Sorry, Ulrich -- just a joke! I actually wrote a lot of code in Turbo Pascal back in the 80s, and liked it a lot. (I know that Wirth et al never viewed the TP extensions to Pascal as valid, but they sure made it more useful.)
John ---- Ulrich Bangert wrote: > Gentlemen, > >> Gee, and I thought he was talking about Pascal. :-) >> >> John >> ---- > > Pascal = P word ??? I am a professional programmer and regulary program in a > number of different languages among them Pascal, the language that comes > after "B" and assembler for some microcontroller families. I have been > thinking that among professionals the question which is the better > programming language is as modern as the last centuries 80th. But if a > reheated discussion is necessary, here is something that I can lough about: > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Unix/Linux an elaborate April Fools prank - Ben Dover > 30-May-07 09:52:22 > > FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE > > In an announcement that has stunned the computer industry, Ken > Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Brian Kernighan admitted that the Unix > operating system and C programming language created by them is an > elaborate April Fools prank kept alive for over 20 years. Speaking at > the recent UnixWorld Software Development Forum, Thompson revealed the > following: > > In 1969, AT&T had just terminated their work with the GE/AT&T Multics > project. Brian and I had just started working with an early release > of Pascal from Professor Nichlaus Wirth's ETH labs in Switzerland and > we were impressed with its elegant simplicity and power. Dennis had > just finished reading Bored of the Rings, a hilarious National Lampoon > parody of the great Tolkien Lord of the Rings trilogy. As a lark, we > decided to do parodies of the Multics environment and Pascal. Dennis > and I were responsible for the operating environment. We looked at > Multics and designed the new system to be as complex and cryptic as > possible to maximize casual users' frustration levels, calling it Unix > as a parody of Multics, as well as other more risque allusions. > > Then Dennis and Brian worked on a truly warped version of Pascal, > called "A." When we found others were actually trying to create real > programs with A, we quickly added additional cryptic features and > evolved into B, BCPL and finally C. We stopped when we got a clean > compile on the following syntax: > > for(;P("\n"),R=;P("|"))for(e=C;e=P("_"+(*u++/8)%2))P("|"+(*u/4)%2); > > To think that modern programmers would try to use a language that > allowed such a statement was beyond our comprehension! We actually > thought of selling this to the Soviets to set their computer science > progress back 20 or more years. Imagine our surprise when AT&T and > other US corporations actually began trying to use Unix and C! It has > taken them 20 years to develop enough expertise to generate even > marginally useful applications using this 1960's technological parody, > but we are impressed with the tenacity (if not common sense) of the > general Unix and C programmer. > > In any event, Brian, Dennis and I have been working exclusively in > Pascal on the Apple Macintosh for the past few years and feel really > guilty about the chaos, confusion and truly bad programming that has > resulted from our silly prank so long ago. > > Major Unix and C vendors and customers, including AT&T, Microsoft, > Hewlett-Packard, GTE, NCR, and DEC have refused comment at this time. > Borland International, a leading vendor of Pascal and C tools, > including the popular Turbo Pascal, Turbo C and Turbo C++, stated they > had suspected this for a number of years and would continue to enhance > their Pascal products and halt further efforts to develop C. An IBM > spokesman broke into uncontrolled laughter and had to postpone a > hastely convened news conference concerning the fate of the RS-6000, > merely stating "VM will be available Real Soon Now." In a cryptic > statement, Professor Wirth of the ETH institute and father of the > Pascal, Modula 2 and Oberon structured languages, merely stated that > P. T. Barnum was correct. > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Best regards > Ulrich Bangert > >> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- >> Von: time-nuts-boun...@febo.com >> [mailto:time-nuts-boun...@febo.com] Im Auftrag von John Ackermann N8UR >> Gesendet: Mittwoch, 1. April 2009 15:12 >> An: a...@comcast.net; Discussion of precise time and >> frequency measurement >> Betreff: Re: [time-nuts] P word in my mails >> >> >> Gee, and I thought he was talking about Pascal. :-) >> >> John >> ---- >> >> Mike Naruta AA8K wrote: >>> Not to worry Ulrich, he was using a form >>> of derisive humor. He was insulting Prologix >>> as undesirable. >>> >>> It would be similar to referring to Microsoft >>> as the M-word. >>> >>> >>> Mike - AA8K >>> >>> >>> Ulrich Bangert wrote: >>>> Steve, >>>> >>>> after I read your mail I have been completely perplexed because I >>>> could by no stretch of imagination detect where you had found the >>>> aforesaid P word in my mail. It needed the help of some English >>>> speaking friends and a search in my last mails to find out that I >>>> have (possibly over a range of more than 30 >>>> years) used an American 5 letter word in another sense >> than most/all of you >>>> seem to interprete it. >>>> >>>> I HAVE seen the aforesaid word on some doors during my >> visits to he >>>> United States and I HAVE understood the meaning of the >> word in this >>>> context. But I swear that I have not been aware of the >> fact that the >>>> aforesaid word is used EXCLUSIVELY for the location behind these >>>> doors. If I had been aware of that I would have never used >> this word >>>> in a conversation because that is simply not my style. >>>> >>>> Instead, I have been believing (and I swear this is the >> truth) that >>>> the aforesaid word is used by a gentlemen to address a >> group of other >>>> gentlemen just as a "Hi folks" among noble people but avoiding the >>>> highly offical salutation "Gentlemen", in a sense a >> laid-back use of >>>> "Gentlemen". >>>> >>>> Clearly this is a mistake of mine that I cannot other than to >>>> apologize for! If anyone of you has felt offended or in >> any other way >>>> been affected by my wrong use of this word: Sorry for >> that, that was >>>> NOT my intention in using this term. I have started a lot >> of my posts >>>> to this group with this word because of the high s/n ratio to be >>>> found here and the extremely well educated people in the >> group that I >>>> hold in high regard. >>>> >>>> Someone should have told me before! If you find this word >> in one of >>>> my earlier posts substitute it with "Gentlemen" because >> that is what >>>> was ment. >>>> >>>> Thank you Steve for pointing at that. If you had not done >> it I would >>>> propably have used the word in a wrong sense for the rest >> of my life. >>>> >>>> Best regards >>>> Ulrich Bangert >>>> >>>> >>>>> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- >>>>> Von: time-nuts-boun...@febo.com >>>>> [mailto:time-nuts-boun...@febo.com] Im Auftrag von Steve Rooke >>>>> Gesendet: Mittwoch, 1. April 2009 11:57 >>>>> An: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement >>>>> Betreff: Re: [time-nuts] Prologix >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> This man said the P word without any form of apology :-) >>>>> >>>>> 73 >>>>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com >>> To unsubscribe, go to >>> https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts >>> and follow the instructions there. >> >> _______________________________________________ >> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com >> To unsubscribe, go to >> https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts >> and follow the instructions there. > > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com > To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > and follow the instructions there. _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.