Every file is a program, but not the reverse

Abstract

The concept of a program, unlike that of a file, is an informal one, giving rise to inaccurate or even false assumptions. In this article, we will contest two of them. First, using historical examples, we will show that there are programs that are not files. Then, more surprisingly, we will argue that any file can be seen as a program, since all criteria characterizing programs hold true for files. In particular, we will conclude that there is no technical reason to distinguish between file/program and program/interpreter pairs.