Re: Error Testing

From	Neil Cerutti <neilc@norwich.edu>
Newsgroups	comp.lang.python
Subject	Re: Error Testing
Date	2013-10-31 17:17 +0000
Organization	Norwich University
Message-ID	<bdfhkjFkd7qU1@mid.individual.net> (permalink)
References	(2 earlier) <9e734f2b-9bcd-47d8-adb9-de6501fa6e7d@googlegroups.com> <mailman.1272.1382221693.18130.python-list@python.org> <52717d82$0$1677$e4fe514c@dreader35.news.xs4all.nl> <bdfaprFimg1U1@mid.individual.net> <586c9c5d-d0d4-44c7-8454-94dcfc128318@googlegroups.com>

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On 2013-10-31, rusi <rustompmody@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thursday, October 31, 2013 8:50:27 PM UTC+5:30, Neil Cerutti wrote:
>> wrote:
>> > This suggests that Pascal went against established practice.
>> > This is false. FORTRAN used = and that was a mistake caused by
>> > the language being hacked together haphazardly.
>> Respectfully, the designers of FORTRAN deserve more respect than
>> that characterization accords.
>
> ???
>
> If I say: "My uncle -- a pilot -- knows more about flying
> planes than the Wright brothers" am I disrespecting the Wright
> brothers??

No, of course not.

> The state of art shifts with time. Fortran was more pioneering
> than most languages that followed -- does not mean it got
> everything right.

They obviously couldn't have gotten everything right; they had to
work largely in a vaccuum. but in no sense were they haphazardly
throwing syntax together. They designed it as well as anyone at
the time knew how. It's stood the test of time, too. There's
probably a lot more FORTRAN in use and maintained today than
Wright Brothers airplane parts. ;)

> From Backus Turing award speech:
>
> Although I refer to conventional languages as "von Neumann
> languages" to take note of their origin and style, I do not, of
> course, blame the great mathematician for their complexity. In
> fact, some might say that I bear some responsibility for that
> problem.
>
> http://www.thocp.net/biographies/papers/backus_turingaward_lecture.pdf

Thanks for that reference.

-- 
Neil Cerutti

Thread

Error Testing Scott Novinger <scnovinger@gmail.com> - 2013-10-19 05:23 -0700
  Re: Error Testing Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2013-10-19 13:37 +0100
    Re: Error Testing Scott Novinger <scnovinger@gmail.com> - 2013-10-19 06:34 -0700
      Re: Error Testing Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-10-20 00:42 +1100
      Re: Error Testing rusi <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2013-10-19 09:22 -0700
        Re: Error Testing Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-10-20 09:28 +1100
          Re: Error Testing albert@spenarnc.xs4all.nl (Albert van der Horst) - 2013-10-30 21:43 +0000
            Re: Error Testing Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-10-31 10:50 +1100
            Re: Error Testing Neil Cerutti <neilc@norwich.edu> - 2013-10-31 15:20 +0000
              Re: Error Testing Skip Montanaro <skip@pobox.com> - 2013-10-31 10:51 -0500
              Re: Error Testing rusi <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2013-10-31 09:05 -0700
                Re: Error Testing Neil Cerutti <neilc@norwich.edu> - 2013-10-31 17:17 +0000
                Re: Error Testing William Ray Wing <wrw@mac.com> - 2013-10-31 22:27 -0400
                Re: Error Testing Grant Edwards <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2013-11-01 08:32 +0000
                Re: Error Testing Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2013-11-01 03:25 +0000
                Re: Error Testing rusi <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2013-10-31 20:42 -0700
                Re: Error Testing Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2013-11-01 10:51 -0400
                Re: Error Testing Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2013-11-01 15:07 +0000
                Re: Error Testing Denis McMahon <denismfmcmahon@gmail.com> - 2013-10-31 17:50 +0000
                Re: Error Testing rusi <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2013-10-31 10:56 -0700
                Re: Error Testing Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-11-01 08:00 +1100
                Re: Error Testing Denis McMahon <denismfmcmahon@gmail.com> - 2013-10-31 22:59 +0000
                Re: Error Testing rusi <rustompmody@gmail.com> - 2013-10-31 20:50 -0700
                Re: Error Testing Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2013-11-01 09:39 +0000
            Re: Error Testing Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2013-11-01 02:00 +0000
        Re: Error Testing Ned Deily <nad@acm.org> - 2013-10-19 15:46 -0700
        Re: Error Testing Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-10-20 10:02 +1100
        Re: Error Testing Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com> - 2013-10-20 12:18 -0400
  Re: Error Testing Ned Batchelder <ned@nedbatchelder.com> - 2013-10-19 08:44 -0400
    Re: Error Testing Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2013-10-19 08:57 -0400
      Re: Error Testing Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-10-20 00:04 +1100
      Re: Error Testing Ned Batchelder <ned@nedbatchelder.com> - 2013-10-19 09:07 -0400
        Re: Error Testing Roy Smith <roy@panix.com> - 2013-10-19 09:09 -0400
      Re: Error Testing Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy@yahoo.co.uk> - 2013-10-19 14:19 +0100
  Re: Error Testing Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-10-20 00:01 +1100
  Re: Error Testing David Robinow <drobinow@gmail.com> - 2013-10-19 14:08 -0400
  Re: Error Testing Tim Chase <tim@thechases.com> - 2013-10-19 13:31 -0500
  Re: Error Testing Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2013-10-19 15:50 -0400
  What's wrong with Windows Command Prompt (was Re: Error Testing) Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2013-10-19 16:35 -0400
  Re: What's wrong with Windows Command Prompt (was Re: Error Testing) Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-10-20 09:15 +1100
  Re: Error Testing Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2013-10-20 09:20 +1100
  Re: What's wrong with Windows Command Prompt (was Re: Error Testing) David Robinow <drobinow@gmail.com> - 2013-10-21 15:55 -0400
  Re: What's wrong with Windows Command Prompt (was Re: Error Testing) Tim Chase <python.list@tim.thechases.com> - 2013-10-21 15:29 -0500

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