Re: Just an observation

It doesn't? My wife uses telepathy on me all the time!!?! <vbg>

Eric


-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx

[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Michael Ryan
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 10:54 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: Just an observation




Gotta start someplace...telepathy won't work.

On Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 11:45 AM, Trevor Perry <trevor@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Joe,
>
> Doesn't this message itself constitute an impurity?
>
> Trevor
>
>
>
> On 4/16/08 11:28 AM, "Joe Pluta" <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > I remember back when I was starting out programming (back in the early
> > 40s) and how I loved learning new languages. I started out with RPG,
> > and then learned EDL (for the Series/1) and you couldn't stop me from
> > messing around with the operating system (in the Series/1, the operating
> > system was written in the primary HLL for the box; it was very cool).
> > Next I started using assembly language and then Pascal and C. Note that
> > I had been introduced to all these languages previously, along with
> > standard CS 101 languages like Fortran and BASIC. But this was real
> > programming, and I ate it up.
> >
> > Back then, it wasn't about staking turf for a specific language or OS.
> > In fact, most programmers didn't argue about such things. There were a
> > few uber-nerds who argued about the superiority of the Z80 instruction
> > set, or CP/M vs PC-DOS, but those were few and far between. Not that
> > they weren't vehement; one of my favorite ongoing arguments was the
> > raging debate between Pascal and C syntax. In Pascal, the equality
> > operator is one character ("=") and the assignment operator is two
> > (":="). As you know, in C and its derivatives, assignment is one
> > character ("=") and equality is two ("=="). There would be screaming
> > matches about this, with the C advocates actually doing statistical
> > analysis of code to prove that there were more assignments than
> > comparisons, and thus C was more productive.
> >
> > Those people were considered... eccentric. They were the guys who not
> > only actually owned their own Star Trek uniform, but considered it
> > appropriate business attire. Meanwhile, the rest of us were just trying
> > to figure out how to get the stupid cash register to answer the modem,
> > or how to insert TTDs into a bisync data stream.
> >
> > Nowadays, these sorts of arguments seem to be the norm. Rather than
> > talking about solutions, discussion forums consistently devolve into
> > arguments about syntax or the "rightness" of SQL vs. native or any of a
> > million other issues that aren't really germane to solving business
> > problems. Thankfully David manages to keep these lists the best in the
> > Infoverse, but we're not immune.
> >
> > I don't know how to fix it. I have an idea, but it would take way more
> > work than any one person could do. I just wonder whether it's worth it
> > to try and create a medium where the discussion is entirely about
> > business solutions. No threads about the name of the machine, or the
> > impending death of RPG, or how ILE is better/worse than .Net, or indeed
> > any sort of opinion-based discussion. Instead, just a pure,
> > unadulterated focus on problems and solutions.
> >
> > Joe
> >
>
>
> --
> This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L) mailing list
> To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
> visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
> or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
> at http://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.
>
>
--

This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L) mailing list
To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
at http://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.



--


This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L) mailing list
To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
at http://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.