12 May
2005
12 May
'05
6:25 a.m.
>>>> "Sean" == Sean Conner
<spc at conman.org> writes:
Sean> It was thus said that the Great Fred Cisin once stated:
> Most particularly Dijkstra.
>
> But you might enjoy some of his other statements, such as:
>
> <QUOTE> FORTRAN --"the infantile disorder"--, by now nearly 20
> years old, is ... PL/I --"the fatal disease"-- belongs more to
> the problem set than ... The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its
> teaching should, therefore, ... APL is a mistake, carried through
> to perfection. It is the language ... </QUOTE>
Sean> Um ... what language *did* he like then?
Algol 60. After all, he was involved in its creation. Then again,
his later work was done in a paper language, somewhat Algol-like but
without the quirks. It would be an interesting classroom project to
create a formal grammar and compiler for that.
But not Algol 68. I once made the mistake of mentioning Algol 68 to
him. I got an earful. I think it took me half an hour to extricate
myself from that one...
paul