SPUG: Damian Programming in Latin, 10/3

Tim Maher/CONSULTIX tim at consultix-inc.com
Sat Sep 16 00:55:31 CDT 2000


	SPECIAL SPUGadelic EVENT: The Damian Returneth!

This time, that Wacky Aussie with the exotic imagination is going
to teach us how to program Perl in an inflected language, Latin!

(NOTE: The earlier posting was confused about the dates;
	this one is not.  Sorry for any inconvenience!)
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                   ** Lingua::Romana::Perligata **
                    Perl for the XXI-imus Century
                                   
                Dr. Damian Conway (damian at conway.org)
                     Monash University, Australia

                         Downtown Seattle, WA
                      Tuesday, October 3, 7-9pm
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The great flaw of existing programming (and natural) languages is that
word order matters, which makes it unnecessarily difficult to program
(or talk) when drunk.

You end up writing:

        push @casino's_money, @my_cash;

instead of:

        push @my_cash, @casino's_money;

Generally speaking, older natural languages rely less on word order. For
example, in Latin the sentences "Puer dedit cani escam." and "Escam
dedit puer cani." both mean "The boy gave the dog the food." In fact, the
more usual word order would be "Reverse Polish", with the verb coming
last: "Puer cani escam dedit." This flexibility is possible because
Latin uses inflection to denote lexical roles, and that single fact
allowed the Romans to build a vast empire despite their near-permanent
state of inebriation.

There is no reason that programming languages could not also make use of
inflection rather than position to denote lexical roles, thereby
allowing hackers to program in their natural -- inebriated -- state.
>From that bar-room inspiration, it was only a small, slightly wobbly
step to the Lingua::Romana::Perligata module: a Latin syntactic
binding for Perl.

No prior knowledge of the ancient Roman language will be assumed, but by
the end of the talk (or at least by the end of the after-party) the
following program will make perfect sense:

    maximum inquementum tum biguttam tum stadium egresso scribe.
    vestibulo perlegementum da meo maximo .
    maximum tum novumversum egresso scribe.
    da duo tum maximum conscribementa meis listis.
    dum damentum nexto listis decapitamentum fac sic
        lista sic hoc tum nextum recidementum cis vannementa listis da.
        next tum biguttam tum nextum tum novumversum scribe egresso.
    cis
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<Tim Speaking>
No, he's not kidding, or crazy (well, maybe a TAD crazy, but in a NICE
way!).  He's just a mild mannered computer professor with a special talent
for couching inspirational talks on Perl in a uniquely entertaining,
and unusual, style.  This time, he'll be using a classical language as
the basis for his presentation, in an attempt to develop a more classy
ambiance than he is able to achieve with his more customary Klingon
presentations.

See the SPUG web site, and follow links from there, to get more
information about his contributions to Perl and the many awards they've
earned for him.
</Tim Speaking>

Price and Location

Admission is free and open to the general public.  Attendees are
encouraged to arrive at the Union Bank of California building's 5th &
Madison door by 6:45pm, which might be locked at other times.
(See the SPUG web-site for more details.)

Parking

We recommend avoiding the parking lot below the Union Bank building,
due to the very hefty fee you'll be assessed if you leave after 9pm.
There are plenty of other parking garages in the vicinity that are
more affordable, and some on-street parking too.

Pre/Post-Meeting Gathering Place

Come and pass the pre-meeting time with other SPUGsters at the
Rock Bottom brewpub, at 1333 5th Ave., (206) 623-3070, in
downtown Seattle.  Look to your left as you enter, near the bar
or pool table, for bizarre yet strangely appealing characters
wielding laptops and hearty ales.  If you want to eat dinner there,
try to arrive by 6:10pm, because you'll need to leave for the meeting
place by 6:40pm. 

For more information, including driving directions and street
addresses, see http://www.halcyon.com/spug/.


==========================================================
|  Tim Maher, Ph.D.           Tel: (206) 781-UNIX        |
|  SPUG Founder & Leader      Email: spug at halcyon.com    |
|  Seattle Perl Users Group   HTTP: www.halcyon.com/spug |
==========================================================

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