Abstract:
Computer programming is one of the applications of Aristotle's bivalent logic. This had to be demonstrated by establishing the continuity between the so-called categorical syllogism and the so-called hypothetical or simply conditional one. In this sense, the same syllogism with three terms in three propositions can take an implicative configuration putting in correspondence an antecedent and a consequent, this because the reasoning according to Aristotle is only categorical and the hypothetical aspect is only a way of presenting the same reality. The "if...Then" applies both in the sequential succession of instructions and in the event-driven interdependence of actions leading to a programmed result. In the first case, the execution of an instruction is conditioned by the end of the previous instruction. In the second case, an action is triggered by a given event. It is therefore the setting in motion of conditionality, on a scale greater than the traditional structures of conditionality known to any experienced programmer. It is then clear to say that From the conditional syllogistic to the programmatic, there is continuity and not rupture. Or in other words, no unconditional programming, because any program is an explicit or implicit continuation of conditions. The inescapable conditional appears as well in explicit "if" structures, as in iterative functional loops ("while", "for" etc) and even through cause-effect relationships linking events to the execution of coded instructions, which are the brains of any computer application. This article is intended as an introduction for any programmer who must know the role of the essential conditional.
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