[OT] If programming languages were religions...

[Terry Judd]

Ahhh, the age-old battle between 'splitters' and 'lumpers'.

I guess we you adopt a (Linnean) taxonomic metaphor then...

If you're a splitter then:
xTalk is the genus (language group) and Revolution/Hypertalk/Supertalk are
the species (languages)

But if you're a lumper then:
xTalk is the species (language) and Revolution/Hypertalk/Supertalk are the
subspecies (language variants)

Personally I couldn't care either way. Revolution is what it is.

Terry...

On 22/12/08 9:58 AM, "Randall Reetz" <randall at randallreetz.com> wrote:

> When someone adds a new function or even library to a version of C, do people
> claim it isnt still C?  The essence of xtalk is completly independent from
> lexical additions.  A better question would be "how many changes would you
> have to make to an xtalk incarnation before you could legitimately clasify it
> as its own language (at the level of C or Lisp)?  This whole discussion is in
> responces to posts that hung revTalk up at the taxonomic level with these
> other legitimately different languages.  I find that irresponsible and false.
> That is all.
> 
> By the way, and not that it matters... I hate C and java and lisp and dont
> even particularly like smalltalk... Which is my way of thanking the true gods
> of xtalk, allan and bill (and the other bill).
> 
> I dont seek friends... I seek truth.
> 
> randall      
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Brian Yennie" <briany at qldlearning.com>
> To: "How to use Revolution" <use-revolution at lists.runrev.com>
> Sent: 12/21/2008 2:40 PM
> Subject: Re: [OT] If programming languages were religions...
> 
> Randall,
> 
> I'm not sure where your angst is coming from. This list if full of
> people (myself included) that have given every possible credit to
> SmallTalk, Hypercard, Supercard, et al. Nobody disagrees that Rev is
> most certainly an xTalk language. I'm afraid you have vastly
> underestimated (and belittled) the experience of people around here.
> There are plenty of us who know darn well every last bit of xTalk
> history and are quite familiar with other languages, including the
> almighty C. People here have done every imaginable thing from day 1 of
> xTalk's existence.
> 
> Calling out "awkward logic", "rhetoric" and "Coolaid" drinking won't
> get you very far and I'm quite sure that disagreeing with you is not
> tantamount to failing to grasp your clear argument. Shockingly, many
> of us completely understand your points, completely grasp several
> programming languages and all of the history of xTalk and yet still
> would disagree with you.
> 
> You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but I for one need not
> drink Kool-Aid to disagree with it.
> 
> Finally, your claim that RunRev has not made any significant
> improvements to xTalk doesn't hold much water with me. Just for
> starters, try a "repeat for each" loop in Hypercard. Or arrays. Or
> say, running everything on Windows and Linux. Or as pure CGI scripting
> language. Or try writing native socket scripts. Or compare the
> performance of the compiler. Or imageData. Or... the many other things
> I could surely name given more than a moment's thought.
> 
>> It hardly seems reasonable to honor your imposibly awkward logic
>> with a reply, but who i ask suggested calling Rev's script "the
>> xtalk" or for that matter, "the" anythhing?  I dont think anyone is
>> confused by my clear argument.  Maybe your thinking is confused by
>> rhetoric within you.  Coolaid.  We all make wway too much of it
>> right inside our own heads.
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Dr Terry Judd
Lecturer in Educational Technology (Design)
Biomedical Multimedia Unit
Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry & Health Sciences
The University of Melbourne
Parkville VIC 3052
AUSTRALIA

61-3 8344 0187