From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 107f24,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid107f24,public X-Google-Thread: 114809,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid114809,public X-Google-Thread: 10259a,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid10259a,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,ea8ea502d35ca2ce X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 103d24,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid103d24,public X-Google-Thread: f4fd2,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gidf4fd2,public X-Google-Thread: 1164ba,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid1164ba,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-05-27 17:19:26 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!newsfeed.google.com!sn-xit-02!supernews.com!newsfeed.direct.ca!look.ca!newsfeed1.earthlink.net!newsfeed2.earthlink.net!newsfeed.earthlink.net!news.mindspring.net!not-for-mail From: Lao Xiao Hai Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.lisp,comp.lang.smalltalk,comp.lang.basic,comp.lang.functional,comp.lang.scheme,comp.lang.perl Subject: Re: Beginner's Language? Date: Sun, 27 May 2001 17:17:04 -0700 Organization: AdaWorks Software Engineering Message-ID: <3B119900.596E3779@ix.netcom.com> References: <9cukad$nn68@news-dxb> <9d6b6e$1bt$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <87snihxiwc.fsf@frown.here> <9dbi83$sji$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <87heyu7cqd.fsf@frown.here> <9dc20p$hh15e$1@ID-37382.news.dfncis.de> <3AFA91BE.BB9E4C8F@brighton.ac.uk> <3B0A74D9.2A811C9D@brighton.ac.uk> Reply-To: richard@adaworks.com NNTP-Posting-Host: 3f.35.b3.b9 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Server-Date: 28 May 2001 00:16:53 GMT X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en] (Win98; I) X-Accept-Language: en Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:7823 comp.lang.lisp:10817 comp.lang.smalltalk:10251 comp.lang.functional:5872 comp.lang.scheme:4036 comp.lang.perl:3011 Date: 2001-05-28T00:16:53+00:00 List-Id: John English wrote: > ....Go on then, write me a poem in Lisp (or Cobol, or Ada, or Java)... :-) > > "I think that I will never see > A poem lovely as a... doubly-linked list? ISAM file? etc..." Poetry, by its very nature, relies heavily on ambiguity. This is discussed quite comprehensively in William Empsom's great book, "Seven Types of Ambiguity," in which he lays out the models of ambiguity reflected in various styles of poetry. Poetry also makes it statement with simile and metaphor. Although we use metaphor often when discussing programming, we avoid it when actually writing programs. Programming, by its very nature relies on lack of ambiguity. Well, of course, that is generally true. If one is programming in C++, ambiguity is part of the fun. Richard Riehle