Sometimes these lists take on the character of those described by Sir Walter Scott in "Ivanhoe".
But which lady's favour will prevail? Chris Mason ----- Original Message ----- From: "john gilmore" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Newsgroups: bit.listserv.ibm-main To: <IBM-MAIN@BAMA.UA.EDU> Sent: Wednesday, 29 November, 2006 3:22 PM Subject: Re: Effi[ci]ency of branch table vs individual compare & branch > ... > > I did not respond to Tom Marchant's response to my OP because, after one set > of exchanges with him that generated much more heat than light, I judged > that another one would be at least equally unlikely to shed light on this > issue. > > Mr. Marchant does, however, play a useful role here., It is indeed so > useful that if he did not exist it would be necessary to invent him. > > His contributions are predictable, but they exemplify a practically > important point of view that, borrowing a useful term from C Wright Mills, I > shall call Crackpot Realism; and CR needs representation here. We need to > be reminded, often, that those who identify the hard-to-maintain with > 'complexity', with the use of any but ad hoc schemes, are numerous out there > in the boondocks. > > John Gilmore > Ashland, MA 01721-1817 > USA ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
