Infinities

Two monks of the Spider Clan were arguing whether the new input validation routine was caught in an infinite loop.

“How long has it been running?” asked the abbot.

“No more than thirty minutes,” said the pale thin monk.

“Yet no less than that either,” said the dark fat monk.

“And you have done nothing this whole time but wait for it to complete?” asked the abbot.

The monks bowed their heads in shame.

The abbot reported this to the Java master, who nodded. “Which of them believes that the loop is not infinite?”

“The pale thin one,” said the abbot.

“Then give him a skin of wine, for he is wise. No loop may be truly infinite. Someday the power will fail, the server will rust, the temple will crumble, and the sun will swallow the earth.”

Asked the abbot, “What of the dark fat one, who believes that the loop is infinite?”

“Give him two skins of wine, for he is wiser. To the user waiting at his browser, ten seconds is agony, a minute is an aeon, and anything longer is effectively an eternity. When the tiger mauls the antelope, the antelope does not question whether eight claws were used, or a million.”