perm filename PROB1[1,JMC] blob sn#005213 filedate 1969-12-30 generic text, type T, neo UTF8
00100	Research Problems in Mathematical theory of computation
00200	
00300	1. A blob is a flow chart with multiple entries and exits.
00400	the basic operations on blobs are
00500		a. Deleting an entry from a blob.
00600		b. Connecting an exit to an entry.
00700		c. Putting two blobs side by side.
00800	Any flow chart can be built up from the elementary compute
00900	and test blocks by these operations, or even from an
01000	arbitrary decomposition into sub-charts.
01100	A blob is characterized by the predicates giving 
01200	for each entry-exit pair the condition on the state vector
01300	at that entry that corresponds to exit at the given exit,
01400	and by the function for each entry that gives the state
01500	at exit from the blob.  Corresponding to each of the
01600	operations on blobs is a way of getting the predicates
01700	and functions of the new blob from those of the old blob.
01800	If we join a pair of exits with a pair of entries the 
01900	form of functions and predicates apparently depends
02000	on the order of joining.  Problem: to prove by theory of
02100	computation that the functions are equivalent as they
02200	obviously are from the flow chart interpretation.