From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: dexen deVries To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2012 15:12:18 +0200 Message-ID: <4210529.UeAh976MgN@coil> User-Agent: KMail/4.9 (Linux/3.6.0-rc4-l46; KDE/4.9.0; x86_64; ; ) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Subject: [9fans] Acme: the way the future actually was Topicbox-Message-UUID: b90a5e9e-ead7-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 Seems a well-meaning developer sort of re-invented Acme http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DbUR_eUVcABg --=20 dexen deVries [[[=E2=86=93][=E2=86=92]]] I'm sorry that this was such a long lett=C2=ADer, but I didn't have tim= e to write=20 you a short one. -- Bla=C2=ADise Pasc=C2=ADal From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <4210529.UeAh976MgN@coil> References: <4210529.UeAh976MgN@coil> Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2012 14:52:03 +0100 Message-ID: From: Charles Forsyth To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=0015173ffa268943b604c9a9ba24 Subject: Re: [9fans] Acme: the way the future actually was Topicbox-Message-UUID: b911904c-ead7-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 --0015173ffa268943b604c9a9ba24 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Probably never heard of Acme. On 14 September 2012 14:12, dexen deVries wrote: > Seems a well-meaning developer sort of re-invented Acme > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DbUR_eUVcABg > > -- > dexen deVries > > [[[=E2=86=93][=E2=86=92]]] > > I'm sorry that this was such a long lett=C2=ADer, but I didn't have time = to > write > you a short one. -- Bla=C2=ADise Pasc=C2=ADal > > --0015173ffa268943b604c9a9ba24 Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Probably never heard of Acme.

On 14 = September 2012 14:12, dexen deVries <dexen.devries@gmail.com>= wrote:
Seems a well-meaning developer sort of re-in= vented Acme
= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DbUR_eUVcABg

--
dexen deVries

[[[=E2=86=93][=E2=86=92]]]

I'm sorry that this was such a long lett=C2=ADer, but I didn't have= time to write
you a short one. -- Bla=C2=ADise Pasc=C2=ADal


--0015173ffa268943b604c9a9ba24-- From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Message-ID: <826abb8cf0c1ea41e3ebc081df3169c7@proxima.alt.za> To: 9fans@9fans.net From: Lucio De Re Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2012 16:07:06 +0200 In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: [9fans] Acme: the way the future actually was Topicbox-Message-UUID: b921bbde-ead7-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 > Probably never heard of Acme. The demo looks impressive, though. I didn't follow it very well, it was way too fast and full of references to concepts that evidently haven't reached my corner of Dark Africa yet :-) Still, Oberon had all that a long time ago, if memory isn't betraying me. ++L From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <826abb8cf0c1ea41e3ebc081df3169c7@proxima.alt.za> References: <826abb8cf0c1ea41e3ebc081df3169c7@proxima.alt.za> Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2012 15:10:45 +0100 Message-ID: From: Charles Forsyth To: lucio@proxima.alt.za, Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=0016e6d5637477f18104c9a9fdc1 Subject: Re: [9fans] Acme: the way the future actually was Topicbox-Message-UUID: b926d10a-ead7-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 --0016e6d5637477f18104c9a9fdc1 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Probably never heard of Oberon either. On 14 September 2012 15:07, Lucio De Re wrote: > Still, Oberon had all that a long time ago, if memory isn't betraying > me. > --0016e6d5637477f18104c9a9fdc1 Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8 Probably never heard of Oberon either.

On 14 September 2012 15:07, Lucio De Re <lucio@proxima.alt.za> wrote:
Still, Oberon had all that a long time ago, if memory isn't betraying
me.

--0016e6d5637477f18104c9a9fdc1-- From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: erik quanstrom Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2012 10:19:00 -0400 To: charles.forsyth@gmail.com, lucio@proxima.alt.za, 9fans@9fans.net Message-ID: In-Reply-To: References: <826abb8cf0c1ea41e3ebc081df3169c7@proxima.alt.za> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: [9fans] Acme: the way the future actually was Topicbox-Message-UUID: b92e0272-ead7-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 On Fri Sep 14 10:12:24 EDT 2012, charles.forsyth@gmail.com wrote: > Probably never heard of Oberon either. neither is knowledge of oberon ubiquitous among 9fans, who may not realize that acme itself is a copy. - erik From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: References: <826abb8cf0c1ea41e3ebc081df3169c7@proxima.alt.za> Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2012 16:25:51 +0200 Message-ID: From: Hugo Rivera To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Subject: Re: [9fans] Acme: the way the future actually was Topicbox-Message-UUID: b9366f8e-ead7-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 I knew it because I read the paper :-) 2012/9/14 erik quanstrom : > On Fri Sep 14 10:12:24 EDT 2012, charles.forsyth@gmail.com wrote: > >> Probably never heard of Oberon either. > > neither is knowledge of oberon ubiquitous among 9fans, who may > not realize that acme itself is a copy. > > - erik > -- Hugo From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: References: <826abb8cf0c1ea41e3ebc081df3169c7@proxima.alt.za> Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2012 15:26:25 +0100 Message-ID: From: Charles Forsyth To: erik quanstrom Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=0016e6d56374771e3604c9aa350e Cc: 9fans@9fans.net, lucio@proxima.alt.za Subject: Re: [9fans] Acme: the way the future actually was Topicbox-Message-UUID: b93d09ac-ead7-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 --0016e6d56374771e3604c9aa350e Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 "Copy" is a little strong: inspired by, certainly, by way of help/help, but there's an amazing difference in the structure of acme as "text editor as file server" with many independent clients accessing it through the file system. Oberon had a more conventional module "plug-in" structure within a single process. Acme's user interface is also more strictly text-oriented, and streamlined the mouse conventions. On 14 September 2012 15:19, erik quanstrom wrote: > neither is knowledge of oberon ubiquitous among 9fans, who may > not realize that acme itself is a copy. > --0016e6d56374771e3604c9aa350e Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable "Copy" is a little strong: inspired by, certainly, by way of help= /help,
but there's an amazing difference in the structure of acme a= s "text editor as file server"
with many independent cl= ients accessing it through the file system.
Oberon had a more conventional module "plug-in" structure wi= thin a single process.
Acme's user interface is also more str= ictly text-oriented, and streamlined the mouse conventions.

On 14 September 2012 15:19, erik quanstrom <quanstro@quanstro.net> wrote:
neither is knowledge of oberon ubiquitous among 9fans, who= may
not realize that acme itself is a copy.

--0016e6d56374771e3604c9aa350e-- From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: References: <826abb8cf0c1ea41e3ebc081df3169c7@proxima.alt.za> Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2012 08:48:40 -0800 Message-ID: From: Jack Johnson To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: Re: [9fans] Acme: the way the future actually was Topicbox-Message-UUID: b942edfe-ead7-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 Even with it's "faults" (age?), I still miss Oberon. It was *fun* and elegant. -Jack From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 References: <826abb8cf0c1ea41e3ebc081df3169c7@proxima.alt.za> In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 (1.0) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Message-Id: Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Cc: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> From: Anssi Porttikivi Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2012 23:00:13 +0300 To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Subject: Re: [9fans] Acme: the way the future actually was Topicbox-Message-UUID: b94f86d6-ead7-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 Note that Oberon the OS was a stated influence of Ron Pike et. al. Even in G= o, type embedding and resistance to class hierarchies relates back to Oberon= , the language.=20 Jack Johnson wrote 14.9.2012 kello 19.48: > Even with it's "faults" (age?), I still miss Oberon. It was *fun* and eleg= ant. >=20 > -Jack >=20 From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 References: <826abb8cf0c1ea41e3ebc081df3169c7@proxima.alt.za> In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 (1.0) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Message-Id: <788FA493-9C4E-4261-A1BC-586D6CFE4294@gmail.com> Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable From: Anssi Porttikivi Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2012 23:02:05 +0300 To: Anssi Porttikivi Cc: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Subject: Re: [9fans] Acme: the way the future actually was Topicbox-Message-UUID: b9575d48-ead7-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 Typos by iPhone. Forgive me, Rob.=20 t. Anssi Anssi Porttikivi kirjoitti 14.9.2012 kello 23.00: > Note that Oberon the OS was a stated influence of Ron Pike et. al. Even in= Go, type embedding and resistance to class hierarchies relates back to Ober= on, the language.=20 >=20 >=20 >=20 > Jack Johnson wrote 14.9.2012 kello 19.48: >=20 >> Even with it's "faults" (age?), I still miss Oberon. It was *fun* and ele= gant. >>=20 >> -Jack >>=20 From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <788FA493-9C4E-4261-A1BC-586D6CFE4294@gmail.com> References: <826abb8cf0c1ea41e3ebc081df3169c7@proxima.alt.za> <788FA493-9C4E-4261-A1BC-586D6CFE4294@gmail.com> Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2012 14:58:17 -0700 Message-ID: From: Nick LaForge To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Subject: Re: [9fans] Acme: the way the future actually was Topicbox-Message-UUID: b95d2a0c-ead7-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 Speak of the devil.... "Good artists copy, great artists steal." -Pablo Picasso^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HSteven Jobs^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HSamsung Ltd.(?) This message: -some blogger^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HNick LaForge Typos by me. Sent from my meEgo (alphabet button invention included). (Don't) forgive me, Elop. On 9/14/12, Anssi Porttikivi wrote: > Typos by iPhone. Forgive me, Rob. > > t. Anssi > > Anssi Porttikivi kirjoitti 14.9.2012 kello 23.00: > >> Note that Oberon the OS was a stated influence of Ron Pike et. al. Even in >> Go, type embedding and resistance to class hierarchies relates back to >> Oberon, the language. >> >> >> >> Jack Johnson wrote 14.9.2012 kello 19.48: >> >>> Even with it's "faults" (age?), I still miss Oberon. It was *fun* and >>> elegant. >>> >>> -Jack >>> > > From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: References: <826abb8cf0c1ea41e3ebc081df3169c7@proxima.alt.za> <788FA493-9C4E-4261-A1BC-586D6CFE4294@gmail.com> Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2012 01:15:53 +0200 Message-ID: From: hiro <23hiro@gmail.com> To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Subject: Re: [9fans] Acme: the way the future actually was Topicbox-Message-UUID: b9646d8a-ead7-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 forgive me, mother, for reading this mailinglist. From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: References: <826abb8cf0c1ea41e3ebc081df3169c7@proxima.alt.za> <788FA493-9C4E-4261-A1BC-586D6CFE4294@gmail.com> Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2012 19:28:50 -0400 Message-ID: From: Matthew Veety To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=20cf3074d81a5141e804c9b1c91e Subject: Re: [9fans] Acme: the way the future actually was Topicbox-Message-UUID: b96c42f8-ead7-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 --20cf3074d81a5141e804c9b1c91e Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 On Sep 14, 2012 7:16 PM, "hiro" <23hiro@gmail.com> wrote: > > forgive me, mother, for reading this mailinglist. > I feel as though our mothers have already abandoned us for this list. --20cf3074d81a5141e804c9b1c91e Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1


On Sep 14, 2012 7:16 PM, "hiro" <23hiro@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> forgive me, mother, for reading this mailinglist.
>
I feel as though our mothers have already abandoned us for this list.

--20cf3074d81a5141e804c9b1c91e-- From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: References: <4210529.UeAh976MgN@coil> From: =?UTF-8?B?QXJhbSBIxIN2xINybmVhbnU=?= Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2012 14:51:02 +0200 Message-ID: To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Subject: Re: [9fans] Acme: the way the future actually was Topicbox-Message-UUID: b97bfc52-ead7-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 > Probably never heard of Acme. Great, the idea must be good then. --=20 Aram H=C4=83v=C4=83rneanu From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: References: <826abb8cf0c1ea41e3ebc081df3169c7@proxima.alt.za> Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2012 08:51:07 -0400 Message-ID: From: michaelian ennis To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: Re: [9fans] Acme: the way the future actually was Topicbox-Message-UUID: b9e0ac4c-ead7-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 On Fri, Sep 14, 2012 at 10:19 AM, erik quanstrom wrote: > neither is knowledge of oberon ubiquitous among 9fans, who may > not realize that acme itself is a copy. Isn't even that a derivation of the window system from PARC? Oak I believe? Ian From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: References: <826abb8cf0c1ea41e3ebc081df3169c7@proxima.alt.za> <788FA493-9C4E-4261-A1BC-586D6CFE4294@gmail.com> Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2012 19:24:09 +0100 Message-ID: From: Charles Forsyth To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=e0cb4e43d3412d1c1f04c9e9e1eb Subject: Re: [9fans] Acme: the way the future actually was Topicbox-Message-UUID: b9e7a204-ead7-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 --e0cb4e43d3412d1c1f04c9e9e1eb Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 And this just in: http://research.swtch.com/acme?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+hnycombinator+%28HN+-+hnycombinator%29 --e0cb4e43d3412d1c1f04c9e9e1eb Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable And this just in:

--e0cb4e43d3412d1c1f04c9e9e1eb-- From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: References: <826abb8cf0c1ea41e3ebc081df3169c7@proxima.alt.za> <788FA493-9C4E-4261-A1BC-586D6CFE4294@gmail.com> Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2012 19:26:45 +0100 Message-ID: From: Charles Forsyth To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=0015173ffa2682fef304c9e9ea7e Subject: Re: [9fans] Acme: the way the future actually was Topicbox-Message-UUID: b9f01466-ead7-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 --0015173ffa2682fef304c9e9ea7e Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 And a cleaner link to that: http://research.swtch.com/acme On 17 September 2012 19:24, Charles Forsyth wrote: > And this just in: > ... > --0015173ffa2682fef304c9e9ea7e Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable And a cleaner link to that:=C2=A0http://research.swtch.com/acme

On 17= September 2012 19:24, Charles Forsyth <charles.forsyth@gmail.com<= /a>> wrote:
And this just in:
...
=
--0015173ffa2682fef304c9e9ea7e-- From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 References: <826abb8cf0c1ea41e3ebc081df3169c7@proxima.alt.za> <788FA493-9C4E-4261-A1BC-586D6CFE4294@gmail.com> In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 (1.0) Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=Apple-Mail-0A15FEDE-BC21-4B8D-A267-6A0C778A47CD Message-Id: Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> From: Anssi Porttikivi Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2012 09:03:18 +0300 To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Subject: Re: [9fans] Acme: the way the future actually was Topicbox-Message-UUID: b9f860e4-ead7-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 --Apple-Mail-0A15FEDE-BC21-4B8D-A267-6A0C778A47CD Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Oh, god, this is what we have longed for almost 20 years. I always thought I= should do this kind of video. Thank you Russ! t. Anssi Charles Forsyth kirjoitti 17.9.2012 kello 21.26:= > And a cleaner link to that: http://research.swtch.com/acme >=20 > On 17 September 2012 19:24, Charles Forsyth wr= ote: > And this just in: > ... --Apple-Mail-0A15FEDE-BC21-4B8D-A267-6A0C778A47CD Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Oh, god, this is what we have longed for almost 20 years. I always thought I should do this kind of video. Thank you Russ!

t. Anssi

Charles Forsyth <
charles.forsyth@gmail.com> kirjoitti 17.9.2012 kello 21.26:

And a cleaner link to that: http://research.swtch.com/acme

On 17 September 2012 19:24, Charles Forsyth <charles.forsyth@gmail.com> wrote:
And this just in:
...
--Apple-Mail-0A15FEDE-BC21-4B8D-A267-6A0C778A47CD-- From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: References: <826abb8cf0c1ea41e3ebc081df3169c7@proxima.alt.za> Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2012 09:51:02 -0400 Message-ID: From: michaelian ennis To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: Re: [9fans] Acme: the way the future actually was Topicbox-Message-UUID: b9fdf306-ead7-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 Ah. Cedar. http://research.swtch.com/acme.pdf Ian From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2012 15:28:09 +0100 From: Ethan Grammatikidis To: 9fans@9fans.net Message-ID: <20121025152809.49ec4acb@vardo.ethans.dre.am> In-Reply-To: References: <826abb8cf0c1ea41e3ebc081df3169c7@proxima.alt.za> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: [9fans] Acme: the way the future actually was Topicbox-Message-UUID: c96b7444-ead7-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 On Fri, 14 Sep 2012 08:48:40 -0800 Jack Johnson wrote: > Even with it's "faults" (age?), I still miss Oberon. It was *fun* and elegant. > > -Jack > It's still around in AOS form where it can run native or as a user-space program under other OSs. I used it to try out someone else's work and didn't really find the UI very elegant. In particular I couldn't copy text from the compiler error window, which I thought was desperately bad. Anyway, apart from that it worked; middle-clicking to compile and to launch the program was ok, and the OpenGL program I was trying out ran very smoothly. The only link I seem to have kept is http://www.ocp.inf.ethz.ch/ -- This is obviously some strange usage of the word "simple" that I was previously unaware of. From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <20121025152809.49ec4acb@vardo.ethans.dre.am> References: <826abb8cf0c1ea41e3ebc081df3169c7@proxima.alt.za> <20121025152809.49ec4acb@vardo.ethans.dre.am> From: Dan Cross Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2012 10:58:39 -0400 Message-ID: To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Subject: Re: [9fans] Acme: the way the future actually was Topicbox-Message-UUID: c9773a7c-ead7-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 On Thu, Oct 25, 2012 at 10:28 AM, Ethan Grammatikidis wrote: > On Fri, 14 Sep 2012 08:48:40 -0800 Jack Johnson wrote: > > Even with it's "faults" (age?), I still miss Oberon. It was *fun* and elegant. > > It's still around in AOS form where it can run native or as a > user-space program under other OSs. I used it to try out someone else's > work and didn't really find the UI very elegant. In particular I > couldn't copy text from the compiler error window, which I thought was > desperately bad. Anyway, apart from that it worked; middle-clicking to > compile and to launch the program was ok, and the OpenGL program I was > trying out ran very smoothly. > > The only link I seem to have kept is http://www.ocp.inf.ethz.ch/ Hindsight is always 20/20. When I first used Oberon 20 years ago, it had this amazing liberating feeling to it; a graphical demonstration of sorting algorithms? Brilliant! (I was in high school. Our "Computer Science" class was taught using Turbo Pascal on IBM PCs; the textbook had a picture of an IBM 4381 on the cover. Luckily, I managed to persuade the system administrators at the local university into giving me accounts on most of the major systems so I could use C, Unix and VMS.) My point is that it's so easy to forget that these sorts of statements about the power, simplicity and elegance of things past carry with them a context that is usually not explicitly articulated. If you came to Oberon from some primitive computing environment (like, say, PCs or something) then it was indeed fun and amazingly elegant. That said, I wouldn't want to go back to running it on a SPARCstation 1 with 16 megs of RAM, a 200MB disk, and a 17 inch black and white CRT. It's easy to look back and say to oneself, "wow, that wasn't as cool as I remembered it being..." but that doesn't change that, at the time, it *was* that cool because of the context. - Dan C.