Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site brl-tgr.ARPA Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!brl-tgr!tgr!sun!sunshine!dbercel@ucb-vax.ARPA From: dbercel@ucb-vax.ARPA Newsgroups: net.unix Subject: Re: INFO-UNIX Digest V1#126 Message-ID: <617@brl-tgr.ARPA> Date: Mon, 12-Aug-85 07:01:33 EDT Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.617 Posted: Mon Aug 12 07:01:33 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 14-Aug-85 03:25:30 EDT Sender: news@brl-tgr.ARPA Lines: 147 ..... NEW PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE EMPHASIZES NOVICE USERS The California State University at Northridge announced today its entry into the ever growing field of new programming languages. The new language, dubbed VALGOL, is aimed at the inexperienced programmer. "Most programming languages assume too much sophistication from the user," charges the VALGOL report. "Our goal is to produce a language which is eminently usable by novices and casuals, as well as experienced professionals." Supplying a small but powerful set of control structures and a well developed run-time library may help VALGOL meet its goals. VALGOL '83 implements a simple conditional ("if ... like ... I'm sure .. ") and iteration construct ("for ... sure"). Output is handled by a built in function ("barfout( text )"). The user interface has been similarly revamped, VALGOL flagging errors with few messages that handle violations in a uniform way. Examples are: "Like, gag me with a spoon!" (semantic pass failed), "Bag your input!" (syntax error), "Euw, totally gross!" (error recovery failure). A novel idea of VALGOL is success reporting. "Novices often feel punished by contemporary languages. Novice, and especially young, users need frequent rewards, and it is our belief that the language system should supply them." Syntactically valid statements generate, for example, "Like, rad," or "That's ok, you know?". Error free programs are deemed "Maximally awesome" by the compiler. Whether or not VALGOL meets its goals remains to be seen, but the initial response to the language has been enthusiastic. "Even total airheads will be able to cool to VALGOL," said one user. Another gave even stronger praise, saying "Most languages are a total turn-off, you know, they're positively grody to the max, but VALGOL is, like, super bitchen." CSUN will demonstrate VALGOL starting in April at the Sherman Oaks Galleria in Los Angeles, California. ..... Here is an update on some of the "lesser known" computer languages. Basic, Fortran, Cobol ... These programming languages are well-known and more or less well-loved throughout the computer industry. There are numerous other languages, however, that are less well known yet still have ardent devotees. In fact, these little-known languages generally have the most fanatic admirers. For those who wish to know more about these obscure languages - and why they are obscure - I present the following catalog. VALGOL: VALGOL (With special thanks to Dan and Betsey "Moon Unit" Pfau). >From its modest beginnings in Southern California's San Fernando Valley, Valgol is enjoying a dramatic surge of popularity across the industry. VALGOL commands include REALLY, LIKE, WELL, AND Y$KNOW. Variables are assigned with the =LIKE and =TOTALLY operators. Other operators include the "CALIFORNIA BOOLIANS": FERSURE and NOWAY. Repetitions of code are handled in FOR-SURE loops. Here is a sample VALGOL program: 10 LIKE, Y$KNOW (I MEAN) START / IF 30 PI A = LIKE BITCHEN AND 40 B = LIKE TUBULAR AND 50 C = LIKE GRODY**MAX 70 THEN 80 FOR I = LIKE 1 TO OH MAYBE 100 60 BARF(I) = TOTALLY GROSS(OUT) 50 SURE 40 IF LIKE BAG THIS PROGRAM 30 ? REALLY 20 $$ LIKE TOTALLY (Y$KNOW) 10 NOWAY = TRUE SIMPLE: SIMPLE is an acronym fore Sheer Idiot's Mono-Purpose Programming Linguistic Environment. This language, developed at Hanover College for Technological Misfits, was designed to make it impossible to write code with errors in it. The statements are therefore confined to BEGIN, END, and STOP. No matter how you arrange the statements, you can't make a syntax error. Programs written in SIMPLE do nothing useful. Thus they achieve the results of programs written in other languages without the tedious, frustrating process of testing and debugging. SLOBOL: SLOBOL is best known for the speed, or lack of it, of its compiler. Although many compilers allow you to take a coffee break while they compile, SLOBOL compilers allow you to take a trip to Bolivia to pick up the beans. Forty three programmers are known to have died of boredom sitting at their terminal while waiting for a SLOBOL program to compile. LAIDBACK: Historically VALGOL is a derivative of LAIDBACK, which was developed at the (now defunct) Marin County Center for T'ai Chi, Mellowness, and computer Programming, as an alternative to the more intense atmosphere in the Silicon Valley. The center was ideal for programmers who liked to soak in hot tubs while they worked. Unfortunately, few programmers could survive there for long, since the center outlawed pizza and RC Cola in favor of bean curd and Perrier. Many mourn the demise of LAIDBACK because of its reputation as a gentle and nonthreatening language. For example, LAIDBACK responded to syntax errors with the message, SORRY MAN, I CAN'T DEAL WITH THAT. SARTRE: SARTRE is named after the late existential philosopher. SATRRE is an extremely unstructured language. Statements in SARTRE have no purpose they just are there. Thus, SARTRE programs are left to define their own functions. SARTRE programmers tend to be boring and depressed and are no fun at parties. C-: This language was named for the grade received by its creator when he submitted it as a class project in a graduate programming class. C- is best described as a "Low-Level" programming language. In fact, the language generally requires more C- statements then machine-code statements to execute a given task. In this respect, it is very similar to COBOL. LITHP: This otherwise remarkable language is distinguished by the absence of an "s" in it's character set. Programmers and users must substitute "TH". LITHP is thaid to be utheful in prothething lithtths. DOGO: Developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Obedience Training. DOGO heralds a new era of computer-literate pets. DOGO commands include SIT, STAY, HEEL, and ROLL OVER. An innovative feature of DOGO is "PUPPY GRAPHICS", in which a small cocker is the turtle. dani/elle Johnny Slash lives forever.