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Old 10-07-2010
Why Software is Abstract, by PolR
Why Software Is Abstract
by PolR




Following the ruling of the Supreme Court in Bilski, the USPTO asked, in substance, how to tell an abstract idea from an application of the idea. In this article I propose an answer to the question of what makes software abstract. It is a follow up to the previous article, Physical Aspects of Mathematics.

The logic is to look at why a mathematical calculation is abstract and then see if the same logic applies to software. It happens that it does. It is possible to show that software is abstract with references to the underlying mathematical aspects. This is not, however, the topic for this article. The argument is presented without any assumption as to whether or not software is mathematics. I work from the observation that a mathematical calculation solving a mathematical problem is abstract. Then I look at what makes it abstract. Then I observe that the exact same logic is applicable to all software whether or not the law sees it as an algorithm as defined by Benson. This is not surprising. Software is mathematics and this makes it abstract, but I don't use or rely on this fact in making the arguments in this article.



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LEARN ABOUT DEBIAN

dancer::logger::abstract

Dancer::Logger::Abstract(3pm)				User Contributed Perl Documentation			     Dancer::Logger::Abstract(3pm)

NAME

       Dancer::Logger::Abstract - Abstract logging engine for Dancer

SYNOPSIS

       In your configuration file:

	   # default
	   logger_format: simple
	   # [1234] debug @0.12> [hit #123]message from your log in File.pm line 12

	   # custom
	   logger_format: %m %{%H:%M}t [%{accept_type}h]
	   # message from your log [11:59] [text/html]

DESCRIPTION

       This is an abstract logging engine that provides loggers with basic functionality and some sanity checking.

CONFIGURATION

   logger_format
       This is a format string (or a preset name) to specify the log format.

       The possible values are:

       %h  host emitting the request

       %t  date (formatted like %d/%b/%Y %H:%M:%S)

       %P  PID

       %L  log level

       %D  timer

       %m  message

       %f  file name that emit the message

       %l  line from the file

       %i  request ID

       %{$fmt}t
	   timer formatted with a valid time format

       %{header}h
	   header value

       There is two preset possible:

       simple
	   will format the message like: [%P] %L @%D> %m in %f l. %l

       with_id
	   will format the message like: [%P] %L @%D> [hit #%i] %m in %f l. %l

METHODS

   format_message
       Provides a common message formatting.

   core
       Logs messages as core.

   debug
       Logs messages as debug.

   warning
       Logs messages as warning.

   error
       Logs messages as error.

   info
       Logs messages as info.

   _log
       A method to override. If your logger does not provide this, it will cause the application to die.

   _should
       Checks a certain level number against a certain level type (core, debug, info warning, error).

AUTHOR

       Alexis Sukrieh

LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT

       Copyright 2009-2010 Alexis Sukrieh.

       This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of either: the GNU General Public License as
       published by the Free Software Foundation; or the Artistic License.

       See http://dev.perl.org/licenses/ for more information.

perl v5.14.2							    2012-04-01					     Dancer::Logger::Abstract(3pm)