5 ms·
Don't put BASIC code in your emails
- semisight 15y agoThe real question is what self-respecting programmer would instinctively reach for BASIC as the language to write a joke in? Methinks this says more about the jokester than he wanted to say...
- ElbertF 15y agoNostalgia? It's a language that introduced many of us to programming. Edit: https://plus.google.com/108914556664474359662/posts/K1xhEEtkoN6 https://plus.google.com/108914556664474359662/posts/K1xhEEtk...
- azelfrath 15y agoVouch. I remember spending the entirety of my math class writing games on my TI-83+. I still hate my instructor for wiping my memory when she thought I was playing them and not writing them.
- polyfractal 15y agoI remember the day I discovered an assembly program that mimicked a memory wipe, but could be restored with a hotkey combination. I was so damn smug after that.
- cbs 15y agoYou're language snobbing a joke? Really? But to answer your question, basic is like a fart joke, everyone gets it.
- ThaddeusQuay2 15y agoBASIC isn't a joke. I use BaCon for a lot of server stuff, usually as a backend to a website, and as an extension to Bash. http://basic-converter.org http://basic-converter.org
- redthrowaway 15y ago>If both Korn Shell nor Bash are available on your platform Conditionals in BASIC aren't that hard...
- ThaddeusQuay2 15y agoI don't understand what you mean. Are you referring to some pro or con within BASIC or BaCon, or are you referring to the sentence being incorrect (given that "both" should be "neither")? Regardless, I like BaCon because it's easy, fast, updated regularly, and passes cleanly through to C. My black, British cat, Mr. Fluffer Wickbidget, III, also likes bacon. You may think that fact is not relevant here, but it is when you run out milk, as I now see that I have.
- redthrowaway 15y agoI was being pedantic and flippant. Best wishes to you and Mr. Wickbidget.
- redthrowaway 15y ago++++++++++[>+++++++++>+++++++++++>++++>++++++++++<<<<-]>-.>+.++++++.>-.<---.>>+.<-------.>++++++++.----.<<+..>>.+++++.-------.<.<+.>>+.---.<.<----.-.>>++++.<<-.++++++.>++++++++++++++.<<<.
- function_seven 15y agoBravo. You write that by hand? Because I totally interpreted with pencil and paper. Didn't use this http://pinecodes.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/brainfuck.htm http://pinecodes.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/brainfuck.ht..., no sir.
- redthrowaway 15y agoI modified the hello world example on Wikipedia. I have to say, brainfuck is nowhere near as difficult to understand once you get used to the syntax. Kind of reminds me of ARM Assembly, in a way.
- feral 15y ago> 10 Subject == getConfig(Email[Subject]) This is a particularly funny bug to write in pseudo-BASIC; considering that in BASIC a single '=' is used to test for equality, as well as for assignment. I can see why they need all that process.
- Osiris 15y agoSo is structured development really better than off-the-cuff development? In this case it sure looks like a structured environment would have caught the bug in the original code but it also means 10 times more people getting their fingers in the pie.
- einhverfr 15y agoThinking the joke could be much more elegantly written in Perl, sed, or LISP
- andrewflnr 15y agoThere was one in LISP, didn't you see that one? ;)
- mahmud 15y ago(apply #'max (mapcar #'age-of (list-all-recipients))) ==> 21
- thought_alarm 15y ago10 GOTO Subject? For Pete's sake! That's the problem with this whole "structured programming" fad: nobody knows how to write honest, plain old spaghetti-code anymore. As for me, I enjoy throwing a goto or two into my Obj-C and Java code every once and awhile. It's perfectly legit.
- ThaddeusQuay2 15y agoThe world of programming started to fall apart as soon as lowercase was allowed in code.
- KeithMajhor 15y agoHonest question. Is case (in)?sensitivity something people actually care about?
- brian_cloutier 15y agoThink about how much easier it makes it to write hard-to-read-code. index iNdex inDex indEx indeX for your inner loops
- thought_alarm 15y agoGet a load of this kid.
- KeithMajhor 15y agoI guess that was a stupid question. Here comes the thought_alarm... ;)
- ThaddeusQuay2 15y agoWriting in mixed case is a vector for errors in languages where case is significant, and even where it isn't, simply reading the code requires your brain to work harder, thus making it more likely that you will miss something important. The more unnecessary effort you have to expend, in reading or writing code, the more opportunity you have for making mistakes, and the less opportunity you have for being creative. Don't bother bringing up IDEs as a way to cut back on mistakes, or to help creativity. Real programmers don't need them. I still program in PL/I under OS/360 on Hercules, and that compiler hasn't been updated since about 1972. Ah, simpler times: when your keyboard weighed more than one of today's laptops, when real engineers built both the hardware and the software, and when CamelCase was merely a waking dream. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PL/I http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PL/I http://99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-pl-i-548.html http://99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-pl-i-548.html
- stuff4ben 15y agosounds like a healthy startup company to me. I loved the insider jokes that got passed around at the last good startup I worked at. We had a bugzilla bug passed around for 4 years and several hundred people before the company got bought out and went to hell. It was a good run though.
- jluan 15y agoHeh, looks like it's a Microsoft email thread -- the Ship-It reference suggests so.
- brokentone 15y agoBefore we all agree that BASIC is indeed dead, I have a friend that recently reached out to me for some help writing an AppleSoft BASIC app for some CS course. Never figured out why someone is still teaching it...