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Re: And this is what is called a SPANK

Cross-posted to 3 groups.

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In comp.lang.java.programmer Nadegda <nad318b404@gmail.invalid> wrote:
(snip, someone wrote)
>> Wow, even the name is pointlessly abbreviated to be missing one vowel. 
>> Does it date back to when machines had a few KB of core and even one 
>> byte of extra computer code could be a storage problem?

> Of course not. Not that that would have been an excuse even so. The old 
> Commodore VIC-20 had a BASIC interpreter and that language had full, 
> readable keywords like PRINT rather than abbreviated garbage like, say, 
> PRN. Commodore employed a clever trick: BASIC programs were stored (on 
> disk and in memory) *compressed*, with all of the common keywords 
> replaced with graphics characters with the high bit set. 

The HP TSB2000 (Time Shared BASIC) systems did that, too.

Not only that, it would refuse to allow you to enter a statement
that didn't pass some syntax checks. 

Many of the microcomputer BASIC interpreters were based on 
the ones from Microsoft, but even if not, the tokenizing compression
was well known by then. 

Not only does it save memory, but the interpreter runs a lot faster!
The tokenizing is done only once, not each time the statement
is executed.

-- glen

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Re: And this is what is called a SPANK "CastAlone " <ca@ca.org.example> - 2012-07-15 21:53 -0400
  Re: And this is what is called a SPANK Nadegda <nad318b404@gmail.invalid> - 2012-07-16 03:04 +0000
  Re: And this is what is called a SPANK ent0loma <ent.0_l0m-4@gmail.com> - 2012-07-16 02:08 -0400
    Re: And this is what is called a SPANK Nadegda <nad318b404@gmail.invalid> - 2012-07-16 07:27 +0000
      Re: And this is what is called a SPANK kensi <kensi_kensington@zoonoses.de> - 2012-07-16 13:07 -0400
        Re: And this is what is called a SPANK Nadegda <nad318b404@gmail.invalid> - 2012-07-16 22:06 +0000
          Re: And this is what is called a SPANK kensi <kensi_kensington@zoonoses.de> - 2012-07-17 15:57 -0400
            Re: And this is what is called a SPANK Nadegda <nad318b404@gmail.invalid> - 2012-07-17 21:40 +0000
              Re: And this is what is called a SPANK kensi <kensi_kensington@zoonoses.de> - 2012-07-18 16:44 -0400
                Re: And this is what is called a SPANK Nadegda <nad318b404@gmail.invalid> - 2012-07-19 01:11 +0000
                Re: And this is what is called a SPANK Nadegda <nad318b404@gmail.invalid> - 2012-07-19 03:18 +0000
                Re: And this is what is called a SPANK kensi <kensi_kensington@zoonoses.de> - 2012-07-19 16:06 -0400
                Re: And this is what is called a SPANK Nadegda <nad318b404@gmail.invalid> - 2012-07-19 23:55 +0000
                Re: And this is what is called a SPANK kensi <kensi_kensington@zoonoses.de> - 2012-07-19 20:36 -0400
                Re: And this is what is called a SPANK Nadegda <nad318b404@gmail.invalid> - 2012-07-20 01:26 +0000
                Re: And this is what is called a SPANK kensi <kensi_kensington@zoonoses.de> - 2012-07-19 23:59 -0400
                Re: And this is what is called a SPANK Nadegda <nad318b404@gmail.invalid> - 2012-07-20 04:44 +0000
                Re: And this is what is called a SPANK "%" <persent@gmail.com> - 2012-07-19 21:55 -0700
                Re: And this is what is called a SPANK kensi <kensi_kensington@zoonoses.de> - 2012-07-20 03:09 -0400
                Re: And this is what is called a SPANK [Tor] Phoenix <tahosa@usa.TAKETHISOUT.net> - 2012-07-20 04:30 +0000
                Re: And this is what is called a SPANK kensi <kensi_kensington@zoonoses.de> - 2012-07-20 00:38 -0400
                Re: And this is what is called a SPANK glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu> - 2012-07-20 04:58 +0000
                Re: And this is what is called a SPANK Checkmate <LunaticFringe@The.Edge> - 2012-07-19 22:50 -0700
                Re: And this is what is called a SPANK Nadegda <nad318b404@gmail.invalid> - 2012-07-20 05:55 +0000
                Re: And this is what is called a SPANK mixed nuts <melopsitticus@undulatus.budgie> - 2012-07-20 08:17 -0400
                Re: And this is what is called a SPANK Checkmate <LunaticFringe@The.Edge> - 2012-07-20 10:00 -0700

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