Number of values in addressable memory is finite. Filenames are strings is addressable memory. Therefore there is only a finite number of filenames. Therefore there is only a finite number of files that a program can ever open (whether it is in a hurry or not :-) ), because lacking chdir (which as was already mentioned elsewhere is not a part of the Standard) every file has a filename.
The ability to create and destroy files from the above finite set is of little interest: there still is a finite constant N such that no program can at any point of its execution store more than N bits of data in files. This, together with the finiteness of addressable storage, means that the program is a finite state machine.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2010-05-11 02:49 pm (UTC)The ability to create and destroy files from the above finite set is of little interest: there still is a finite constant N such that no program can at any point of its execution store more than N bits of data in files. This, together with the finiteness of addressable storage, means that the program is a finite state machine.