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From: John Volan <johnv@ac3i.dseg.ti.com>
Subject: Re: Ultimate Language feature list
Date: 1998/05/20
Message-ID: <35633C13.D359B8CB@ac3i.dseg.ti.com>#1/1
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References: <6jc18b$lug$1@news.eclipse.net> <355BCB54.1DAA@ozemail.com.au>
 <355C28EA.F5BAC661@praxis-cs.co.uk>
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Organization: Raytheon Systems Company, Advanced C3I Systems
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.eiffel
Date: 1998-05-20T00:00:00+00:00
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Stephen Bull wrote:
> 
> Chris Miller wrote:
> 
> > I always understood that the "ultimate" language was, by
> > definition, an
> > interpreter for the English language !.
> >
> 
> Ugh! I hope this was not a serious suggestion: natural language
> is far too ambiguous to be a useful implementation language.

Indeed, as has been proven in any number of cautionary tales involving
genies-in-a-bottle and magic wishes.  What comes to mind is a fantasy
short story of recent years (can't remember the title or author) in
which a well-meaning but fatally tongue-tied protagonist attempted to
resolve all human conflict but instead unleashed a world-wide ecological
disaster by uttering the fateful words:

        "Let there be pease on earth."

At which point the porridge rains began... :-)

-- 
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    /*selfPlug:  */ "Sun Certified Java Programmer",
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