Of course, I meant to say that the 68k is/was 'big endian', unlike the Vax which was little endian.
On Thu, Feb 16, 2023 at 12:17 PM Guillermo J. Rozas <gjr6...@gmail.com> wrote: > Before 'Moriturus te saluto', MIT (C) Scheme used to exit/terminate with > the 'User halt code' message which is what Jim Miller chose when he > implemented the original version of what at the time was called 'C Scheme'. > The original implementation of MIT Scheme was on top of MacLisp running on > a DEC PDP-10 computer [1], then re-written in a combination of Pascal and > Motorola 68K assembly language to run on the HP 'Chipmunk' computers, and > when there arose a need for a more 'portable' version, Jim started a > version in C that could share binaries (Scode) with the 68K version. C > Scheme was originally developed for DEC Vax minicomputers which were little > endian, as opposed to the 68K which were little endian and the PDP-10 which > was not even a byte-oriented computer. [2] > > I had worked on both the MacLisp and 68K versions and at some point > started working on C Scheme. I disliked 'User halt code' because the user > (me) wasn't halting. :-) and picked the Latin version because it was fun. > > I still believe that my change to 1st person singular is both correct and > consistent with 'Morituri te salutamus' which is 1st person plural, as > opposed to what would be a 3rd person singular version of 'Morituri te > salutant' which is what it was eventually changed to claiming that my > rendition was incorrect. > The sources claim that both 1st and 3rd person plural versions were used > (or perhaps they can't decide), and hence the 1st person should be allowed, > and I believe it is legal Latin although I only took Latin for one year in > HS in 1977-1978. > > Just to add a little to Arthur's story. > > [1] This was an evolution of the very first Scheme interpreter that Gerry > Sussman and Guy Steele implemented in the mid 1970s. Eventually it had a > bit of PDP-10 assembly language as well as MacLisp didn't implement full > tail recursion and various hacks were used to implement full tail recursion > at some speed. > [2] Technically, Jim started developing C Scheme on a PDP 10 with an old C > compiler, but he quickly moved to a Vax because the dialect of C on the > PDP-10 was old and hence the code would not be very portable, and also > because the PDP-10, sans extended addressing mode, could not address more > than a 'Moby' (256 Kilowords of 36 bits each, a little over a megabyte) > which was insufficient to keep up with the size of the system on the > Chipmunks, especially with the heap split in two for the stop-and-copy > garbage collector. > > On Thu, Feb 16, 2023 at 11:04 AM Arthur A. Gleckler <a...@speechcode.com> > wrote: > >> On Thu, Feb 16, 2023 at 8:21 AM Patrick Heil <patrickheil...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> >> >>> My name is Patrick. I'm a college student who worked with the MIT Scheme >>> Interpreter in a Comparative Programming Languages course. I noticed the >>> interpreter would exit with latin phrases such as "Fortitudine >>> vincimus." I wanted to learn more about these phrases and their meaning but >>> couldn't find any reference to them in the user manual or online (only >>> translations of the phrase from other sources).I assume the "Fortitudine >>> vincimus." is a joke about the (alleged) tediousness of the Scheme >>> programming language. >>> >>> Does anyone know anything about the background for these messages? Were >>> they added in the original MIT Scheme interpreter or added later by the GNU >>> devs? >>> >> >> Originally, there was just one Latin message: *moriturus te saluto*: "I >> who am about to die salute you." It was added by Guillermo Rozas in >> reference to the phrase *morituri te saltamus*, "we who are about to die >> salute you," shouted to the Roman emperor by gladiators before they began >> to fight in an arena (Wikipedia >> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ave_Imperator,_morituri_te_salutant>). >> The idea is that the Scheme process, singular, salutes the user before >> dying. Much later, there was debate over the correctness of the conversion >> from third person to first person: bug report >> <https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?44086>. We changed the verb ending, but >> I'm still not sure whether that was necessary. >> >> Years after the original message was added, new maintainers removed it, >> then added it back with other messages, chosen randomly. You can find them >> all in the sources >> <https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/mit-scheme.git/tree/src/microcode/errors.h#n277>. >> Here are the Latin ones, with translations: >> >> *Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.* >> >> However, I think that Carthage should be destroyed. >> >> *Fortitudine vincimus.* >> >> By endurance, we conquer. >> >> *Post proelium, praemium.* >> >> After the battle, the reward. >> >> *Pulvis et umbra sumus.* >> >> We are dust and shadow. >> >> There's also "Happy happy joy joy!", from The Ren & Stimpy Show >> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ren_%26_Stimpy_Show>, and "..#]^@^@^@ >> NO CARRIER", the text often displayed when a dial-up modem disconnects. >> (MIT Scheme was begun in the 1980s, when one connected to the internet over >> dial-up modems and phone lines, often at 1200 bits per second.) >> >> Thanks for asking. This was a fun bit of history to write up. >> >> P.S.: Scheme is the opposite of tedious. (Others may differ, but I would >> award that moniker to C++ or Java.) >> >
