3 ms·

article says: "The original VisiCalc program that ran on the IBM PC in 1981 still runs on today's PCs."

by NonEUCitizen 5y ago

kazinator 5y ago
There was no VisiCalc program that was both original, and that ran on the IBM PC in 1981.
- jhbadger 5y ago
  The article mentions that the Apple II version was first. I think it was clear that they are referring to the original IBM PC version, not that the IBM PC version was the original version of Visicalc
- morganvachon 5y ago
  I'm pretty sure OP meant the original (first) release for IBM PC, which happened in 1981. I'm not sure if you're being naively pedantic or intentionally obtuse here.
  - kazinator 5y ago
    "original" isn't simply a verbose way of spelling "first". https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/original https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/original
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  Of the VisiCalc programs that ran on the IBM PC, there was an original member of that class, and it existed in 1981. You are misparsing the sentence, applying “original“ as a modifier to the wrong phrase (“VisiCalc program“ and not “VisiCalc program that ran on the IBM PC”.)
  - kazinator 5y ago
    Nope; the parse, though not the only possible one, is perfectly valid. It's a parse that many readers will make. Knowing that it's not the right parse requires background information. Consider "The original Yacc that ran on Version 3 Unix in 1975". Here, background information steers us toward that same parse; we don't think about there having being some previous Yacc. What also steers the reader toward that parse is that it's the opening sentence of an article. So there is no contrasting frame established such as that different versions of VisiCalc are being compared. The topic seems to be VisiCalc, whatever that is, and evidently the original one ran on the IBM PC in 1981. That's the message. If something is described as original in the opening sentence, then it looks like the meaning is the main one of "original": unprecedented, new, not derived from anything else. Not like "don't forget your original document in the photocopier".

article says: "The original VisiCalc program that ran on the IBM PC in 1981 still runs on today's PCs."

kazinator 5y ago

There was no VisiCalc program that was both original, and that ran on the IBM PC in 1981.

jhbadger 5y ago
The article mentions that the Apple II version was first. I think it was clear that they are referring to the original IBM PC version, not that the IBM PC version was the original version of Visicalc
morganvachon 5y ago
I'm pretty sure OP meant the original (first) release for IBM PC, which happened in 1981. I'm not sure if you're being naively pedantic or intentionally obtuse here.
- kazinator 5y ago
  "original" isn't simply a verbose way of spelling "first". https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/original https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/original
dragonwriter 5y ago
Of the VisiCalc programs that ran on the IBM PC, there was an original member of that class, and it existed in 1981. You are misparsing the sentence, applying “original“ as a modifier to the wrong phrase (“VisiCalc program“ and not “VisiCalc program that ran on the IBM PC”.)
- kazinator 5y ago
  Nope; the parse, though not the only possible one, is perfectly valid. It's a parse that many readers will make. Knowing that it's not the right parse requires background information. Consider "The original Yacc that ran on Version 3 Unix in 1975". Here, background information steers us toward that same parse; we don't think about there having being some previous Yacc. What also steers the reader toward that parse is that it's the opening sentence of an article. So there is no contrasting frame established such as that different versions of VisiCalc are being compared. The topic seems to be VisiCalc, whatever that is, and evidently the original one ran on the IBM PC in 1981. That's the message. If something is described as original in the opening sentence, then it looks like the meaning is the main one of "original": unprecedented, new, not derived from anything else. Not like "don't forget your original document in the photocopier".