[qsort]

> A compiler is an algorithm and Claude isn't

"Algorithm" is not a word with a definition, so I can't say that you're wrong, but I struggle to see how you conceptualize "algorithm" in a way that does include a compiler but does not include a language model.

I think the distinction you're trying to draw is better captured by comparing inductive and deductive program synthesis.

[osti]

In computer science, one definition of algorithm is basically any program that runs on a turing machine. By that definition, any LLM is an algorithm.

[mcv]

A compiler is a deterministic algorithm. Clause is not.

Of course Claude is an algorithm, but it's a very vague, fuzzy and complex one, where you have no way to determine what's going on inside, and no way to know up front what's going to come out.

[armchairhacker]

Those are the exact concepts I was looking for.

[biorach]

> "Algorithm" is not a word with a definition

what?

[qsort]

Rogers "Theory of Recursive Functions and Effective Computability", page 1, emphasis is the author's:

§ 1.1 The informal notion of algorithm

In this chapter we give a formal (i.e., mathematically exact) characterization of recursive function. The concept is basic for the remainder of the book. It is one way of making precise the informal mathematical notion of function computable "by algorithm" or "by effective procedure". In this section, as a preliminary to the formal characterization, we discuss certain aspects of the informal notions of algorithm and function computable by algorithm as they occur in mathematics.

I don't understand why you people act like you're stumped by literally, literally page 1 of computer science.

[mmarx]

> I don't understand why you people act like you're stumped by literally, literally page 1 of computer science.

… and yet you didn't stop for a moment to consider that in a field as fast-moving as computer science, a concept which might not have had a formal definition in 1967 acquired one in the past 59 years? See, for example, Sipser's Introduction to the Theory of Computation, which has an entire section (3.3 in my 1997 print) titled “The Definiton of Algorithm”.

[qsort]

Yes, did you read that section? It's using different terminology but it's saying exactly what I'm saying (of course it does, it's elementary computer science). There is no accepted definition of the word "algorithm": there wasn't one in 1967, there wasn't one in 1997 and there isn't one in 2026. There are models of computations we can prove to be equivalent to each other, but no commonly accepted definition that captures the way we use the word in normal speech.

[biorach]

This is not page 1 of computer science. And you're being bitchy.

[qsort]

> you're being bitchy

Honestly you're right, I'm sorry. I'm not having a great day and ended up venting online. Logging off.

[biorach]

oh wow. this is a rarity on an internet dominated by toxic rage-bait. apology accepted. I think you probably have interesting things to say on the matter and I look forward to reading them on a better day. respect.