Algorithms and Interaction

"Algorithms are 'sales contracts' that deliver an output in exchange for an input, while objects are ongoing 'marriage contracts.' An object's contract with its clients specifies its behavior for all contingencies of interaction (in sickness and in health) over the lifetime of the object (till death do us part)."

Peter Wegner, "Why interaction is more powerful than algorithms," Communications of the ACM, 40(5):80-91, May 1997.

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