[San-Diego-pm] Damian Conway... LAST NIGHT!

[Keith Thompson]

On Tue 08-09-30 11:35, Russ Schnapp wrote:
[...]
> SPECS -- a language nobody has heard of because it was Damian's improved 
> syntax for C++, eliminating the pet peeves.  He claims the only reason 
> it died was because he tried to solve the "=" vs "==" problem by using 
> ":=" for assignment -- and everyone knows that this is Wirth's kiss of 
> death!     (Anybody remember Damian's pun about Wirth?  It bothers me 
> that I've forgotten it, because I once had to give a presentation to the 
> guy, and whatever you heard about him was indeed true!)
[...]

I wasn't able to make it to Damian's talk (*sigh*), but the canonical
joke about Wirth is attributed to Wirth himself, and can be found in
his Wikipedia article:

    Whereas Europeans generally pronounce my name the right way
    ('Nick-louse Veert'), Americans invariably mangle it into
    'Nickel's Worth.' This is to say that Europeans call me by name,
    but Americans call me by value.

-- 
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst at mib.org  <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
Nokia
"We must do something.  This is something.  Therefore, we must do this."
    -- Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, "Yes Minister"