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No, that doesn't work, because programs in general don't give one output bit per input bit, and they can also take a very long time to come up with their answer.

E.g. input stream: stream of description of Turing machines and their input tape. Output stream: A stream of booleans that are true iff the respective machine holds.



I guess I should have addressed that idea specifically. If you transfer total control to a subprogram that directly looks for halting, you've just moved the problem, you haven't really abstracted it.

Apply indirection to anything with unspecified runtime. When you need a result, put a reasonable waiting time on it, and if it doesn't happen assume the source has died and handle it as an error code.




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