HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: alecm@coyote.uk.sun.com (Alec Muffett - Sun IS -  System Administrator)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Vestiges of FORTRAN, Memes and Syntax
Date: 27 Jan 93 11:18:18 GMT
Reply-To: alecm@coyote.uk.sun.com
Organization: Sun Microsystems (UK) Ltd
NNTP-Posting-Host: coyote.uk.sun.com

In article 728064198@mwunix,  jcmorris@mwunix.mitre.org (Joe Morris) writes:
>alecm@coyote.uk.sun.com (Alec Muffett - Sun IS -  System Administrator) writes:
>>cs92njc@ccws-39.brunel.ac.uk.ac.uk (Nicholas J Clayton) writes:
>
>>>Does anyone know the circumstances that surround "i" being adopted as
>>>the most common name for a variable in a loop, "for(i = 0; i < 10;
>>>i++)" and so on. Is it simply becuase it is the first letter of
>>>"iterate" or do the reasons run deeper than that?
>
>>I believe (definitely the case in my instance) that it's from FORTRAN.
>
>Um...fellows, please don't lose sight of the fact that mathematical
>notation existed long before the electronic computer arrived on the
>scene.  

Too true, hell, I suffered enough calculus at university (studying
astronomy/astrophysics, I might add, not CS) to know that. I did a lot
of fortran programming too. But, having seen both, it'll take a lot to
convince me that mathematical notation had more widespread influence
propagating the habit than fortran. 

>I haven't any idea just where the use of {i, j, k,...} began
>but it far predates the computer age, and was almost certainly the reason
>for the decision of the original FORTRAN committee to carve out a
>block of letters in the middle of the alphabet and declare them to
>be the default integer initial characters.  

Nothing to do with them being _I-N_teger variables, then ?  8-)

Incidentally, one of our lecturers always recommended (throwing ideals
of structured programming to the winds by not declaring each variable
explicitly) that we artificially prefix all our REAL variables with
"R", so that we automatically knew the type of whatever floating point
variables we came across in reading another person's code. Similarly
"I" for integer.

She had (she said) been following this habit for years, since she
started programming in FORTRAN IV in the 60s. Only problem was fitting
meaningful names to variables with only 5 of the 6 significant letters
in a name remaining to us...

	- alec
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: ags@seaman.cc.purdue.edu (Dave Seaman)
Subject: Re: i is for iteration
Organization: Purdue University
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 17:42:13 GMT

In article <1993Jan23.030322.6676@tc.cornell.edu> mdw@theory.TC.Cornell.EDU (Matt Welsh) writes:
>>In article <C13J9p.ABA@brunel.ac.uk> cs92njc@ccws-39.brunel.ac.uk.ac.uk writes:
>>Does anyone know the circumstances that surround "i" being adopted as
>>the most common name for a variable in a loop...

>Yes. It was after Charles Babbage's pet condor, "Ingred". 

How terrible! Did the poor condor manage to escape, or was it caught?

--
Dave Seaman
ags@seaman.cc.purdue.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: dnichols@d-and-d.com (DoN. Nichols)
Subject: Re: VIC-20 returns!
Organization: D and D Data, Vienna VA
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 04:32:46 GMT

In article <C1FBM8.5nF@mach1.wlu.ca> brea9430@mach1.wlu.ca (breadner ken u) writes:
>VIC-20? Luxury. My first computer was a TRS-80 Color Computer. We sprang
>for the 16K model, and I remember people asking us what we did with all
>that memory.

A COCO - Extreme Luxury.  *My* first computer was a MITS Altair 680b (*NO*
not the 8800, which was relatively plentiful, the 680b, with a 6800 cpu at
500KHz, and with a gigantic 1K of RAM.  (Also 256 bytes of eprom)).  (I did
expand it by adding 16K of *static* ram at a later date.)

	Sound - Hah!  If the terminal had a bell, that was it.

	BASIC - yes, after twenty minutes of loading from punched tape.  (If
		the checksums passed - until the next power glitch.)

By comparison, the COCO was a powerhouse.  It could even run a multi-user,
multi-tasking OS, OS-9 (but not in 16k. :-) I got the COCO to see how well
it could run OS-9 after using it on a SS-50 bus system of mixed parentage.
Not too badly, considering the limitations of its bit-banger serial port.

-- 
 Email:   <dnichols@d-and-d.com>  |  ...!uunet!ceilidh!dnichols 
		 <dnichols@ceilidh.beartrack.com>
 Donald Nichols (DoN.)  |   Voice (Days): (703) 704-2280 (Eves): (703) 938-4564
	--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---
From: anthony@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Anthony J Stieber)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: What one-liner, joke, saying would you like to see on a T-shirt
Date: 27 Jan 93 19:24:45 GMT
Organization: Computing Services Division, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.89.7.4

In article <1993Jan27.044218.20373@research.nj.nec.com> magnasco@research.nj.nec.com (Marcelo Magnasco) writes:
>/dev/teeshirt

What about: /bin/tee?
--
<-:(= Anthony Stieber	anthony@csd4.csd.uwm.edu   uwm!uwmcsd4!anthony
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: You know you've been playing games too long when...
From: thomas@datamark.co.nz (Thomas Beagle)
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 19:33:07 GMT
Organization: Datamark International Ltd.

In article <1993Jan25.103136.186@actew.oz.au> ina_craig@actew.oz.au (Craig Alexander) writes:
>I have heard stories of the game Tetris affecting people like this but much
>more severely. Some people have said that they have gotten to the stage where
>they can play tetris in their heads without needing a computer. 

I have dreamed playing Tetris - I was doing quite well. THe only
problem was that I suspected my mind was not selecting the blocks to
drop at random...

I have also played my current addiction, Minesweeper, in my mind while
dreaming. I didn't do as well as I normally do.
-- 
    Thomas Beagle | thomas@datamark.co.nz           Work: 64 4 233 8186
 Technical Writer | thomas@cavebbs.welly.gen.nz     Home: 64 4 499 3832
   Wellington, NZ | Yes, I do have long ears, a black nose, and a tail.
From: muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au (Murray Chapman)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: You know you've been playing games too long when...
Keywords: lemmings games
Date: 27 Jan 93 00:26:01 GMT
Reply-To: muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au

In <aldavi01.727899017@starbase.spd.louisville.edu> aldavi01@starbase.spd.louisville.edu (Arlie Davis) writes:

>In <_dm3jvq@rpi.edu> jonesr2@aix02.ecs.rpi.edu (Kazrak) writes:

>> Today, I determined that I've been playing Lemmings too long.  How?  Well,
>> when my fiancee and I were approaching the door to her building and I was
>> trying to figure out how one of us could unlock the door without the other
>> bouncing off and heading in the other direction, I figured I was a goner.

My brother-in-law nearly had a car accident becuase he was not concentrating
on his driving.  He was gazing out the window at a hill in a field, thinking
that if he flattened it, it would support more men.

He'd just played 5 hours of Populous.

Murray
--
-- Murray Chapman                               Zheenl Punczna            --
-- muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au                           zhmmyr@pf.hd.bm.nh        --
-- University of Queensland                     Havirefvgl bs Dhrrafynaq  --
-- Brisbane, Australia                          Oevfonar, Nhfgenyvn       --
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: pt@geovision.gvc.com (Paul Tomblin)
Subject: Re: Metric again... (Was: 8-bit news (was Re: Commodore keyboard ...))
Reply-To: pt@geovision.gvc.com
Organization: Not officially GeoVision Systems Inc., Ottawa, Ontario
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 19:33:05 GMT

edremy@leland.Stanford.EDU (eric remy) writes:

>One more definition of mil: 1/6400 of a unit circle.  (At least for
>Western armies; I've been told the Eastern Bloc uses 1mil = 1/6000 of
>a unit circle.)  Used by artillery and tanks: for a 1 km circle, 1 mil

I believe, and unfortunately I can't find a source for this, that there are
about 5 different definitions of a mil out there - that the Swedes and Finns
use a different definition of mil that either of these.  I think one uses
6200mil/circle and the other uses 6300mil/circle (both of which are more
correct than 6400).

(But then again - I'm an orienteer, so my compass doesn't _have_ any numbers
on it!)

I'll ask on the orienteering mailing list...

-- 
Paul Tomblin (I don't make or state policy for this company)
"Does that include the toaster disk drive and printer" - Dilbert
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: sbooth@lonestar.utsa.edu (Simon E. Booth)
Subject: Re: Atari 1450 XLD
Organization: University of Texas at San Antonio
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 04:04:03 GMT


A bit off-track, but I remember seeing what looked like a small (notebook-
sized?) computer in the film 'Terminator 2', that had the Atari logo.

So, is Atari in the notebook computer business? Or was this merely a prop?

Simon

(SPOILERS AHEAD)









The 'Atari notebook'(or perhaps palmtop) computer was seen in the scene where
the young John Conner and a friend were hacking into an ATM machine.


Simon
From: aj923@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (P. J. Remner)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: foo bar
Date: 27 Jan 1993 01:17:09 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: aj923@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (P. J. Remner)
NNTP-Posting-Host: slc10.ins.cwru.edu


In a previous article, andy@cawsley.demon.co.uk (Andrew Maclean) says:

>I have seen foo and bar used as names for examples of functionsin text
>books on general programming and wondered if anyone knew where they come
>from and if they have any meaning. I have asked round the office but nobody
>seems to know (or care!!).
>
>

From the acronym FUBAR, meaning "F**ked up beyond all recognition".

Before people flame their tongues off, yes, I know that there are
other words to this acronym.  This is just my favorite.

-- 
aj923@cleveland.freenet.edu (Nmetic polyalloy)								DestructoTab copy protect
			      _______________________							     /  ___________________(_)				
			    /  /\__________________							   /  /_/________________(_)				
			  /______________________							  \____________________(_)				
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: lfm54477@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Libor F. Michalek)
Subject: Re: You know you've been playing games too long when...
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 03:24:06 GMT

dsiebert@icaen.uiowa.edu (Doug Siebert) writes:

>ina_craig@actew.oz.au (Craig Alexander) writes:

>>In article <_dm3jvq@rpi.edu>, jonesr2@aix02.ecs.rpi.edu (Kazrak) writes:
>>> Today, I determined that I've been playing Lemmings too long.  How?  Well,
>>> when my fiancee and I were approaching the door to her building and I was
>>> trying to figure out how one of us could unlock the door without the other
>>> bouncing off and heading in the other direction, I figured I was a goner.
>>> 

>>I have heard stories of the game Tetris affecting people like this but much
>>more severely. Some people have said that they have gotten to the stage where
>>they can play tetris in their heads without needing a computer. 


>Wouldn't it be too easy then?  I don't know about other people, but I'd always
>give myself perfectly fitting pieces if I was playing it in my head ;-)

This happened to me in high school right around when tetris first came on the
seen. I wrote a version for my PC that only reached a certain speed( about level
seven on nitendoe (sp?)). I knew I had it mastered when one saturday I woke up
at 9 am ( just so I could play the game ) started playing and didn't stop until
5 pm when I realized by brain was about to explode( this was non-stop play).
Any way for a few months afterwards I use to play the game in my head all the
time and no self respecting tetris addict would give himself the easy pieces.
To this day every time I go to a bathroom I look at the tiles and try to imgine
how they would fit if they where tetris pecies. There is no way in hell I am
letting my kids play this game ( when I have kids that is ). Personally I think
my life would have been different where it not for this game.               
oh well.

Libor ( if you rotate the L the o above it would fit pretty well )

>-- 
>/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------\
>| Doug Siebert                             | "I don't have to take this abuse |
>| Internet:  dsiebert@isca.uiowa.edu       |  from you - I've got hundreds of |
>| NeXTMail:  dsiebert@chop.isca.uiowa.edu  |  people waiting in line to abuse |
>|     ICBM:  41d 39m 55s N, 91d 30m 43s W  |  me!"  Bill Murray, Ghostbusters |
>\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------/
From: dlytle@OAVAX.CSUCHICO.EDU (Don Lytle)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: The Association for the Study of Play Conference
Date: 21 Jan 93 16:36:28 GMT
Reply-To: dlytle@OAVAX.CSUCHICO.EDU
Organization: California State University, Chico
NNTP-Posting-Host: oavax.csuchico.edu

ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PAPERS

TASP 1993 - St. Paul, MN
The Association for the Study of Play
April 22 - 24, 1993 % The St. Paul Hotel % St. Paul, Minnesota

       The Association For The Study of Play (TASP) will hold its 1993 annual meetings in St. Paul, Minnesota.  The conference will begin Thursday and continue until Saturday, April 24.  There will be featured speakers, playshops, and forums for the discussion and presentation of research papers on all aspects of play research, theory, performance and behavior.
	TASP conferences traditionally have provided a mechanism by which researchers in diverse fields have the opportunity to share ideas and interact in a friendly and collegial atmosphere.
       Papers and proposals for panel sessions or tutorials related to the broad study of play are invited.  Sessions include, but are not limited to:
 - Humor, laughter
 - Computer and cyperspace play
 - Folklore
 - Children's play behavior
 - Cross-cultural play
 - Body work and play art
 - Performance 
 - Anthropology of festive play
 - Sport
 - Literary playfulness

Deadline for submission of abstracts is February 5, 1993.

Send abstracts (100 word maximum), audio-visual needs, and registration fees ($60 professional and $20 student made payable to TASP) to:

Dr. Don Lytle
Department of Physical Education
California State University, Chico  95929-0330. 
Bitnet/E-Mail: DLYTLE@OAVAX.CSUCHICO.EDU; FAX: 916 898-4932; 
Phone: {916} 898-6617 or 898-6373 {message}/894-5028 {evening}.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: dsiebert@icaen.uiowa.edu (Doug Siebert)
Subject: Re: You know you've been playing games too long when...
Organization: Iowa Computer Aided Engineering Network, University of Iowa
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 01:29:15 GMT

ina_craig@actew.oz.au (Craig Alexander) writes:

>In article <_dm3jvq@rpi.edu>, jonesr2@aix02.ecs.rpi.edu (Kazrak) writes:
>> Today, I determined that I've been playing Lemmings too long.  How?  Well,
>> when my fiancee and I were approaching the door to her building and I was
>> trying to figure out how one of us could unlock the door without the other
>> bouncing off and heading in the other direction, I figured I was a goner.
>> 

>I have heard stories of the game Tetris affecting people like this but much
>more severely. Some people have said that they have gotten to the stage where
>they can play tetris in their heads without needing a computer. 


Wouldn't it be too easy then?  I don't know about other people, but I'd always
give myself perfectly fitting pieces if I was playing it in my head ;-)

-- 
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------\
| Doug Siebert                             | "I don't have to take this abuse |
| Internet:  dsiebert@isca.uiowa.edu       |  from you - I've got hundreds of |
| NeXTMail:  dsiebert@chop.isca.uiowa.edu  |  people waiting in line to abuse |
|     ICBM:  41d 39m 55s N, 91d 30m 43s W  |  me!"  Bill Murray, Ghostbusters |
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------/
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: fstuart@eng.auburn.edu (Frank Stuart)
Subject: Re: VIC-20 returns!
Organization: Auburn University Engineering
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 01:37:05 GMT

In article <1993Jan21.122919.21205W@viper.edb.tih.no> terjej@edb.tih.no writes:
>As a joke and as a remembrance of my first computer-days,
>I bought a VIC-20 with a cassette-player yesterday.
>Any ideas what I can use it for, except for doorstop and to scare 
>the shit out of future grandchildren?
>
>I was thinking of maybe connect it to some device, like a simple 
>window-alarm circuit with a bell or something. Anybody done something
>like this?

My first computer was a vic.  When I finally saved up enough money for a
64, I turned my vic into a burgler alarm to keep my little sister out of my
room.  I connected the button wires of an old joystick to my door (one to
the plate on the door and one to the plate on the frame.  When the door was
opened, you had ~30 seconds to type in the correct password or an alarm
went off.  It worked fine until my sister figured out that I couldn't tell
the difference between a power outage and someone turning it off.  If I'd
only had a PBU....   :>


Frank Stuart           |   grep: dead.trees: Permission denied
fstuart@eng.auburn.edu |   MMMMmmmmm, Soylent Green
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.computers:19196 comp.lang.misc:4146
From: mshute@cs.man.ac.uk (Malcolm Shute)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: BCPL
Keywords: where`o'where
Date: 22 Jan 93 10:33:37 GMT
Followup-To: alt.folklore.computers
Organization: Dept Computer Science, University of Manchester, U.K.

In article <1jkj39INNgv8@function.mps.ohio-state.edu> dicks@math.ohio-state.edu (Ethan Dicks) writes:
>BCPL was used extensively in writing the early versions of AmigaDOS.
And also the early work on the Inmos Transputer.
--

Malcolm SHUTE.         (The AM Mollusc:   v_@_ )        Disclaimer: all
From: boebert@sctc.com (Earl Boebert)
Subject: Re: What one-liner, joke, saying would you like to see on a T-shirt
Organization: SCTC
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 19:54:49 GMT

How did they bury Tom Watson?

Face down, 12-edge forward.

(One for the old.farts)

Earl
From: kstuart@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Kenneth Stuart)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: What one-liner, joke, saying would you like to see on a T-shirt
Date: 26 Jan 93 17:20:08 GMT
Reply-To: kstuart@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Kenneth Stuart)
Organization: Carderock Division, NSWC, Bethesda, MD


Well, there's always:

  "COMPUTER PROGRAMMERS DO IT SLOWLY - BIT BY BIT!"



.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,comp.lang.misc
From: dbrooks@osf.org (David Brooks)
Subject: Re: BCPL
Reply-To: dbrooks@osf.org (David Brooks)
Organization: Open Software Foundation
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 16:41:42 GMT

Tony Lezard <tony@mantis.co.uk> writes:
>Ah yes, an excellent language which I trust all Compsci graduates
>from Cambridge University (over a certain age) will remember fondly.

Here's one.  I finished the port to the XDS Sigma series.

>I was always struck by the purity of the idea of a language with just
>one data type, the (32 bit where I was) word.

The worst consequence of that was its effect on pointer arithmetic.  Adding
one to a value that is being thought of as a pointer must point to the next
datum, which results in much behind-the-scenes shifting (on Titan, the
shift was in a different direction from byte-addressed machines).  One of
the pleasures of the Sigma was its word-addressed-ness.

Another consequence was that the floating point operators (a late addition)
have to be lexically different form the integer versions:

	x <- y #+ 1.0;

>It had some nice syntactic elements as well. I can't think of any
>languages where you can make tests of the form
>
>    IF 4 <= x <= 8  $( ... $)

Usually converted into two tests and a /\ in the first stage of syntactic
analysis, though :-)
-- 
David Brooks					dbrooks@osf.org
Open Software Foundation			uunet!osf.org!dbrooks
Shine out, fair sun, with all your heat!  Black winter freezes to his seat...
The boneless fish close quaking lies...the stars in icicles arise!
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: paladin@world.std.com (Thomas G Schlatter)
Subject: Re: HISTORY OF WORD PROCESSIN
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 09:02:29 GMT

In article <1993Jan15.173341.3969@wam.umd.edu> davei@wam.umd.edu (The One True Dave) writes:
>
>Wang WP on a 2200, you can use it on one of the big virtual systems
>(VS100?) or a PC. The look and feel, the menus and keystrokes, are all
>the same.)

I believe their latest is the VS7000.

Anyone have any comments about Wang?

From what I'm told, they're great machines, produced by a
company that still thinks that people will go with the
proprietary lock-in at all levels.

Two of a friend's favorite acronyms for WANG (he works in a Wang shop):
We Are No Good
Wait And Never Get it
From: lstowell@pyrnova.mis.pyramid.com (Lon Stowell)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: What one-liner, joke, saying would you like to see on a T-shirt
Date: 27 Jan 93 20:58:49 GMT
Reply-To: lstowell@pyrnova.pyramid.com.pyramid.com (Lon Stowell)
Organization: Pyramid Technology Corporation

In article <1993Jan27.044218.20373@research.nj.nec.com> magnasco@research.nj.nec.com (Marcelo Magnasco) writes:
>/dev/teeshirt

Or for the SVR4 types:

  /dev/shirt/tee


Xref: sparky alt.folklore.computers:19247 comp.lang.misc:4151
From: pcg@aber.ac.uk (Piercarlo Grandi)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers,comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: BCPL
Date: 25 Jan 93 14:34:22 GMT
Reply-To: pcg@aber.ac.uk (Piercarlo Grandi)
Organization: Prifysgol Cymru, Aberystwyth

>>> On 20 Jan 93 19:05:12 GMT, weisberg@ee.rochester.edu (Jeff Weisberg) said:

Weisberg> I recently came across a book on BCPL (the language).  It is  in-
Weisberg> teresting  to see where features of C evolved from.  I thought it
Weisberg> would be interesting to give it a try, and was wondering if  any-
Weisberg> one  has, [ ... ]

The Computer Lab at Cambridge used to distribute as freeware research
implementations of BCPL for a lot of machines, and a couple of BCPL
implementor's kits, and associated BCPL sw. As far as I know Martin
Richards still works there.  Other places where BCPL was extensively
used in the past are CERN and Xerox PARC.

If you want more info on BCPL and what has been done with it and
pointers to whom to ask for implementations, just browse through
Software Practice and Experience issues in the seventies; there are so
many BCPL papers that I thought it had become a BCPL bulletin :-).

Now, I wonder when anybody will ask for pointers to Neliac... :-)
--
Piercarlo Grandi <pcg@aber.ac.uk> c/o Dept of CS
University of Wales, Penglais, Aberystwyth SY23 3BZ, UK
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
From: oxenreid@chaos.cs.umn.edu ()
Subject: Re: What one-liner, joke, saying would you like to see on a T-shirt
Organization: University of Minnesota
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 19:04:33 GMT

In <jcmorris.728139718@mwunix> jcmorris@mwunix.mitre.org (Joe Morris) writes:

>adam@owlnet.rice.edu (Adam Justin Thornton) writes:

>>In article <1993Jan26.195449.7728@sctc.com> boebert@sctc.com (Earl Boebert) writes:
>>>How did they bury Tom Watson?
>>>
>>>Face down, 12-edge forward.
>>>
>>>(One for the old.farts)

>>Isn't it "Face down, nine-edge first ?"

>Depends on if you want to read him (9-edge first) or punch him (12-edge).
>(Anyone familiar with a 2540 or its ilk should recognize the reference.)

>On the other hand, given yesterday's news (and the financial news from
>IBM over the past week or two) maybe the first line of the joke should read:

>            How did they bury IBM?
Blue side down?   Funeral music was "Am I blue".

>Joe Morris 
Xref: sparky alt.folklore.computers:19270 comp.sys.unisys:727