An experimental determination of the "purity" of a trivial algorithm

ABSTRACT

Recent work in an area which might be designated as Software Physics [1,2,3,4,5,6] has suggested that the basic structure of algorithms may offer an interesting field for experimental research. Such an experiment is reported here. In an earlier paper [2], it was suggested that a "Second Law" might be stated as:"The internal quality, LV, of a pure algorithm is independent of the language in which it is expressed."

REFERENCES

• 1: M. H. Halstead. "A Thermodynamics of Algorithms," Tech. Report 66, Dept. of Computer Science, Purdue, Feb. 1972.
• 2: M. H. Halstead, Natural laws controlling algorithm structure?, ACM SIGPLAN Notices, v.7 n.2, p.19-26, February 1972 [doi>10.1145/953363.953366]
• 3: M. H. Halstead, "A Theoretical Relationship Between Mental Work and Machine Language Programming," Tech. Report 67, Dept. of Computer Science, Purdue, Feb. 1972
• 4: Rudolf Bayer, "A Theoretical Study of Halsteads Software Phenomena," Tech. Report 69, Dept. of Computer Science, Purdue, May 1972.
• 5: Kenneth W. Kolence, Software physics and computer performance measurements, Proceedings of the ACM annual conference, p.1024-1040, August 01-01, 1972, Boston, Massachusetts, United States [doi>10.1145/800194.805896]
• 6: M. H. Halstead and Rudolf Bayer, "Algorithm Dynamics."