Böhm–Jacopini theorem
E385272
The Böhm–Jacopini theorem is a foundational result in computer science stating that any computer program can be written using only sequence, selection, and iteration constructs, without requiring goto statements.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Böhm–Jacopini theorem canonical | 1 |
| structured program theorem | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3744831 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Böhm–Jacopini theorem Context triple: [Go To Statement Considered Harmful, relatedConcept, Böhm–Jacopini theorem]
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A.
Church–Turing thesis
The Church–Turing thesis is a foundational principle in computability theory stating that any function that can be effectively computed by an algorithm can be computed by a Turing machine (or equivalently by other formal models of computation).
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B.
The Logic of Computer Programming
The Logic of Computer Programming is a foundational textbook in theoretical computer science that rigorously develops methods for specifying, proving, and reasoning about the correctness of computer programs.
-
C.
Hoare logic
Hoare logic is a formal system in computer science used to reason rigorously about the correctness of computer programs using logical assertions about program states.
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D.
"The Complexity of Theorem-Proving Procedures"
"The Complexity of Theorem-Proving Procedures" is Stephen Cook’s landmark 1971 paper that introduced the concept of NP-completeness and proved the Boolean satisfiability problem (SAT) to be NP-complete, laying the foundation for modern computational complexity theory.
-
E.
Computing with Register Machines
"Computing with Register Machines" is a chapter in the classic computer science textbook *Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs* that introduces low-level machine models and shows how higher-level language constructs can be implemented using simple register-based operations.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Böhm–Jacopini theorem Target entity description: The Böhm–Jacopini theorem is a foundational result in computer science stating that any computer program can be written using only sequence, selection, and iteration constructs, without requiring goto statements.
-
A.
Church–Turing thesis
The Church–Turing thesis is a foundational principle in computability theory stating that any function that can be effectively computed by an algorithm can be computed by a Turing machine (or equivalently by other formal models of computation).
-
B.
The Logic of Computer Programming
The Logic of Computer Programming is a foundational textbook in theoretical computer science that rigorously develops methods for specifying, proving, and reasoning about the correctness of computer programs.
-
C.
Hoare logic
Hoare logic is a formal system in computer science used to reason rigorously about the correctness of computer programs using logical assertions about program states.
-
D.
"The Complexity of Theorem-Proving Procedures"
"The Complexity of Theorem-Proving Procedures" is Stephen Cook’s landmark 1971 paper that introduced the concept of NP-completeness and proved the Boolean satisfiability problem (SAT) to be NP-complete, laying the foundation for modern computational complexity theory.
-
E.
Computing with Register Machines
"Computing with Register Machines" is a chapter in the classic computer science textbook *Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs* that introduces low-level machine models and shows how higher-level language constructs can be implemented using simple register-based operations.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (43)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
result in computer science
ⓘ
theorem ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs |
Böhm–Jacopini theorem
ⓘ
surface form:
structured program theorem
|
| assumes | deterministic programs ⓘ |
| category |
theorem in programming theory
ⓘ
theorem in theoretical computer science ⓘ |
| concerns |
control flow
ⓘ
flowcharts ⓘ program structure ⓘ |
| coreConstruct |
iteration
ⓘ
selection ⓘ sequence ⓘ |
| excludesConstruct | goto ⓘ |
| field |
computer science
ⓘ
programming language theory ⓘ theoretical computer science ⓘ |
| formalizes | sufficiency of structured control constructs ⓘ |
| hasLimitation |
does not address program readability or maintainability directly
ⓘ
original form applies to deterministic flowcharts, not directly to all modern language features ⓘ |
| historicalContext | early development of structured programming in the 1960s ⓘ |
| implies |
every deterministic program can be written without goto
ⓘ
structured programming is sufficient for expressing arbitrary deterministic computations ⓘ |
| influenced |
arguments against unrestricted goto use
ⓘ
design of structured programming languages ⓘ |
| namedAfter |
Corrado Böhm
ⓘ
Giuseppe Jacopini NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| originalFormulationLanguage | flowcharts ⓘ |
| proofTechnique |
flowchart normalization
ⓘ
program transformation ⓘ |
| publishedIn | Communications of the ACM ⓘ |
| relatedConcept |
Turing completeness
ⓘ
control structures ⓘ goto elimination ⓘ structured programming ⓘ |
| relatedWork |
"Go To Statement Considered Harmful"
ⓘ
surface form:
Edsger W. Dijkstra's "Go To Statement Considered Harmful"
|
| shows | three basic control structures are sufficient for deterministic computation ⓘ |
| states |
any deterministic flowchart program can be transformed into an equivalent program using only sequence, selection, and iteration
ⓘ
goto statements are not necessary for expressing the control flow of deterministic programs ⓘ |
| supportsClaim | goto is not necessary for program expressiveness ⓘ |
| typicalControlStructures |
if-then-else
ⓘ
sequence of statements ⓘ while loop ⓘ |
| yearProved | 1966 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Böhm–Jacopini theorem Description of subject: The Böhm–Jacopini theorem is a foundational result in computer science stating that any computer program can be written using only sequence, selection, and iteration constructs, without requiring goto statements.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
subject surface form:
Go To Statement Considered Harmful
this entity surface form:
structured program theorem