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This has to be the best line - It is a syntax error to write FORTRAN while not wearing a blue tie.


Legend has it that Casual Friday in that golden age of IBM meant that you could work that day with your suit jacket unbuttoned.

Since we're all tossing out our favorite lines, I'll nominate the Prolog entry. I know nothing about Prolog but it still gives me a laugh on every read. His goal is to create a language with the intelligence of a two year old. He proves he has reached his goal by showing a Prolog session that says "No." to every query.


"1965 - Kemeny and Kurtz go to 1964." gave me a big smile...


I didn't get that one, actually. Am I just being dumb or is there a backstory?


  10 PRINT "<rude message here>"
  20 GOTO 10
They used to sell computers in stores that you could walk up to and program. BASIC was the command prompt for some computers. The above was the inevitable result.


My favorite trick was to poke values into the sound registers, THEN goto!


yeah,

  10 BEEP
  20 GOTO 10


Actually I was thinking more along the lines of programming the SID to output a sawtooth waveform and modulate it for extra annoyance, but whatever floats your boat.


It's just a humorous way of saying they were stuck in the past (probably because they didn't integrate other language advances into basic).


reference to GOTO in basic


should that not be "It is a syntax error to write FORTRAN while not wearing a Lab coat" CFD Programmers would of course add Wellies.




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