Definition:Unlimited Register Machine/Program/Termination

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Definition

A URM program terminates when there are no more instructions to execute.

This can happen in either of two ways:

$(1): \quad$ If the program executes the last instruction, and this does not involve a Jump to an earlier instruction, the program will stop.
$(2): \quad$ If the program executes a Jump instruction to a non-existent instruction, the program will stop.


Exit Jump

Definition:Unlimited Register Machine/Program/Termination/Exit Jump

Such a Jump instruction is known as an exit jump .

Exit Line

Definition:Unlimited Register Machine/Program/Termination/Exit Line

The line on which a particular run of a URM program stops is called the exit line.


Endless Loop

Definition:Unlimited Register Machine/Program/Termination/Endless Loop

If a URM program, when running, never reaches a state where it terminates, then it is said to be in an endless loop and will never terminate.



Note that whether a program terminates or not may depend on its input.

It may terminate perfectly well for one input, but go into an endless loop on another.


Also known as

When a URM program terminates, it can also be said that it stops or halts.


Input

The input to a URM program is:

either an ordered $k$-tuple $\tuple {n_1, n_2, \ldots, n_k} \in \N^k$
or a natural number $n \in \N$.


In the latter case, it is convenient to consider a single natural number as an ordered $1$-tuple $\tuple {n_1} \in \N^1 = \N$.

Hence we can discuss inputs to URM programs solely as instances of tuples, and not be concerned with cumbersome repetition for the cases where $k = 1$ and otherwise.


The convention usually used is for a URM program $P$ to start computation with:

the input $\left({n_1, n_2, \ldots, n_k}\right)$ in registers $R_1, R_2, \ldots, R_k$
$0$ in all other registers used by $P$.


That is, the initial state of the URM is:

$\forall i \in \closedint 1 k: r_i = n_i$
$\forall i > k: r_i = 0$.


It is usual for the input (either all or part) to be overwritten during the course of the operation of a program. That is, at the end of a program, $R_1, R_2, \ldots, R_k$ are not guaranteed still to contain $n_1, n_2, \ldots, n_k$ unless the program has been explicitly written so as to ensure that this is the case.


Output

At the end of the running of a URM program, the output will be found in register $R_1$.


Null Program

A null program or empty program is a URM program which contains no instructions.


Also see

  • Results about URM programs can be found here.


Sources