From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.1 required=5.0 tests=DKIM_SIGNED,DKIM_VALID, DKIM_VALID_AU,MAILING_LIST_MULTI autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 21751 invoked from network); 2 Jan 2022 04:11:28 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (45.79.103.53) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 2 Jan 2022 04:11:28 -0000 Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 290C19CFA8; Sun, 2 Jan 2022 14:11:25 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A25779CF06; Sun, 2 Jan 2022 14:11:09 +1000 (AEST) Authentication-Results: minnie.tuhs.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key; unprotected) header.d=dartmouth.edu header.i=@dartmouth.edu header.b="rA3WgFED"; dkim-atps=neutral Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id C121C9CF06; Sun, 2 Jan 2022 14:11:07 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mail-wr1-f45.google.com (mail-wr1-f45.google.com [209.85.221.45]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 984C59CE58 for ; Sun, 2 Jan 2022 14:11:06 +1000 (AEST) Received: by mail-wr1-f45.google.com with SMTP id v6so1546372wra.8 for ; Sat, 01 Jan 2022 20:11:06 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=dartmouth.edu; s=google1; h=mime-version:from:date:message-id:subject:to; bh=+FnzVHQD/wFwDzBqJBJUnPFw2Q5bNFvmRM8zPXojdQw=; b=rA3WgFEDHNJ1M8yCfo3rcCckXPRSLtGa6dS2JOgnF21qt3zddAMHqt4b9nzdM1dH6C 2Bb2Ii3gvq9JzBzf2LSN2136W7c71dmfbG8vzubNd7DVU/m5wwk1qRD8uysHrOAKZSJA idQFm5WyQ7vVZrBLzzbeZPq1TPX0kPjg+/7prwnaeSykYkzIuO5Eya2qQaj4ihf3E6YX zrcOz6VOg9QbWHzGwdhlc2+p+8mD0fhlfwI7w01xOLpFRzw+CYvH7jY0qXHDITIThi6/ ukmbZvLJEVmVfRcMSuK0hDOZSyuCRt4Xic6BNzgqUgyCrj1Rv2Ave+S9uqouWo1+V2b2 m9JQ== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20210112; h=x-gm-message-state:mime-version:from:date:message-id:subject:to; bh=+FnzVHQD/wFwDzBqJBJUnPFw2Q5bNFvmRM8zPXojdQw=; b=cx89gINmR95q+G9R4DH7v4K6jHYVf1R+BzjmqjmLP/AMd93q5G78wtQExJnp862x1O wJ3xRWjFRPIKhHraXRKKBCE21IspAMFDGj3KMieWSn17DH7OXSEiptp9/K8VcDrfdwE4 HgUMKChLnm6miEkurZKvEr84NrEdy1iJKB8/oIcVDme+kdVpdEMDWG6Fek1RQhC8gXLv GyG2jiNEWy7J8IPWPU9/H4Iu0PXeO8JVEo/ycrZ5nM2jRfcnhgzY9Hd7YhfLEmbSJ6np 4ueFDMh0HRlAinJACaWSEO75BNg+TCbhdPfs/1lIjXTvEv55u6jS0RXSf1OyMzdFnx9V bEnQ== X-Gm-Message-State: AOAM531YaZvDZE0cw49ueQnwcQ8bQmKSw1ux/lr3ooKBd+BWmkhzdtow dVnKa0Nygh7cQgmECPmSq3UT7okBggNg4AX9I40qxCjURt2mwQ== X-Google-Smtp-Source: ABdhPJyTJ+g8EQSNvNvn6LYVBJ5+KKqGq/RlEXZpYlfMHy6IeE7XM30m82Mq4KKYmF+QaTWn7ijOqPv3C3i6YgayVMo= X-Received: by 2002:adf:82d2:: with SMTP id 76mr34185764wrc.329.1641096664813; Sat, 01 Jan 2022 20:11:04 -0800 (PST) MIME-Version: 1.0 From: Douglas McIlroy Date: Sat, 1 Jan 2022 23:10:49 -0500 Message-ID: To: TUHS main list Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Subject: Re: [TUHS] roff(7) [ and other related stuff ] X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.26 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" > Lisp, _that's_ elegant. The machine shines through Lisp even more brightly than it does through C. Lisp attains incredible power from a tiny base: car, cdr, cons, cond, T, F, null, lambda, def, exuding elegance that survives even in a raging sea of parentheses. For Lisp-friendly applications nowadays, I prefer Haskell, which is much further away from the machine. Haskell code approaches--and sometimes surpasses--the cleanliness of good mathematical notation. For string processing, I remember Snobol 3 with great fondness. But for everyday work with arrays and numbers, C is the workhorse. Still, I wish that C would evaluate comma expressions in parallel rather than in series, as in (a,b) = (b,a). Doug