[net.lang.c] \"Stamp out BASIC\" committee

PAWKA@NOSC-TECR (12/07/84)

>>	'How do I apply for membership in the "Stamp Out BASIC
>>	Committee"?'

>>>	Yeah!  Stamp out BASIC!  Here at Tektronix we stamp out lots of BASICs
>>>	every day, some in ROMs and some on disks.  We sell them to
>>>	applications programmers and make piles of money.

	This is the key to the problem with "Stamping" out BASIC, FORTRAN,
or whatever. As long as there are applications programmers there will be
such "languages??". I suggest the formation of a "STAMP OUT APPLICATIONS
PROGRAMMERS" committee,

						Mike

[If you don't care where you are, you ain't lost.]
------

ndiamond@watdaisy.UUCP (Norman Diamond) (12/09/84)

>>>	'How do I apply for membership in the "Stamp Out BASIC
>>>	Committee"?'
>>
>>	Yeah!  Stamp out BASIC!  Here at Tektronix we stamp out lots of BASICs
>>	every day, some in ROMs and some on disks.  We sell them to
>>	applications programmers and make piles of money.
>
>	This is the key to the problem with "Stamping" out BASIC, FORTRAN,
> or whatever. As long as there are applications programmers there will be
> such "languages??". I suggest the formation of a "STAMP OUT APPLICATIONS
> PROGRAMMERS" committee,

Stamp out all requirements for computers!

-- Norman Diamond

UUCP:  {decvax|utzoo|ihnp4|allegra|clyde}!watmath!watdaisy!ndiamond
CSNET: ndiamond%watdaisy@waterloo.csnet
ARPA:  ndiamond%watdaisy%waterloo.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa

"Opinions are those of the keyboard, and do not reflect on me or higher-ups."

rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn) (12/14/84)

[Not that much about BASIC, really...]
> ...
> >>>	Yeah!  Stamp out BASIC!  Here at Tektronix we stamp out lots of BASICs
> >>>	every day, some in ROMs and some on disks.  We sell them to
> >>>	applications programmers and make piles of money.

Yeah, and you occasionally don't hide them too well, which is good for
grins.  Some while ago I had an opportunity to poke at a gadget which Tek
makes that's used for looking at TV broadcast signal waveforms.  Although
it was really presented as a packaged tool, it was pretty evident from its
behavior that it had the standard little-BASIC system inside.  A few
attempts at commands dredged from my memory of old GE timeshare BASIC got
a (squashed) listing of the program for the sampling.  It took a total of
perhaps half an hour to have the box drawing pretty spirals and such
instead of silly-looking waveforms.  No complaints really (the original
program was still in non-volatile memory), but I don't think that a small
BASIC interpreter is the best way to build an embedded system.
-- 
Dick Dunn	{hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd		(303)444-5710 x3086
   ...Are you making this up as you go along?

arnold@gatech.UUCP (Arnold Robbins) (12/14/84)

> >>	'How do I apply for membership in the "Stamp Out BASIC
> >>	Committee"?'
> 
> >>>	Yeah!  Stamp out BASIC!  Here at Tektronix we stamp out lots of BASICs
> >>>	every day, some in ROMs and some on disks.  We sell them to
> >>>	applications programmers and make piles of money.
> 
> 	This is the key to the problem with "Stamping" out BASIC, FORTRAN,
> or whatever. As long as there are applications programmers there will be
> such "languages??". I suggest the formation of a "STAMP OUT APPLICATIONS
> PROGRAMMERS" committee,

We all know what the real problem is, don't we?  Applications programmers
are just a symptom of the disease.  The real problem is the USER!!  If it
weren't for USERS there wouldn't be APPLICATIONS PROGRAMMERS, and then there
wouldn't be BASIC and FORTRAN.  I suggest we form a "STAMP OUT USERS"
committee, and then all of us *Real Programmers* can get back to our
hacking in peace!

(All of this is tongue in cheek, of course.  "Doesn't EVERYONE know that
you have to hit the return key to get the computer to do something?!")
-- 
Arnold Robbins
CSNET:	arnold@gatech	ARPA:	arnold%gatech.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa
UUCP:	{ akgua, allegra, hplabs, ihnp4, seismo, ut-sally, }!gatech!arnold

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