Format fixes in html files from 2018
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@@ -547,14 +547,16 @@ dedicated to this entry beyond what will be published on the IOCCC website.</p>
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<p>It is an implementation of Richard Dawkins’ <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weasel_program">Weasel program</a> (Wikipedia).
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According to Wikipedia in chapter three of his book <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blind_Watchmaker">The Blind Watchmaker</a>
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Dawkins wrote:</p>
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<pre><code> I don't know who it was first pointed out that, given enough time, a monkey
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bashing away at random on a typewriter could produce all the works of
|
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Shakespeare. The operative phrase is, of course, *given enough time.* Let us
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limit the task facing our monkey somewhat. Suppose that he has to produce, not
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the complete works of Shakespeare but just the short sentence 'Methinks it is
|
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like a weasel', and we shall make it relatively easy by giving him a typewriter
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with a restricted keyboard, one with just the 26 (capital) letters, and a space
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bar. How long will he take to write this one little sentence?</code></pre>
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<blockquote>
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<p>I don’t know who it was first pointed out that, given enough time, a monkey
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bashing away at random on a typewriter could produce all the works of
|
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Shakespeare. The operative phrase is, of course, <em>given enough time.</em> Let us
|
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limit the task facing our monkey somewhat. Suppose that he has to produce, not
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the complete works of Shakespeare but just the short sentence ‘Methinks it is
|
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like a weasel’, and we shall make it relatively easy by giving him a typewriter
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with a restricted keyboard, one with just the 26 (capital) letters, and a space
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bar. How long will he take to write this one little sentence?</p>
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</blockquote>
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<p>He refers to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem">Infinite Monkey Theorem</a> (Wikipedia). As he points out the
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operative phrase is <em>given enough time</em>; but even if it’s extremely unlikely
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<em>technically the probability is greater than 0</em>. He simplified it for the
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@@ -577,16 +579,18 @@ comparison and output will always be capitalised).</p>
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<p>Here you can find a general explanation of a <em><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180308131613/http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~nd/surprise_96/journal/vol1/hmw/article1.html">genetic algorithm</a></em> as well as a
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brief history. Although the link provides more information (including images to
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try and show the way they work) for those interested I will cite the summary:</p>
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<pre><code> Genetic Algorithms (GAs) are adaptive heuristic search algorithm based on the
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evolutionary ideas of natural selection and genetics. As such they represent an
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intelligent exploitation of a random search used to solve optimization problems.
|
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Although randomised, GAs are by no means random, instead they exploit historical
|
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information to direct the search into the region of better performance within
|
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the search space. The basic techniques of the GAs are designed to simulate
|
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processes in natural systems necessary for evolution, specially those follow the
|
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principles first laid down by Charles Darwin of "survival of the fittest.".
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Since in nature, competition among individuals for scanty resources results in
|
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the fittest individuals dominating over the weaker ones.</code></pre>
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<blockquote>
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<p>Genetic Algorithms (GAs) are adaptive heuristic search algorithm based on the
|
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evolutionary ideas of natural selection and genetics. As such they represent an
|
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intelligent exploitation of a random search used to solve optimization problems.
|
||||
Although randomised, GAs are by no means random, instead they exploit historical
|
||||
information to direct the search into the region of better performance within
|
||||
the search space. The basic techniques of the GAs are designed to simulate
|
||||
processes in natural systems necessary for evolution, specially those follow the
|
||||
principles first laid down by Charles Darwin of “survival of the fittest.”.
|
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Since in nature, competition among individuals for scanty resources results in
|
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the fittest individuals dominating over the weaker ones.</p>
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</blockquote>
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<p><strong>OBFUSCATION NOTE: Some of the below might help you follow the code more
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easily.</strong></p>
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<p>For each <em>generation</em> there is a total of <code>N</code> <em>offspring</em>; generation 0 is
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@@ -612,24 +616,32 @@ found.</p>
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<p>Note that the generation is checked <em>before the scoring takes place</em> by a prefix
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increment equality check; when the generation is <code>SIZE_MAX - 1</code> the fitness
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test loop will not be entered; instead the outer loop will end after printing:</p>
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<pre><code> Too many attempts, blaming the monkey Eric even if he isn't typing or doesn't exist. Bye.</code></pre>
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<p>Why ‘<em>Eric</em>’? Because the judges stated in the <a href="../../2018/guidelines.txt">2018 guidelines</a> that when
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<blockquote>
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<p>Too many attempts, blaming the monkey Eric even if he isn’t typing or doesn’t
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exist. Bye.</p>
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</blockquote>
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<p>Why ‘<em>Eric</em>’? Because the judges stated in the <a href="../guidelines.txt">2018 guidelines</a> that when
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there is a user input error the program should insult the pet fish Eric even if
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such a fish (no, weasels do not equate monkeys to fish but see below) doesn’t
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exist. The second to last example limitation example note (it’s improved in the
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final but this is relevant) they give is:</p>
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<p>The judges might not have a pet fish named Eric, so might want to state:</p>
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<pre><code> This entry factors integers between 1 and 2305567963945518424753102147331756070.
|
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Attempting to factor anything else will cause the program to insult your
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pet fish Eric, or in the case that you lack such a pet, will insult the
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pet that you do not have.</code></pre>
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<blockquote>
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<p>This entry factors integers between 1 and
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2305567963945518424753102147331756070. Attempting to factor anything else will
|
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cause the program to insult your pet fish Eric, or in the case that you lack
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such a pet, will insult the pet that you do not have.</p>
|
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</blockquote>
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<p>After the final message they ask:</p>
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<p>BTW: <strong>What is so special about 2305567963945518424753102147331756070</strong>? You tell us!</p>
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<blockquote>
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<p>BTW: <strong>What is so special about 2305567963945518424753102147331756070</strong>? You
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tell us!</p>
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</blockquote>
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<p>The answer is this: <strong>it is the primorial prime of 97:</strong> the product of all
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prime numbers less than or equal to N; <strong>and the primorial prime of <code>N == 97</code> is
|
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<code>2305567963945518424753102147331756070</code>. There is no reference to this number
|
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in my entry but it’s nonetheless possible to </strong>change the default target to it
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without modifying the source code**; there are two hints in this very
|
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<code>2305567963945518424753102147331756070</code>.</strong> But there is no reference to this number
|
||||
in my entry but it’s nonetheless possible to change the default target to it
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<strong>without modifying the source code</strong>; there are two hints in this very
|
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paragraph; the first sentence in fact: the answer to the judges’ question and
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the definition. Can you get the program to search the primorial prime of 97
|
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without passing in specially?</p>
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@@ -676,12 +688,12 @@ can actually produce but there is a certain type of input error that might
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string; some I will document here (the summary being in the man page). You can
|
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join options but there is a caveat with spaces and <code>-r</code> option as well as
|
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the target string (see below).</p>
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<p><strong>Enable quiet output:</strong></p>
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<h4 id="enable-quiet-output">Enable quiet output:</h4>
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<pre><code> -q</code></pre>
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<p>This means don’t print the generation and offspring output; only print (some) of
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the options set (this is always done but wouldn’t usually be seen due to verbose
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||||
output) and the final answer.</p>
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<p><strong>Change the mutation rate to <code><rate></code>:</strong></p>
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<h4 id="change-the-mutation-rate-to-rate">Change the mutation rate to <code><rate></code>:</h4>
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<pre><code> -r<num></code></pre>
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<p>Please note that there cannot be a space between the <code>-r</code> and the number.
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This is to simplify the parsing of options. As for combining options you can do
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@@ -743,9 +755,9 @@ example if you were to do any of:</p>
|
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./weasel -q -- -test</code></pre>
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<p>The target string will be: <code>-TEST</code>. This means though that here:</p>
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<pre><code> ./weasel -q -- -test -r5</code></pre>
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<p>The string to be searched would actually be <code>-r5</code> and the mutation rate
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||||
will remain the default because after the <code>-</code> option is seen it will no
|
||||
longer parse additional options: only target strings if anything left on the
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<p>The string to be searched would actually be <code>-r5</code> and the mutation rate will
|
||||
remain the default because after the <code>-</code> option (that is <code>--</code>) is seen it will
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no longer parse additional options: only target strings if anything left on the
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command line. Because of the joining of arguments this means that the first two
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examples of the last set of three above are equivalent i.e. the following two
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are equivalent:</p>
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@@ -834,11 +846,11 @@ returns a <code>long</code> but I compare the return value of <code>rand()</code
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mutation rate; if there are any systems where the widths differ this <em>shouldn’t
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matter</em> because of truncation but I do in any case specifically check for <code>R < 0 || R > 100</code>. Either way the invalid range returns the typewriter to Eric.</p></li>
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<li><p><code>test</code></p>
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<p>Finally I requested it find the string <code>test</code> (will search for <code>TEST</code>).</p></li>
|
||||
<p>Finally I requested it find the string <code>test</code> (will search for <code>TEST</code>).</p>
|
||||
<p>Given that it was a short string it did find the answer relatively quickly,
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even in monkey mode.</p>
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||||
<p>Another example:</p></li>
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</ol>
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<p>Given that it was a short string it did find the answer relatively quickly, even
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||||
in monkey mode.</p>
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<p>Another example:</p>
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<pre><code> $ ./weasel -q -r101 test -r5
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quiet output
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mutation rate out of range
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@@ -847,8 +859,8 @@ in monkey mode.</p>
|
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Generation 109 Offspring 13: TEST</code></pre>
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<p>In this case I also enabled quiet mode but I didn’t join the options; the
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<code>-r101</code> reports that it’s out of range and sets monkey mode. I then specify
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||||
the target string and then set a valid mutation rate. This disabled monkey mode
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||||
which means that it’ll use the genetic algorithm.</p>
|
||||
the target string and then set a valid mutation rate. This disabled monkey
|
||||
mode which means that it’ll use the genetic algorithm.</p>
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||||
<p>One more example of monkey mode:</p>
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||||
<pre><code> $ ./weasel -q -mr101 test -r5
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quiet output
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@@ -857,30 +869,33 @@ which means that it’ll use the genetic algorithm.</p>
|
||||
mutation rate 5
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monkey at typewriter
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Generation 465298 Offspring 10: TEST</code></pre>
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<p>Here I also requested quiet output and then <em>explicitly requested that Eric the
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monkey types.</em> After this I set the mutation rate to be 101 which would have
|
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set monkey mode (<em>in this case only temporarily as I later set it to a valid
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||||
number</em>) but since I have also requested monkey mode that won’t matter. Then I
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set the string to <code>test</code> and then set a valid mutation rate of 5. Now note
|
||||
that it is actually set to 5 but also note that monkey mode remains active: it
|
||||
also took a lot longer to come to a conclusion for even four characters. This
|
||||
example does demonstrate one other thing in a subtle way though.</p>
|
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<p>When the program prints out each iteration (I’ll give an example next) it goes a
|
||||
lot slower; this makes sense because it’s an expensive operation. Here are the
|
||||
times for the same but without quiet output enabled:</p>
|
||||
<p>Here I also requested quiet output and then <em>explicitly requested that Eric
|
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the monkey types.</em> After this I set the mutation rate to be 101 which would
|
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have set monkey mode (<em>in this case only temporarily as I later set it to a
|
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valid number</em>) but since I have also requested monkey mode that won’t
|
||||
matter. Then I set the string to <code>test</code> and then set a valid mutation rate
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of 5. Now note that it is actually set to 5 but also note that monkey mode
|
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remains active: it also took a lot longer to come to a conclusion for even
|
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four characters. This example does demonstrate one other thing in a subtle
|
||||
way though.</p>
|
||||
<p>When the program prints out each iteration (I’ll give an example next) it
|
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goes a lot slower; this makes sense because printing is an expensive
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operation. Here are the times for the same but without quiet output enabled:</p>
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<pre><code> real 0m17.065s
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user 0m1.245s
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sys 0m2.402s</code></pre>
|
||||
<p>Whereas with quiet output:</p>
|
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<p>.. whereas with quiet output:</p>
|
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<pre><code> real 0m0.127s
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user 0m0.125s
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sys 0m0.001s</code></pre>
|
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<p>Of course it isn’t only down to the printing but the point is it slows it down
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significantly. Adding an option to print every X lines would go over the limit
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(<code>iocccsize -i</code> reports 2052!).</p>
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<p>Finally I’ll show a default example in normal output (I omit many lines showing
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instead <strong>[…]</strong>). Note that the real/user/sys times are from the <code>time</code>
|
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bash shell built-in utility: that isn’t output from my entry.</p>
|
||||
<p>Of course it isn’t only down to the printing but the point is it slows it
|
||||
down significantly. Adding an option to print every X lines would go over
|
||||
the limit (<code>iocccsize -i</code> reports 2052!).</p>
|
||||
<ol start="8" type="1">
|
||||
<li>Finally I’ll show a default example in normal output (I omit many lines showing
|
||||
instead <code>[...]</code>). Note that the real/user/sys times are from the <code>time</code>
|
||||
bash shell built-in utility: that isn’t output from my entry.</li>
|
||||
</ol>
|
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<pre><code> target 'METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL'
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mutation rate 1
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Generation 0 Offspring 1: 4V YGY.GH/}_|>Q1M.R8;KD[=(05
|
||||
@@ -904,11 +919,11 @@ bash shell built-in utility: that isn’t output from my entry.</p>
|
||||
sys 0m0.001s</code></pre>
|
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<p>Keep in mind the way I display the generations and the fact that generation 0
|
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has no parents; it is generation 1 that starts working towards the goal. You’ll
|
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see also <strong>(mutation)</strong> at the end of the line at this point (if you enable
|
||||
monkey mode you’ll find that it shows something else). The lines that only have
|
||||
back-quote (“`”) are separators: you won’t see this between generation 0 and 1 but you will
|
||||
between future generations - as well as the final answer (if the answer is in
|
||||
generation 0 you won’t see the ``).</p>
|
||||
see also <code>(mutation)</code> at the end of the line at this point (if you enable monkey
|
||||
mode you’ll find that it shows something else). The lines that only have
|
||||
back-quote (<code>"\`"</code>) are separators: you won’t see this between generation 0
|
||||
and 1 but you will between future generations - as well as the final answer (if
|
||||
the answer is in generation 0 you won’t see the <code>`</code>).</p>
|
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<div id="test">
|
||||
<p>One final thing to consider is that <strong>the program doesn’t directly read from a
|
||||
file</strong>. This combined with the way the shell works could possibly confuse some
|
||||
@@ -1044,17 +1059,22 @@ deciphering #7 help you decipher #5).</p>
|
||||
<h3 id="beauty">Beauty</h3>
|
||||
<p>Skip to <a href="#build">How to build</a>.</p>
|
||||
<p>On the subject of beauty: the judges stated in the guidelines the following:</p>
|
||||
<pre><code> We want to get away from source that is simply **a compact blob of
|
||||
octets.** Really try to be more creative than **blob coding.** *HINT!*</code></pre>
|
||||
<blockquote>
|
||||
<p>We want to get away from source that is simply <strong>a compact blob of octets.</strong>
|
||||
Really try to be more creative than <strong>blob coding.</strong> <em>HINT!</em></p>
|
||||
</blockquote>
|
||||
<p>And if you’ll notice that although it <em>might look like a compact blob of octets</em>
|
||||
at first glance if you look throughout the file you’ll see two statements to
|
||||
set your thinking straight:</p>
|
||||
(although not really: a blob is by definition roundish) at first glance if you
|
||||
look throughout the file you’ll see two statements to set your thinking
|
||||
straight:</p>
|
||||
<blockquote>
|
||||
<p><strong>NO BLOB CODING</strong></p>
|
||||
<p><strong>THIS IS NOT A COMPACT BLOB OF OCTETS</strong></p>
|
||||
</blockquote>
|
||||
<p>So you see even if your eyes are trying to deceive you they’re quite wrong. Yes
|
||||
some of it might look like a blob but this is clearly false; <em>as all good
|
||||
programmers know if something is potentially confusing or misleading it should
|
||||
be made clear in the comments! :)</em></p>
|
||||
some of it might look like a blob (for certain definitions of ‘blob’ :) ) but
|
||||
this is clearly false; <em>as all good programmers know if something is potentially
|
||||
confusing or misleading it should be made clear in the comments! :)</em></p>
|
||||
<div id="build">
|
||||
<h2 id="how-to-build"><strong>5. How to build</strong></h2>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
@@ -1187,7 +1207,8 @@ however leaving it as it is because this is what won.</p>
|
||||
<p>Skip to <a href="#thoughts">Final thoughts</a>.</p>
|
||||
<p>I have included a RPM spec file for those with a Red Hat based Linux
|
||||
distribution; see <a href="rpm.html">rpm.html</a> for details (including why I implemented
|
||||
this) if for some (strange or maybe even mad) reason you’re interested.</p>
|
||||
this) if for some (strange or maybe even mad) reason you’re interested, which
|
||||
basically means nobody but me.</p>
|
||||
<div id="thoughts">
|
||||
<h2 id="final-thoughts"><strong>6. Final thoughts</strong></h2>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
@@ -1203,48 +1224,42 @@ two things I think are rather amusing (in order of least to most):</p>
|
||||
<div id="dmr">
|
||||
<p>Dennis Ritchie’s Anti-Foreword:</p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<pre><code> Anti-Foreword
|
||||
|
||||
By Dennis Ritchie
|
||||
From: dmr@plan9.research.att.com
|
||||
Date: Tue, 15 Mar 1994 00:38:07 EST
|
||||
Subject: anti-foreword
|
||||
|
||||
To the contributers to this book:
|
||||
|
||||
I have succumbed to the temptation you offered in your preface: I do write you
|
||||
off as envious malcontents and romantic keepers of memories. The systems you
|
||||
remember so fondly (TOPS-20, ITS, Multics, Lisp Machine, Cedar/Mesa, the Dorado)
|
||||
are not just out to pasture, they are fertilizing it from below.
|
||||
|
||||
Your judgments are not keen, they are intoxicated by metaphor. In the Preface
|
||||
you suffer first from heat, lice, and malnourishment, then become prisoners in
|
||||
a Gulag. In Chapter 1 you are in turn infected by a virus, racked by drug
|
||||
addiction, and addled by puffiness of the genome.
|
||||
|
||||
Yet your prison without coherent design continues to imprison you. How can
|
||||
this be, if it has no strong places? The rational prisoner exploits the weak
|
||||
places, creates order from chaos: instead, collectives like the FSF vindicate
|
||||
their jailers by building cells almost compatible with the existing ones, albeit
|
||||
with more features. The journalist with three undergraduate degrees from MIT,
|
||||
the researcher at Microsoft, and the senior scientist at Apple might volunteer a
|
||||
few words about the regulations of the prisons to which they have been
|
||||
transferred.
|
||||
|
||||
Your sense of the possible is in no sense pure: sometimes you want the same
|
||||
thing you have, but wish you had done it yourselves; other times you want
|
||||
something different, but can't seem to get people to use it; sometimes one
|
||||
wonders why you just don't shut up and tell people to buy a PC with Windows or a
|
||||
Mac. No Gulag or lice, just a future whose intellectual tone and interaction
|
||||
style is set by Sonic the Hedgehog. You claim to seek progress, but you succeed
|
||||
mainly in whining.
|
||||
|
||||
Here is my metaphor: your book is a pudding stuffed with apposite
|
||||
observations, many well-conceived. Like excrement, it contains enough undigested
|
||||
nuggets of nutrition to sustain life for some. But it is not a tasty pie: it
|
||||
reeks too much of contempt and of envy.
|
||||
|
||||
Bon appetit!</code></pre>
|
||||
<blockquote>
|
||||
<p>Anti-Foreword</p>
|
||||
<p>By Dennis Ritchie
|
||||
From: dmr@plan9.research.att.com
|
||||
Date: Tue, 15 Mar 1994 00:38:07 EST
|
||||
Subject: anti-foreword</p>
|
||||
<p>To the contributers to this book:</p>
|
||||
<p>I have succumbed to the temptation you offered in your preface: I do write you
|
||||
off as envious malcontents and romantic keepers of memories. The systems you
|
||||
remember so fondly (TOPS-20, ITS, Multics, Lisp Machine, Cedar/Mesa, the Dorado)
|
||||
are not just out to pasture, they are fertilizing it from below.</p>
|
||||
<p>Your judgments are not keen, they are intoxicated by metaphor. In the Preface
|
||||
you suffer first from heat, lice, and malnourishment, then become prisoners in
|
||||
a Gulag. In Chapter 1 you are in turn infected by a virus, racked by drug
|
||||
addiction, and addled by puffiness of the genome.</p>
|
||||
<p>Yet your prison without coherent design continues to imprison you. How can
|
||||
this be, if it has no strong places? The rational prisoner exploits the weak
|
||||
places, creates order from chaos: instead, collectives like the FSF vindicate
|
||||
their jailers by building cells almost compatible with the existing ones, albeit
|
||||
with more features. The journalist with three undergraduate degrees from MIT,
|
||||
the researcher at Microsoft, and the senior scientist at Apple might volunteer a
|
||||
few words about the regulations of the prisons to which they have been
|
||||
transferred.</p>
|
||||
<p>Your sense of the possible is in no sense pure: sometimes you want the same
|
||||
thing you have, but wish you had done it yourselves; other times you want
|
||||
something different, but can’t seem to get people to use it; sometimes one
|
||||
wonders why you just don’t shut up and tell people to buy a PC with Windows or a
|
||||
Mac. No Gulag or lice, just a future whose intellectual tone and interaction
|
||||
style is set by Sonic the Hedgehog. You claim to seek progress, but you succeed
|
||||
mainly in whining.</p>
|
||||
<p>Here is my metaphor: your book is a pudding stuffed with apposite
|
||||
observations, many well-conceived. Like excrement, it contains enough undigested
|
||||
nuggets of nutrition to sustain life for some. But it is not a tasty pie: it
|
||||
reeks too much of contempt and of envy.</p>
|
||||
<p>Bon appetit!</p>
|
||||
</blockquote>
|
||||
<p>Yes he misspelt <em>‘contributors’</em>! But then again we’re talking about obfuscation
|
||||
and since it doesn’t break his message it’s not broken - it’s just obfuscated
|
||||
albeit not very much (and it still <em>‘compiles’!</em>); and isn’t that what this
|
||||
@@ -1252,46 +1267,41 @@ contest is about? :)</p>
|
||||
<div id="ken">
|
||||
<p>Ken Thompson’s ending:</p>
|
||||
</div>
|
||||
<pre><code> Creators Admit C, Unix Were Hoax
|
||||
|
||||
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
|
||||
|
||||
In an announcement that has stunned the computer industry, Ken Thompson,
|
||||
Dennis Ritchie, and Brian Kernighan admitted that the Unix operating system and
|
||||
C programming language created by them is an elaborate April Fools prank kept
|
||||
alive for more than 20 years. Speaking at the recent UnixWorld Software
|
||||
Development Forum, Thompson revealed the following:
|
||||
|
||||
"In 1969, AT&T had just terminated their work with the GE/AT&T Multics
|
||||
project. Brian and I had just started working with an early release of Pascal
|
||||
from Professor Nichlaus Wirth's ETH labs in Switzerland, and we were impressed
|
||||
with its elegant simplicity and power. Dennis had just finished reading Bored of
|
||||
the Rings, a hilarious National Lampoon parody of the great Tolkien Lord of the
|
||||
Rings trilogy. As a lark, we decided to do parodies of the Multics environment
|
||||
and Pascal. Dennis and I were responsible for the operating environment. We
|
||||
looked at Multics and designed the new system to be as complex and cryptic as
|
||||
possible to maximize casual users' frustration levels, calling it Unix as a
|
||||
parody of Multics, as well as other more risque allusions.
|
||||
|
||||
"Then Dennis and Brian worked on a truly warped version of Pascal, called "A."
|
||||
When we found others were actually trying to programs with A, we quickly added
|
||||
additional cryptic features and evolved into B, BCPL, and finally C. We stopped
|
||||
when we got a clean compile on the following syntax:</code></pre>
|
||||
<pre><code> for(;P("\n"),R=;P("|"))for(e=C;e=P("_"+(*u++/
|
||||
8)%2))P("|"+(*u/4)%2);</code></pre>
|
||||
<pre><code> "To think that modern programmers would try to use a language that allowed
|
||||
such a statement was beyond our comprehension! We actually thought of selling
|
||||
this to the Soviets to set their computer science progress back 20 or more
|
||||
years. Imagine our surprise when AT&T and other U.S. corporations actually began
|
||||
trying to use Unix and C! It has taken them 20 years to develop enough
|
||||
expertise to generate even marginally useful applications using this 1960s
|
||||
technological parody, but we are impressed with the tenacity (if not common
|
||||
sense) of the general Unix and C programmer.
|
||||
|
||||
"In any event, Brian, Dennis, and I have been working exclusively in Lisp on
|
||||
the Apple Macintosh for the past few years and feel really guilty about the
|
||||
chaos, confusion, and truly bad programming that has resulted from our silly
|
||||
prank so long ago."</code></pre>
|
||||
<blockquote>
|
||||
<p>Creators Admit C, Unix Were Hoax</p>
|
||||
<p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</p>
|
||||
<p>In an announcement that has stunned the computer industry, Ken Thompson,
|
||||
Dennis Ritchie, and Brian Kernighan admitted that the Unix operating system and
|
||||
C programming language created by them is an elaborate April Fools prank kept
|
||||
alive for more than 20 years. Speaking at the recent UnixWorld Software
|
||||
Development Forum, Thompson revealed the following:</p>
|
||||
<p>“In 1969, AT&T had just terminated their work with the GE/AT&T Multics
|
||||
project. Brian and I had just started working with an early release of Pascal
|
||||
from Professor Nichlaus Wirth’s ETH labs in Switzerland, and we were impressed
|
||||
with its elegant simplicity and power. Dennis had just finished reading Bored of
|
||||
the Rings, a hilarious National Lampoon parody of the great Tolkien Lord of the
|
||||
Rings trilogy. As a lark, we decided to do parodies of the Multics environment
|
||||
and Pascal. Dennis and I were responsible for the operating environment. We
|
||||
looked at Multics and designed the new system to be as complex and cryptic as
|
||||
possible to maximize casual users’ frustration levels, calling it Unix as a
|
||||
parody of Multics, as well as other more risque allusions.</p>
|
||||
<p>“Then Dennis and Brian worked on a truly warped version of Pascal, called”A.” When we found others were actually trying to programs with A, we quickly
|
||||
added additional cryptic features and evolved into B, BCPL, and finally C. We
|
||||
stopped when we got a clean compile on the following syntax:</p>
|
||||
<p><code>for(;P("\n"),R=;P("|"))for(e=C;e=P("_"+(*u++/</code><br>
|
||||
<code>8)%2))P("|"+(*u/4)%2);</code></p>
|
||||
<p>“To think that modern programmers would try to use a language that allowed
|
||||
such a statement was beyond our comprehension! We actually thought of selling
|
||||
this to the Soviets to set their computer science progress back 20 or more
|
||||
years. Imagine our surprise when AT&T and other U.S. corporations actually began
|
||||
trying to use Unix and C! It has taken them 20 years to develop enough
|
||||
expertise to generate even marginally useful applications using this 1960s
|
||||
technological parody, but we are impressed with the tenacity (if not common
|
||||
sense) of the general Unix and C programmer.</p>
|
||||
<p>“In any event, Brian, Dennis, and I have been working exclusively in Lisp
|
||||
on the Apple Macintosh for the past few years and feel really guilty about the
|
||||
chaos, confusion, and truly bad programming that has resulted from our silly
|
||||
prank so long ago.”</p>
|
||||
<p>Major Unix and C vendors and customers, including AT&T, Microsoft,
|
||||
Hewlett-Packard, GTE, NCR, and DEC have refused comment at this time. Borland
|
||||
International, a leading vendor of Pascal and C tools, including the popular
|
||||
@@ -1303,13 +1313,15 @@ the RS/6000, merely stating “Workplace OS will be available Real Soon Now.”
|
||||
cryptic statement, Professor Wirth of the ETH Institute and father of the
|
||||
Pascal, Modula 2, and Oberon structured languages, merely stated that P. T.
|
||||
Barnum was correct.</p>
|
||||
</blockquote>
|
||||
<hr>
|
||||
<p>So is it a hoax about a non-hoax, a non-hoax about a hoax, a non-hoax about a
|
||||
non-hoax or is it a hoax about a hoax ? :) And if it’s any of those what does it
|
||||
mean about Unix and C?** And if a hoax is involved <em>what is the hoax?</em> The pedant
|
||||
and Tolkienist that I am has to state that <strong>Tolkien didn’t consider The Lord of
|
||||
the Rings a trilogy</strong> <em>(and he made that very clear)</em> but that doesn’t take away
|
||||
from the humour by any stretch (<em>if anyone wants me to elaborate or debate the
|
||||
matter do send me an email - I love Tolkien’s legendarium and having another
|
||||
matter do send me an email - I love Tolkien’s Legendarium and having another
|
||||
person to talk about it with is more than welcome!</em>). Ken suggested that there
|
||||
is a lack of common sense but since he was part of its creation I don’t think
|
||||
it’s a bad thing; <strong>on the contrary it makes all of us C programmers even more
|
||||
|
||||
Reference in new issue
Block a user