Sage-Tips

Is template metaprogramming Turing-complete?

Template metaprogramming is Turing-complete, meaning that any computation expressible by a computer program can be computed, in some form, by a template metaprogram. Templates are different from macros.

Is C++ metaprogramming Turing-complete?

C++ templates are a Turing-complete language [30] , and thus they allow arbitrary computations on types and constants to be performed at compile time.

Is C macro Turing-complete?

The C preprocessor is not Turing-complete, but it comes very close: recursive computations can be specified, but with a fixed upper bound on the amount of recursion performed. However, the C preprocessor is not designed to be, nor does it perform well as, a general-purpose programming language.

Is recursion Turing-complete?

Fully generalized recursion (not just general within the model) is always Turing-complete. I am stating equivalence between generalized recursion and the ability to perform any possible computation. That is an important equivalence to note.

What is metaprogramming in Javascript?

Metaprogramming is a programming technique in which computer programs have the ability to treat other programs as their data. This means that a program can be designed to read, generate, analyze, or transform other programs, and even modify itself while running.

Can any Turing machine be implemented in C++?

Church’s Thesis. Church’s Thesis states that any algorithm can be realized as a Turing machine. That is, any algorithm which you implement using the C++ or Java programming languages can also be implemented using Turing machines.

What means Turing complete?

Practically, what you need to know is that a Turing-complete language (also called a universal language) is one where you can compute anything that any other computational method can compute. In other words, a language that’s non-universal—or Turing incomplete—has some limits on the set of things that it can compute.

Is postgresql Turing complete?

It’s semi-common knowledge that Postgres’ dialect of SQL is Turing complete. This means any program you can write in a general purpose programming language, you can also write in SQL.

Why is metaprogramming useful?

Metaprogramming allows you to automate error-prone or repetitive programming tasks. You can use it to pre-generate data tables, to generate boilerplate code automatically that can’t be abstracted into a function, or even to test your ingenuity on writing self-replicating code.