This is a submission for DEV Computer Science Challenge v24.06.12: One Byte Explainer.
Explainer
Is this loop actually infinite, or will it eventually finish? In 1936, Alan Turing used his Machine to show we can’t know. Consider a program that checks if it stops and if true: loops forever. A paradox! Some problems are literally impossible: avoid them.
Additional Context
For interest, here is the paradox:
If the halting check is true, then the program loops forever… even though the check says it halts.
If the halting check is false, then the program stops… even though the check says it never halts.
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