Lovely, Steve. Many many years ago, I started a meme around that computer languages reflect the culture of their originators; finally saw it appear in Byte after 7-10 years. Won't bore the list, but note that Nicklaus Wirth (P) is a German Swiss. He also named the computer he had built that used P as its operating system Lilith, the wife of Satan (true!). Then Western Digital put out a chipset computer that had P as its native tounge. Got the chipset, never built the computer. I preferred Chuck Peddle's Basic machine (Commodore Pet). Don Latham
----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Rooke" <[email protected]> To: "Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 3:10 AM Subject: Re: [time-nuts] P word in my mails > Dear Ulrich, > > After writhing around on the floor for some time, with my sides > splitting, I have managed to stop laughing, hopefully, long enough to > reply to your post. The P word in question is, as already pointed out, > PASCAL (hack, spit). To my understanding, almost universally loathed > throughout the coding community, and which, I thought, was put to rest > many moons ago, much to the relief of the programming community. > > Now I have gone to the vault and dusted off the copy of The Historium > Evilis Computium which I keep wrapped in a black silk scarf and locked > in a lead lined container. It always gives me shivers whenever I open > this book and it takes some while to get back into a decent sleep > pattern after each reading. Searching through the book, I find many > sections referring to the M word, the I word, the BG words, and that's > not to forget the GOTO word. I went past the sections printed in > special ink where the text can only be read by those who are pure of > heart, as it is a protection against the evil IT masters who would > send their vile lawyers to suppress this work, until I came upon this > ancient writing which I reproduce below. > > WARNING: if you are of a nervous disposition, or suffer from heart > problems, I urge to to delete this message immediately and wipe the > free-space on your hard drive with a 35 pass Gutmann method. > > -- > > And it came to pass that the Dark One was troubled. > Mankind had discovered this mighty power they called computing > And this made the Dark One angy. > > He ruminated for many days and nights until he came to a solution. > He would create something so grave, so terrible, it would make mankind > think of IT as Instant Terror. > And the vile thing would dumbfound the masses with it's heavily typed > variables, > It's unwillingness to perform functions with mixed types > And it's difficulty of getting anything useful through the compiler. > But mankind would see it as a wondrous system, so neat, so clean, > producing nothing but goodness. > > With a wave of his hands, out of his ASR-33 there spat the most vile, > the most evil of all things. > And the thing was called PASCAL! > And the Dark One roared with a laughter that would be heard from all > around. > > And the P thing was sent down to the educational establishments > And darkness came over the computing land > And the comp science students were forced to use it. > It was pitiful to hear their cries as they flagellated themselves when > they coded > For it was only the pain that could keep them sane > But many failed and were dragged off to the asylums screaming. > Infrequently there would be a cry of "I finally got it past the compiler!" > And the students would rejoiced as they carried the victor at shoulder > height all around. > > And there rose up others who challenged the P thing > And they created new programming languages > And their resistance drove out the P thing > Expunging it from mankind. > It still lurked in some places but it's hold on mankind was broken. > And programmers throughout the whole of mankind rejoiced > And the dark clouds that covered IT dispersed. > > But there was no real rejoicing in the end as all that used the P > thing succumbed to its vile purpose. > And in later years, those that had survived were a pitiful sight > Oft-times found in dark corners, chanting, monotonously, > "I must not mix types, I must not mix types, I must..." > For hours on end, it was a sorrowful sight. > > And it was said that the Dark One was displeased > His plan to destroy the will of mankind was thwarted > But only for the moment > For he was already working on his next evil plan > And it came to pass that he came down onto the World > And he took on a human guise > And he created an evil empire... > > -- > > This is all I am prepared to transcribe from the book for fear that > even worse things will happen. I will have to get my whip from the > vault and flagellate myself for hours to get this P thing out of my > mind and try to keep myself sane, such is the power of this evil > thing. > > That's all folks!!! > 73, Steve > > 2009/4/2 Ulrich Bangert <[email protected]>: >> Steve, >> >> after I read your mail I have been completely perplexed because I could >> by >> no stretch of imagination detect where you had found the aforesaid P word >> in >> my mail. It needed the help of some English speaking friends and a search >> in >> my last mails to find out that I have (possibly over a range of more than >> 30 >> years) used an American 5 letter word in another sense than most/all of >> you >> seem to interprete it. >> >> I HAVE seen the aforesaid word on some doors during my visits to he >> United >> States and I HAVE understood the meaning of the word in this context. But >> I >> swear that I have not been aware of the fact that the aforesaid word is >> used >> EXCLUSIVELY for the location behind these doors. If I had been aware of >> that >> I would have never used this word in a conversation because that is >> simply >> not my style. >> >> Instead, I have been believing (and I swear this is the truth) that the >> aforesaid word is used by a gentlemen to address a group of other >> gentlemen >> just as a "Hi folks" among noble people but avoiding the highly offical >> salutation "Gentlemen", in a sense a laid-back use of "Gentlemen". >> >> Clearly this is a mistake of mine that I cannot other than to apologize >> for! >> If anyone of you has felt offended or in any other way been affected by >> my >> wrong use of this word: Sorry for that, that was NOT my intention in >> using >> this term. I have started a lot of my posts to this group with this word >> because of the high s/n ratio to be found here and the extremely well >> educated people in the group that I hold in high regard. >> >> Someone should have told me before! If you find this word in one of my >> earlier posts substitute it with "Gentlemen" because that is what was >> ment. >> >> Thank you Steve for pointing at that. If you had not done it I would >> propably have used the word in a wrong sense for the rest of my life. >> >> Best regards >> Ulrich Bangert >> >> >>> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- >>> Von: [email protected] >>> [mailto:[email protected]] Im Auftrag von Steve Rooke >>> Gesendet: Mittwoch, 1. April 2009 11:57 >>> An: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement >>> Betreff: Re: [time-nuts] Prologix >>> >>> >>> This man said the P word without any form of apology :-) >>> >>> 73 >>> >>> 2009/4/1 Ulrich Bangert <[email protected]>: >>> > Mike, >>> > >>> > I would like to second Brent's information: That is exactly >>> how it is >>> > done. Talking to the Prologix interface and talking to the NI >>> > interface is COMPLETELY different in that talking to the Prologix >>> > always means straightforward serial communication while >>> talking to the >>> > NI involves DLL-calls from the application. >>> > >>> > The Prologix is cheap and easy to work with, thats why some >>> time nuts >>> > use it. The NI interface is on the other hand more >>> expensive and more >>> > complex to handle (and yes, it does some things that are not easily >>> > done with the Prologix). The biggest advantage of the DLL-calls is: >>> > The same application works with whatever NI interface you >>> use: Plug in >>> > card, USB devices, ethernet dvices, you name it. All work >>> by the SAME >>> > dll calls, so your application is not specific for a >>> interface device. >>> > >>> > I do not forget to advertise my own solution to GPIB >>> programming named >>> > EZGPIB which talks to Prologix (both LAN and USB based) as >>> well to NI >>> > interfaces and thanks supporting basic VISA even to GPIB >>> interfaces of >>> > other suppliers. >>> > >>> > It uses an easy to learn PASCAL like script language that >>> your friend >>> > might get used to in a snap. Basically, if your friend >>> writes a EZGPIB >>> > based script to talk to his counter over the Prologix, you will be >>> > able to use the SAME script to talk to your 5335A via a NI >>> interface. >>> > Nice feature? EZGPIB has got mentioned in April's 2008 >>> issue of "Test >>> > & Measurement World". See the last link on my "About me" page >>> > >>> > http://www.ulrich-bangert.de/html/about_me.html >>> > >>> > EZGIPB can be downloaded for free from >>> > >>> > http://www.ulrich-bangert.de/html/downloads.html >>> > >>> > Best regards >>> > Ulrich, DF6JB >>> > >>> >> -----Ursprungliche Nachricht----- >>> >> Von: [email protected] >>> [mailto:[email protected]] >>> >> Im Auftrag von Brent Gordon >>> >> Gesendet: Dienstag, 31. Marz 2009 20:07 >>> >> An: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement >>> >> Betreff: Re: [time-nuts] Prologix >>> >> >>> >> >>> >> Mike Feher wrote: >>> >> > A friend has a 5335A counter and bought a Prologix adaptor >>> >> for it to >>> >> > collect data. He wrote the software and has had extremely good >>> >> > results. He offered to do the same for me utilizing my NI >>> >> adaptor so I >>> >> > could use it for my various counters. Unfortunately he ran into >>> >> > problems and feels he needs a special version of basic >>> in order to >>> >> > make my $500 NI adaptor work. I admit to my total lack of >>> >> programming >>> >> > ability. I still use GWBASIC, and only to crunch heavy >>> >> numbers. I have >>> >> > no idea how to interface any software to communicate with an >>> >> > instrument, and, maybe am too old to want to learn as it >>> >> seems a lot >>> >> > of people do it on a regular basis already. If this becomes too >>> >> > difficult I may have to buy a Prologix unit from Abdul. >>> >> While I am all >>> >> > for doing that, and I bought my NI before Abdul had his >>> >> version going, >>> >> > I was also under the impression that if the Prologix can do >>> >> it the NI >>> >> > can do it, but, not necessarily the other way around. My friend >>> >> > mentioned API calls, whatever they are. Any suggestions? >>> >> Thanks - Mike >>> >> > >>> >> > >>> >> > Mike B. Feher, N4FS >>> >> > 89 Arnold Blvd. >>> >> > Howell, NJ, 07731 >>> >> > 732-886-5960 >>> >> > >>> >> Mike, >>> >> >>> >> You should have gotten the NI-488.2 CD with your GPIB >>> card. On that >>> >> CD are the dlls (Dynamic Link Libraries) to talk to the card. >>> >> You can use >>> >> the dlls in any language that supports dlls or ActiveX. >>> >> Sorry to say, >>> >> GWBASIC is not one of those languages. Visual Basic 6 >>> works well and >>> >> I've even done GPIB data acquisition directly into Excel using VBA >>> >> (Visual Basic for Applications, Excel's macro language). VBA >>> >> is part of >>> >> Excel. Alternatively, you can get a free Visual Basic Express at >>> >> http://www.microsoft.com/express/vb/ I haven't tried VB >>> >> Express, but I >>> >> think it will work. Normally, I do all my GPIB programming >>> >> in LabVIEW. >>> >> >>> >> Brent >>> >> >>> >> _______________________________________________ >>> >> time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] >>> >> To unsubscribe, go to >>> >> https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts >>> >> and follow the instructions there. >>> > >>> > >>> > _______________________________________________ >>> > time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] >>> > To unsubscribe, go to >>> > https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts >>> > and follow the instructions there. >>> > >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Steve Rooke - ZL3TUV & G8KVD & JAKDTTNW >>> Omnium finis imminet >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] >>> To unsubscribe, go to >>> https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts >>> and follow the instructions there. >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] >> To unsubscribe, go to >> https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts >> and follow the instructions there. >> > > > > -- > Steve Rooke - ZL3TUV & G8KVD & JAKDTTNW > Omnium finis imminet > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe, go to > https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > and follow the instructions there. _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
