ford@sei.cmu.edu (Gary Ford) (11/17/90)
I have noticed that all hypercard stacks, when viewed as text files, seem to end with "Nu a"r det slut" (Swedish for "now it's done"). Is there a reason for this, other than perhaps one of the developers was of Swedish heritage? Gary Ford [ford@sei.cmu.edu] Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University
jkc@Apple.COM (John Kevin Calhoun) (11/17/90)
In article <9581@fy.sei.cmu.edu> ford@sei.cmu.edu (Gary Ford) writes: >I have noticed that all hypercard stacks, when viewed as text files, seem >to end with "Nu a"r det slut" (Swedish for "now it's done"). Is there a >reason for this, other than perhaps one of the developers was of Swedish >heritage? This isn't actually true of all HyperCard stacks, just stacks in HyperCard 2.0 format. There's an object at the end of the each stack called a tail object. It's sole purpose is to be the last object. In the old format, it contained the string That's all, folks... which requires 20 bytes as a Pascal string. In the new format, we had only 16 bytes for the string and had to come up with something new. Adam Paal chose C'est la fin!!! for the string, and all during our alpha stage, that's what the tail object contained. If you have a stack with "C'est la fin!!!" in it's tail object, you've got a rare find. However, in one of those moments when I was so tired that I couldn't do any real work, I decided that because excessive use of exclamation points was appropriate only in cartoon strips and in letters that express unrequited love, we needed a better string in the tail object. I couldn't come up with anything good in English, and neither could Martin Gannholm, who was there at the time. Martin has been in many places, one of which is Sweden. So, there you have it. Reason #11 why we took so long to ship. But, like the man said, nu a"r det slut... Kevin Calhoun HyperCard Team Apple Computer, Inc. P.S. For you character counters out there, remember that Apple has defined extensions to the ASCII character set that include the ellipsis, as well as umlauted vowels.
gandalf@apple.com (Martin Gannholm) (11/17/90)
In article <9581@fy.sei.cmu.edu> ford@sei.cmu.edu (Gary Ford) writes: > I have noticed that all hypercard stacks, when viewed as text files, seem > to end with "Nu a"r det slut" (Swedish for "now it's done"). Is there a > reason for this, other than perhaps one of the developers was of Swedish > heritage? Well, Det var faktiskt s} att vi inte hade n}gon lust att ha fransk text i slutet, och eftersom svenska l}g n{ra till hands la vi in denna lilla str{ng i slutet. Ville {ven s{tta en svensk pr{gel p} HyperCard 2.0. Martin Gannholm HyperCard 2.0 Programmerare Apple Computer Ovanst}ende {r helt oansvarigt och jag avs{ger mig s}ledes allt ansvar fr}n eventuella f|ljder.
psv@nada.kth.se (Peter Svanberg) (11/19/90)
This is very funny for a Swede! An exposition of this phrase and why it is particularly funny: "Now it's done" is not a perfect translation. The normal use of it is to say "It's used up now", for example after having scraped out everything in a jar. After having been used in a TV program for children about 15 years ago - at least as much seen and appreciated by "too-old-children" - the phrase has become a familiar quotation. The program was called "Five ants are more than four elephants" and is just now repeated the umpteenth time, this time on saturdays at 7.30 PM! The program always ended with "Nu a"r det slut" (said by an elephant), a funny way of saying "The program is used up now!". The popularity of this program has somewhat changed the meaning of that particular phrase to "it's over now" or "this is the end of it". So, a quotation from a swedish children's program in all Hypercard stacks all over the world. Thank you, Martin! In article <46661@apple.Apple.COM> jkc@Apple.COM (John Kevin Calhoun) writes: > >So, there you have it. Reason #11 why we took so long to ship. >But, like the man said, nu a"r det slut... > If you were having the history of Hypercard 2 in view, I hope you withdraw this statement, given the above explanation... :-) --- Peter Svanberg, NADA, KTH email: psv@nada.kth.se Dept of Num Analysis and Comp Science, Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm, SWEDEN
jkc@Apple.COM (John Kevin Calhoun) (11/19/90)
In article <1990Nov19.035944.10219@nada.kth.se> psv@nada.kth.se (Peter Svanberg) writes: >>So, there you have it. Reason #11 why we took so long to ship. >>But, like the man said, nu a"r det slut... >> > >If you were having the history of Hypercard 2 in view, I hope you >withdraw this statement, given the above explanation... :-) Actually, it's rather appropriate, considering that we just finished HyperCard 2.0v2. Thanks for the clarification. In 2.0v2, we fixed a couple of bugs and added a feature for Claris tech support -- when you hold down the option key and choose "About HyperCard..." from the Apple menu, we display system configuration in a dialog. Other than that, no new features. That's all, folks... Kevin Calhoun HyperCard Team Apple Computer, Inc.
maddox@blake.u.washington.edu (Tom Maddox) (11/19/90)
In article <46690@apple.Apple.COM> jkc@Apple.COM (John Kevin Calhoun) writes: >Actually, it's rather appropriate, considering that we just finished >HyperCard 2.0v2. Great. When will Hypercard 2.0v2 not be available on the Internet, Applelink, and apple.com? -- Tom Maddox "Satanic Verses is a despicable book that could not have been written by a person who wished to behave decently and responsibly." Orson Scott Card
jkc@Apple.COM (John Kevin Calhoun) (11/20/90)
In article <1990Nov20.015044.1186@usenet.ins.cwru.edu> drz@po.cwru.edu (Dave Zinkin) writes: >In article <11364@milton.u.washington.edu> maddox@blake.u.washington.edu (Tom >Maddox) writes: >>In article <46690@apple.Apple.COM> jkc@Apple.COM (John Kevin Calhoun) writes: >>>Actually, it's rather appropriate, considering that we just finished >>>HyperCard 2.0v2. >> >> Great. When will Hypercard 2.0v2 not be available on the Internet, >>Applelink, and apple.com? >> >> > >You forgot user groups, dealers and BBS's. :-) Not to mention all of the >other places where HyperCard should be, but isn't. > >Although -- maybe it'll be on ftp.apple.com, whenever Apple decides to make >*that* available. Didn't we go through all of this already? For the last time: 1) Availability through ftp and bulletin boards. Sure, I wish we had it. But we don't. And we never have had it, not even for HyperCard 1.x. 2) Availability through user groups. Licensed user groups have been distributing 2.0 for weeks now. 3) Availability through Claris. Claris is asking forty-nine bucks for the upgrade package. That's all. That's just what you would pay at your Apple dealer if it were an Apple product. And you can't get a better deal for a major upgrade from any other software company. Finally, it's simply not up to you to decide where and how HyperCard 2.0 should be distributed. It's not up to me either. If you don't like it, there are lots of constructive things you can do to express your discontent. Now, in this newsgroup, let's please try to talk about the software. If there's a need for another wave of HyperFlames, lets establish a new newsgroup. Within this one, we've already done them to death. Kevin Calhoun HyperCard User Disclaimer: The usual.