

where

Q set of states

T set of tape symbols

I set of input symbols I ⊆ T

δ state--transition function Q×T k → Q×(T ×{L, R, S})k

b blank

q0 initial state
 qf final state

· configuration: (α1, . . . , αk ) for k tapes, where αi = xiqyi

· computation step: `
Computing Functions with TMs
· input encodes arguments: e.g. x1#x2# . . . #xn#

· one tape is a “result tape”: e.g. the kth

· TM stops with y on tape k: TM computes f (x1, x2, . . . , xn) =

y
Non--Computable Functions
· Are there “interesting” functions that we cannot com-
pute?

· Yes! → e.g. Halting Problem

Halting Problem
· given: program text T , string S

· wanted: Answer to the question “Will T terminate when

run on input S?”

· no program can solve the Halting Problem

Non--Computability of the Halting
Problem
· Halting Problem as function:

true if T halts when run on input S

n
fHalt(T, S) =
false otherwise

· assume program Q computes fHalt

· construct program D as:

D(T) = if Q(T,T) then run forever else halt

· does D(D) halt?

Applications
· recursion, loops

while (...) {
...
}
... remaining program ...

or

let f(x:int) = if x = 0 then 0 else x + f(x - 2)

in g(f(3))

· checking of precise types: e.g. this program uses the first

3 characters of its string input