Talk:Clone (computing)

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cloning

-does cloning's end result mimic reverse engineering? 2603:6010:E000:EEB2:5183:C573:B504:9355 (talk) 23:32, 26 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Exact?

WRT "a clone is hardware or software that is designed to function in exactly the same way as another system". Often, clone is used to mean that sw provides the functionality of an original yet can provide more functionality than the original. Logically, if it provides more, then it does not function in exactly the same way as another system. For example, Vim (text editor) is considered a clone of vi (text editor), and Vim provides much more functionality than vi. Vim is called an improved clone so one could say: clone means exact while a qualified variation like improved clone is not exact (is a superset). Even so, that nuance should be described here. Another example: Linux is considered a clone of Unix, but surely they do not provide the same functionality. In fact, a Linux variant may not even be a proper superset of a Unix variants (and certainly not all). So, clone does not even always imply that the derived provides all the functionality of the original. It seems to mean that the derived provides a certain level of similarity and compatibility with the original. A certain set of functionality is exactly the same. Stevebroshar (talk) 10:00, 3 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]