Let's say you want to design a computer...

[ZippyDee]

...and you have three options:

1. You have an infinite number of NAND gates

2. You have an infinite number of NOR gates

3. You have an infinite number of AND and OR gates and two inverters

Which do you choose?

[AngelFish]

The first two are universal logic gates and the third could probably be used to make a turing complete system, so they'd all be valid choices.

[ZippyDee]

But would two inverters really be enough?

[AngelFish]

It depends on how the circuit is designed. I wouldn't be unduly surprised to find out that it is, though.

[ZippyDee]

But if you had access to infinite NAND or NOR instead, you'd probably choose those... I know I wouldn't want to go through the trouble of figuring out how to design that circuit with two inverters when I could easily use something else.

[AngelFish]

Well, it's a theoretical thought experiment to begin with, so I don't see a reason why you would consider the difficulty of construction...

[ZippyDee]

The theoretical part is about which you would choose if you had those resources. If all three were available as options, I would definitely go for a NAND or NOR setup.