22 Feb
2018
22 Feb
'18
8:38 a.m.
On Thu, 22 Feb 2018, George Michaelson wrote:
Actually I tell a lie. Snobol defeated me. I had no
brain capacity to
understand it. APL had left me behind, on the DECwriter with the
modified alphabet. Keyboard in greek? Ok.. fool me once, more fool you:
fool me twice, Lambda Sigma Phi me.
In final year Comp Sci we had to write a compiler, so I told my lecturer
(Ken Robinson) that I was going to do it in SNOBOL. He threatened to fail
me if I did... I ended up using ALGOLW instead, and IMHO it was an
amazing piece of work, being able to correct syntax errors so that it
could continue compiling etc, and proved it by writing a program with
every possible error being auto-corrected and producing the correct output
when run. That listing and deck of cards are long gone, alas.
As for APL, I see you've never used APL\360 on the Kleinschmidt
(pronounced "Kline-shit") terminal. A matrix printer, it regularly
punched holes right through the paper; one joker put a page on the Comp
Sci noticed board with a reddish IBM JCL card showing through, with the
inscription "Who said APL programs weren't transparent?". No, it
wasn't
me; I was responsible for certain other shenanigans instead, but I'm
unsure of the Statute of Limitations...
--
Dave Horsfall DTM (VK2KFU) "Those who don't understand security will
suffer."