Hence providing an example of the very infantile disorder he was lambasting.
Jdb On 7/25/10, R.E. Boss <[email protected]> wrote: >> -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- >> Van: [email protected] [mailto:programming- >> [email protected]] Namens neville holmes >> Verzonden: zondag 25 juli 2010 0:51 >> Aan: Programming forum >> Onderwerp: Re: [Jprogramming] index origin 0 >> > (...) >> >> By the way, the mention of Edsgar Dijkstra in >> connection with J/APL is rather ironic. He was >> a rabid opponent of APL and I was told that he >> was heard at in international conference that >> APL would never be used in Holland while he was >> around to stop it. >> >> Neville Holmes, P.O. Box 2412, Bakery Hill 3354, Victoria > > > "In 1975 Edsger W. Dijkstra, a major figure in the structured-programming > movement, wrote a memo titled "How Do We Tell Truths that Might Hurt?" The > "truths" were mostly Dijkstra's opinions of programming languages; how he > told them was very bluntly. Fortran is "an infantile disorder," PL/I "a > fatal disease," APL "a mistake, carried through to perfection." Students > exposed to COBOL "are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration," he > said. "The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, > be regarded as a criminal offense." When the memo was published a few years > later, defenders of COBOL and BASIC replied in kind, although none of them > were quite able to match Dijkstra's acid rhetoric. > > In fairness, I should note that most disputes over programming languages are > neither as vicious nor as humorless as the affair of Dijkstra's "truths." > Today's missionaries take an upbeat approach, spending more time in > promoting their own religion and less in dissing the other person's beliefs. > The message is no longer "You'll burn in hell if you write C." It's "Look > what a paradise Python offers you!" (I think maybe I liked the old sermons > better.)" > > from http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/the-semicolon-wars/4 > > > I myself remember him saying in a lecture that "Basic ruins your life" > > > R.E.Boss > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > -- Sent from my mobile device John D. Baker [email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
