From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.2 (2018-09-13) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=DKIM_INVALID,DKIM_SIGNED, HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS,MAILING_LIST_MULTI,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.2 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (minnie.tuhs.org [45.79.103.53]) by inbox.vuxu.org (OpenSMTPD) with ESMTP id f8452032 for ; Mon, 3 Dec 2018 23:01:31 +0000 (UTC) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id AD0A8A2089; Tue, 4 Dec 2018 09:01:30 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5E89DA1CE9; Tue, 4 Dec 2018 09:01:04 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 201F5A1CE4; Tue, 4 Dec 2018 09:00:53 +1000 (AEST) Received: from out4-smtp.messagingengine.com (out4-smtp.messagingengine.com [66.111.4.28]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id A366494A37 for ; Tue, 4 Dec 2018 09:00:42 +1000 (AEST) Received: from compute7.internal (compute7.nyi.internal [10.202.2.47]) by mailout.nyi.internal (Postfix) with ESMTP id CB64720BBE; Mon, 3 Dec 2018 18:00:41 -0500 (EST) Received: from mailfrontend1 ([10.202.2.162]) by compute7.internal (MEProxy); Mon, 03 Dec 2018 18:00:41 -0500 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=serissa.com; h= content-type:mime-version:subject:from:in-reply-to:date:cc :content-transfer-encoding:message-id:references:to; s=fm1; bh=c NCxZCFFoVaxltsAspe/5i/ECsKYwmr9oor63rRfieE=; b=amrTFiJyNTNp8J0ro K8FCEZrILCOBbi4aC9Ld4Hqe0+aJpkvCJu8aC3kdRsE2grIizEEbXdomfUxPNufw MKmShIKGctM4B0qE852R0kEw0f++/534OPX2iXckSzhwYVgiObd4rzD7PzZMOsv+ Ug+/G6R0vNL97MQ/g/eMSSQu7TqG77JbzXP8vJZYqy1AKzgG42l7yULkruFAAeZ5 WKIonvENzG2pJrXOK5gLUmK5kq6N++M8yTFlYblf1nED0ogc3DVhPT5nBOILBwYe 7XT9NQi5wScsYGzU47r3u8mGoZaAL8Tvo0l2+G7mEamJLGle6JYea93BE47RPuiR UXLIg== DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d= messagingengine.com; h=cc:content-transfer-encoding:content-type :date:from:in-reply-to:message-id:mime-version:references :subject:to:x-me-proxy:x-me-proxy:x-me-sender:x-me-sender :x-sasl-enc; s=fm1; bh=cNCxZCFFoVaxltsAspe/5i/ECsKYwmr9oor63rRfi eE=; b=HnDbIILuvEyrg/w3lXw8vp8Q3m1q/PT7WTNvv9kuiCXwt7k80hhlDVdNu 2lFWa9MCITADiwbssvVwqpLx6rKBiSh/oNDBBmEp2qvrITDHKnrkwBzMz+EcxvvW jvN5IHV0YAjj/RPEJ2kGjAw5zh24b7IMjDex5knUjJTXgvQMRBnnBTxSLduHFSst ajEtRNFJmHP0PukyjRTzqYyU7T/JV3e3b8TPwnPu1bZvS8FjWX829KM6iYFggZKW LwV5zG8M64sA/UC0XbdJYElHNAadK7KrUmO/QDnGWZM7xxMwWEdmEtpNVMnyrvC/ OE28U8xoyOv6MLBnmHhcnJX8fWkLg== X-ME-Sender: X-ME-Proxy: Received: from kailua-display.stewart.org (pool-72-74-174-175.bstnma.fios.verizon.net [72.74.174.175]) by mail.messagingengine.com (Postfix) with ESMTPA id 7DC7FE405B; Mon, 3 Dec 2018 18:00:40 -0500 (EST) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Mime-Version: 1.0 (Mac OS X Mail 11.5 \(3445.9.1\)) From: Lawrence Stewart In-Reply-To: Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2018 18:00:38 -0500 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Message-Id: References: To: Paul Winalski X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.3445.9.1) Subject: Re: [TUHS] Happy birthday, John Backus! X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.20 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Cc: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" I=E2=80=99ve told this story before, but not here, I think. Brian Reid talked me into teaching a programming language survey course = at Stanford around 1983. There were programming assignments in Pascal, = LISP, APL, and Snobol. Being young and too clever, I rewrote the Snobol assignment to be = matching lists of crossword puzzle solution words for across and down = into a grid representing the board (X=E2=80=99s and O=E2=80=99s). I seriously underestimated how hard this would be for new programmers, = so my own solution turned out to be the second fastest. The fastest Snobol solution was a thing that if you held it out at arms = length, you would swear it was FORTRAN. -L > On 2018, Dec 3, at 5:24 PM, Paul Winalski = wrote: >=20 > On 12/3/18, Clem Cole wrote: >>=20 >> Hrrumft. You can write bad code is *any* language. See the = annual >> obscure C prize. >=20 > Someone once said that a good Fortran programmer can write Fortran in > any programming language. >=20 > -Paul W.