mccoy%orc.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (10/02/84)
From: mccoy%orc.DEC@decwrl.ARPA (Gary McCoy 247-2047) [Do I need this?] THE FOLLOWING DISCUSSES THE ENDING OF THE BOOK THE ADOLESCENCE OF P-1. *****************SPOLIER WARNING**************** The ending is the book The Adolescence of P-1 by Thomas J. Ryan has intrigued me for some time. The first time through the book, I was unable to translate the last two words, however, my wife has given me what I believe to be the answer. I will refresh your memory. (Are you still reading this if you haven't read the book?) Linda has just typed the letters 'p1' on Gregory's old computer console at the university he attended. As she is leaving, the following response is typed: OOLCAY ITAY My wife tells me this is 'pig Latin' (funny name for an encoding method). Removing the AY's and taking the C and moving it to the beginning of the first word we have: COOL IT This would seen to be an appropriate ending to the book, meaning that p-1 has survived, and is hiding out (or what ever a computer program does) as Gregory had once instructed. My question is this, am I the only person who had trouble translating the ending of the book. Pig Latin? I cannot remember any other reference to this in the book. Gary McCoy
davidk@dartvax.UUCP (David C. Kovar) (10/10/84)
I, too, was stumped for quite a few months on the pig latin at the
end of "Adolescence of P-1" until I heard some small children
using it. Light dawned, the book reappeared from the book shelf,
and I began to wonder about a sequel. Never did happen. It was a
nice ending though ...
--
David C. Kovar
USNET: {linus|decvax|cornell|astrovax}!dartvax!davidk
ARPA: davidk%dartmouth@csnet-relay
CSNET: davidk@dartmouth
"The difficult we did yesterday, the impossible we are doing now."slb@drutx.UUCP (Sue Brezden) (11/04/85)
I'm sure I saw copies of "Adolescence of P-1" at the local Walden Books just
the other day (in trade paperback). Ask your bookstore to check "Books
in Print" again. There's always the used book stores. It shows up at
Mile High Comics in Boulder quite often.
Actually, the program learns to survive and grow without it's creator's
help. It is originally just a simple learning program that likes to grab
disk space. There is some kind of catastrophe. He thinks it is wiped out.
It then comes back years later and says "Hi" to him. Seems that the
various bad things that happen to it teach it to grow and live--it has
been essentially mutated. I always thought that was the best part of the
book--that it was a sort of natural selection that produced it--and not
just superior programming.
--
Sue Brezden
ihnp4!drutx!slb
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I march to the beat of a different drummer, whose identity,
location, and musical ability are as yet unknown.
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