On 8/01/19 12:04 PM, Dennis Lee Bieber wrote:
On Tue, 8 Jan 2019 10:10:13 +1300, DL Neil <pythonl...@danceswithmice.info>
declaimed the following:
Why is that obscure? It makes perfect sense - to those of us who have
used tape/serial storage! Perhaps less-so to [bobble-heads], sorry I
mean people who grew-up with 'bubble memory' (Memory sticks, 'flash
drives', SSDs). In point-of-fact, Python Context Managers
Apologies, but "bubble memory" is something completely different --
using movable magnetic domains rather than capacitive charged bits.
You are correct.
Although, back in the days of such excitement: that we had a
rapidly-approaching possibility of a cost-effective alternative to other
forms of memory - particularly 'spinning rust'; only the electrical
engineers worried too much about the underlying technologies. In fact,
many of the early devices were too optimistic and didn't enjoy
longevity. However, with persistence (hah!) here we are today, taking
SSDs for granted...
As mentioned 'elsewhere', that particular team I joined had their
average-age considerably elevated when I arrived. As such an object of
curiosity, one of the things noticed was that I ("pomodoro") take
regular seat-breaks to stretch and move. Apparently, the arm and
shoulder-loosening movements gained fans, so one tea-break I arrived to
find them all lined-up around the room, with joined hands, doing a
night-club dance version of the Brazilian Wave and giggling insanely.
However, as some (already) suffer neck and head-aches, I was(seriously)
asked for ideas to combat that common oppression. I taught them to
rotate the head (slowly, but fully) sideways (in the fashion of a
westerner saying "no") + three repeats, then to nod (westerner saying
"yes") etc, and finally to 'waggle' the top of the head side-to-side
(Indian "agreement").
Perhaps you can imagine the next tea-time, dance-floor routine! In
between chuckles, I referred to them as a bunch of "bubble-heads". (with
some dispute as to whether I actually said "bobble-heads", but the term
took their fancy and entered into common parlance)...
At about the same time, someone turned-up with a bust of Mozart,
Beethoven, or some-such; making a point about having stiff necks that
felt solid... The next thing I knew, someone else has added to the
collection, a particularly ugly bobble-head doll. A day or so later,
someone else 'improved' on it with a bobble-headed dog...
Finally, during a meeting last week (just before this conversation
on-list), someone made the mistake of describing an incomplete idea as
"bubbling-up in my mind", which utterly brought the house down!
With lightning wit (moving at a speed which belies my years) I took full
advantage by claiming that not just he, but they all have having
bobble/bubble memories!
(you don't have to be mad to work here - but it helps!)
OK, so that's more than you ever wanted to know about why I (erroneously
or otherwise) used such a term...
Refs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2E8f-_ERl0
http://www.bobbledad.com/man-in-mankini-bobblehead
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?LH_CAds=&_ex_kw=&_fpos=&_fspt=1&_mPrRngCbx=1&_nkw=bobble+head+dog&_sacat=&_sadis=&_sop=12&_udhi=&_udlo=&_fosrp=1
(here do we stumble upon the reason eBay's server is called "rover"?)
Why "print"? I thought I was displaying something on the screen (indeed
STDIO might go to a file, eg log-like). Whither print?
Using the wrong language then... COBOL has DISPLAY <G>
Indeed, and it survived into the CICS/terminal-based era!
(although these days I recommend handing-off to HTML as a front-end - I
guess then I should observe that HTML has no command to display/print!)
Why "print" -- least surprise! Languages back to FORTRAN (and predating
terminals) had "print" as the quick&dirty output statement (vs the more
complex formatted output). FORTRAN, BASIC, Pascal, probably Modula-2.
"Print" only has "least-surprise" to those of us who can claim a history
like yours/ours. When we used Teletype terminals and all user
(human-readable) output went to a line printer, then the word was
appropriate. To programming neophytes it makes no sense whatsoever, any
more than would "type".
From your own description, what about "output"?
DISPLAY works for me. I've heard folk talk about "emit", there's
"write"*, and "type", "present", "exhibit" - from photography
"expose"... Going to an ink-jet printer could we say "spit" or to a
laser, "burn"?
Referring back to an earlier point, I don't "print" but have developed
the habit of using another, specific function/method to "log"!
* with the recent move to f-strings (Py3.3 was it? - haven't gone back
to look it up) and the articles discussing their advantages over
what-went-before, reminded me very much of the essential logic of
FORTRAN's READ/WRITE and FORMAT statements!
Reminds me of the person who upon being told to move his mouse to the
top of the screen, picking-up the device and raised it from the desk
surface. Made sense to him!
And with modern sensors, would make sense for a 3-D modeling program
<G>
+1
Yes, I use a Wacom drawing tablet to highlight and annotate screen text
for presentations. Many times I have thought that the old light pens
were a better idea, eg http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/2250.html
(PS the "2250" was a fore-runner of the venerable IBM 3270 terminal (and
extant protocol of the same name) - an IBM 1130 was my first "PC")
--
Regards =dn
--
https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
