Practical Considerations ...
It often seems like computers are not universal …
- The computer embedded in the carburetor of a car is not universal, since it only mixes fuel …
… but this is simply a universal device specialized
- A cash machine can print receipts but not term papers …
… but only because it doesn’t have the right printer
- My Macintosh can’t run my PC programs and my PC can’t run my Macintosh programs …
… software is distributed in “binary” form a specific instruction set encoding for a specific computer, but Macs and PCs can simulate the other machine, albeit at some loss in speed