[OT] If programming languages were religions...

[Richmond Mathewson]

Thomas McGrath III wrote:

"OK, I'll bite. What is your Christian metaphor?"

And this is where I have to admit that I don't really have a Christian metaphor; although with a bit of thought I could put one together.

Just re-reading "A History of Heresy" (David Christie-Murray, Oxford, 1989 - ISBN 0-19-285210-8), which very much put me in mind of Hypercard and
so on. Mind you the inventor of SERF might get a bit cheesed-off if
I describe him as the xTalk equivalent of Valentinus! Also, Hinduism has
a huge advantage over Christianity insofar as one can generally talk
about the schools of thought that subsist within that wonderful system
without having to get too personal (Hmm, well up to a point). In
Christianity most developments after the initial East-West schism (no,
I don't mean the Orthodox-Roman split) seem very much connected with
individuals who people still get considerably worked-up about.

There is, also, within Christianity nothing quite like the Monist/Semi-Monist/Dualist thing that bedevils Hinduism. It should, perhaps, be
pointed out here that Hinduism is, generally, more tolerant than
Christianity insofar as the concept of Heresy doesn't really exist,
and, as far as I am aware, no Hindu has been killed for having 
differing beliefs from that of another Hindu.

Therefore, I believe that the metaphor of Runtime Revolution as a
sort of Hinduism holds up reasonably well, while an equivalent
metaphor of Runtime Revolution as a sort of Christianity would not.

sincerely, Richmond Mathewson.

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A Thorn in the flesh is better than a failed Systems Development Life Cycle.
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