Talk:Self-referential function

Problems with this article

I have several problems with this article:

The definition "A self-referential function is a function that applies to itself" is hopeless. What does it mean ? How does any function "apply to itself" ??
The reference that, I assume, is intended to demonstrate the usage and notability of the term gives a "Not found" error when I try to access it.
The example from Cantor's diagonal argument that is meant to illustrate a self-referential function is clearly not self-referential ! The function g is not defined in terms of itself; it is defined in terms of the functions f_k. And the whole point of the argument is to show that g is not in the set {f_k}.
We already have a much better article at self-reference.

Unless someone can fix the definition and the example and provide some useful sources, I will seriously consider taking this article to AfD. Gandalf61 (talk) 15:51, 24 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Problems with this article

I added a very consistent reference where the answers to the four concerns ( above) are available Rirunmot (talk) 16:25, 24 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Rirunmot - I find it difficult to tell whether you are being serious here. Your first reference The Unique Non Self-Referential q-Canonical Distribution and the Physical Temperature Derived from the Maximum Entropy Principle in Tsallis Statistics is not at the link you gave, but I found an abstract here - beyond containing the term "self-referential", it has no connection at all with the contents of this article. Your second reference Evolving Algebras and Partial Evaluation contains a short paragraph about self-referential functions, but the definition it gives is entirely different from the definition in the article, and it does not mention Cantor's diagonal argument at all. These references do not support the contents of the article and do nothing to address my concerns. Gandalf61 (talk) 18:50, 24 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with Gandalf61. In addition, I see "translated from french wikipedia" in the edit summary of 12:08, 18 March 2009. May I see the corresponding French article? Boris Tsirelson (talk) 10:41, 25 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]