[comp.sys.mac] Appropriate Language in Programming

graifer@net1.ucsd.edu (Dan Graifer) (07/14/87)

In article <3785@osu-eddie.UUCP> elwell%tut.cis.ohio-state.edu@osu-eddie.UUCP (Clayton Elwell) writes:
>In article <3519@ecsvax.UUCP> wmcb@ecsvax.UUCP (William C. Bauldry) writes:
>>>Stump the Stars: what dis the "DS" in "DSErrCode" originally stand for?
>>>
>>
>>... there's also this thought of D*** S*** that I've
>>...
>is headed by the comment "Deep Sh*t Error Alerts".  I can see why the
>published version was switched to say "Dire Straits," but I still think the
>original was more in the spirit of what you feel when you see a system bomb
>while debugging...
>
>
>Clayton Elwell

Apple isn't the only place where code has to be "cleaned up" for final
release.  I recall working with the Burroughs large system  MCP (a multi-
tasking multiprocessor operating system) in the early 70s.  There were
two procedures to separate a daughter task from a parent task, a process
called "forking": the mother f_____g and the father f______g procedures.
The rumour I heard was that these names stayed there until some corporate
client complained.

                              Dan Graifer
                              graifer@net1.UCSD.EDU
Disclaimer: Nobody ever listens to me anyways; Why should they start now?

newbery@vuwcomp.UUCP (Michael Newbery) (07/20/87)

In article <3445@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU> graifer@net1.UUCP (Dan Graifer) writes:
>In article <3785@osu-eddie.UUCP> elwell%tut.cis.ohio-state.edu@osu-eddie.UUCP (Clayton Elwell) writes:
>>In article <3519@ecsvax.UUCP> wmcb@ecsvax.UUCP (William C. Bauldry) writes:
>>>>Stump the Stars: what dis the "DS" in "DSErrCode" originally stand for?
[...]
>Apple isn't the only place where code has to be "cleaned up" for final
>release.  I recall working with the Burroughs large system  MCP (a multi-

I belive that when Burrogues :-) decided to release the MCP source to its
customers some lucky employees got the job of rendering the source code
fit for delicate sensibilities. Somewhere I have a (yellowing) piece of paper
describing the Fork routine in some detail, including the forked queue, where
tasks were marked forked up, etc etc.. This was not the only area that had to
be Bowdlerised either.
Incidentally, Burrogues also used (uses) DS, being the ABORT command to kill
tasks. DS allegedly stood for Deep Six. A comment described the mainly two
letter commands used from the operators console as "monosyllabic gutteral".
I could go on...
-- 
Michael Newbery

ACSnet:	newbery@vuwcomp.nz  UUCP: newbery@vuwcomp
Une boule qui roule tue les poules.		(Landslides kill chickens)