Re: events .vs.states

la art. protin. cusku di'e:
>     In computer science, and not contradicted by webster's dictionary,
> state is a subcategory of event.  An event is a unit of time (not
> necessarily pointwise but frequently so) organized or conceptually
> unified (into a unit) by an activity.  A state is a conditon and
> while a state may be used in the definition of a particulare event
> there may be many different events (occurring in discontinguous
> periods of time) that involve that state.

What you call an "event" is in Lojban called an "achievement".  You need
to divorce this term in your mind from any connotation of triumph or
success; it simply means a point-event, something that happens at a given
moment.  (The size of a "moment" is, of course, relative.)

"Event" in Lojban is the covering term for states, processes, activities,
and achievements.  Thus "le nu mi remna" is "the event of my being a human
being" and lasts from my birth to my death.  In English this would usually
be called a state, but Lojban also allows us to see it as a process
(growth, maturity, senescence), an activity (wake up, eat, work, relax,
eat, go to sleep, wake up, eat ...), or an achievement ("A man was born.
He lived and he died.  The End." -- Linus Van Pelt).

-- 
cowan@snark.thyrsus.com		...!uunet!cbmvax!snark!cowan
		e'osai ko sarji la lojban