jfjr@mitre-bedford.arpa (04/22/87)
I sort of follow several bulletin board/mailing list. Among those
I follow are info-c and info-pascal (I would be interested in an
info-fortran but I can't seem to find one). Well, anyway the info-c
board (and the various unix related boards) are orders of magnitude
more active than the others. Why is it that simple complaints or
innocent questions can provoke weeks of debate with almost theological
intensity on these C/unix bulletin boards. These questions are rarely
brought up on the others and when they are it doesn't send thousands
of would be wizzes running to Jensen-Wirth for clarification. Are
unix users naturally more disputatious, are they second generation
programmers (perhaps their parents spent to much time exposed to
ionizing radiation coming from early terminals). Seriously, its
an interesting phenomenon. I wonder what it means( I am sure
I'll get answers.
Jerry Freedman,Jr
How many angels can dance on the head of a pin??chris@mimsy.UUCP (04/22/87)
In article <7039@brl-adm.ARPA> jfjr@mitre-bedford.arpa writes: >... the info-c board (and the various unix related boards) are >orders of magnitude more active than the others. Why ... ? Simple: The info-c mailing list, along with the unix-wizards and info-unix mailing lists and several others, are cross-gatewayed to Usenet. Usenet has, at a guess, one or two orderd of magnitude more readers than the equivalent ARPAnet mailing lists. -- In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7690) UUCP: seismo!mimsy!chris ARPA/CSNet: chris@mimsy.umd.edu
karl@haddock.UUCP (Karl Heuer) (04/24/87)
In article <7039@brl-adm.ARPA> jfjr@mitre-bedford.arpa writes: >the info-c board (and the various unix related boards) are orders of >magnitude more active than the others. Why is it that simple complaints or >innocent questions can provoke weeks of debate with almost theological >intensity on these C/unix bulletin boards. Partly because they have a rather high subscription rate, not surprising on a network consisting largely of UNIX* machines whose primary language is C. >These questions are rarely brought up on the others and when they are it >doesn't send thousands of would be wizzes running to Jensen-Wirth for >clarification. A new standard is being developed for C. Thus there is much to be discussed. Also, C is a richer language than pascal (in which many of these questions CANNOT BE ASKED). Karl W. Z. Heuer (ima!haddock!karl or karl@haddock.isc.com), The Walking Lint *UNIX is a Registered Trademark of AT&T.