4 ms·

Arrrgh! I think that I may have unintentionally insulted you in about 1987 when (as a callow youth) I was trying to pick a language for an embedded/robotics sy

Arrrgh! I think that I may have unintentionally insulted you in about 1987 when (as a callow youth) I was trying to pick a language for an embedded/robotics system. I believe that I spoke to you on the phone about ... ahem ... C, which you answered politely but somewhat through gritted teeth... In the end I went for C, and the OS ended up in this thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8ZEUwwOYxo&t=72s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8ZEUwwOYxo&t=72s I still cringe about that call!

WalterBright 2y ago
What was the call about? Don't worry about it, I don't remember it! I have come to regret a lot of stupid things I said when I was younger.
- DamonHD 2y ago
  Well, it was a while ago... I was trying to choose a language to use for our start-up's tiny (2kB EPROM, 2kB RAM?) Z80A system, alongside some assembler, and I was basically having to write an OS/runtime for the robot that I designed the hardware for as well. I was about out of my depth. Candidate languages were, I think, BCPL, B, C and D, and I got mixed up and spoke to you about C. (It is possible that I spoke to the B or BCPL guy rather than you.) But in any case, asking one language's creator to extol the virtues of a different language is not clever! %-P Ouch! Does the name "Grey Matter" ring any bells for you? (Software reseller, still seems to exist...)
  - WalterBright 2y ago
    1987 predates D by about 15 years! No, I don't recall the name. It was a long time ago. Sorry.
    - DamonHD 2y ago
      Ah, I may be off the hook. Thanks anyhow!
  - WalterBright 2y ago
    Back in the 80s, a coworker (knowing I was in the C compiler business) came to me and asked "my husband wants to get into C programming, which compiler should he use?" (At the time, there were about 30 C compilers available for DOS.) I replied, Datalight C! She laughed, touched my elbow, and said "oh no, not your compiler!" Another coworker (Eric Engstrom, yes, that guy!) heard this and let out huge belly laugh. She suddenly realized what she had said, and got very embarrassed. (I won't print her name. I've long since forgiven her! I just thought it was funny.) Good ole' Eric. Truly larger than life. I miss him.

WalterBright 2y ago

What was the call about? Don't worry about it, I don't remember it! I have come to regret a lot of stupid things I said when I was younger.

DamonHD 2y ago
Well, it was a while ago... I was trying to choose a language to use for our start-up's tiny (2kB EPROM, 2kB RAM?) Z80A system, alongside some assembler, and I was basically having to write an OS/runtime for the robot that I designed the hardware for as well. I was about out of my depth. Candidate languages were, I think, BCPL, B, C and D, and I got mixed up and spoke to you about C. (It is possible that I spoke to the B or BCPL guy rather than you.) But in any case, asking one language's creator to extol the virtues of a different language is not clever! %-P Ouch! Does the name "Grey Matter" ring any bells for you? (Software reseller, still seems to exist...)
- WalterBright 2y ago
  1987 predates D by about 15 years! No, I don't recall the name. It was a long time ago. Sorry.
  - DamonHD 2y ago
    Ah, I may be off the hook. Thanks anyhow!
- WalterBright 2y ago
  Back in the 80s, a coworker (knowing I was in the C compiler business) came to me and asked "my husband wants to get into C programming, which compiler should he use?" (At the time, there were about 30 C compilers available for DOS.) I replied, Datalight C! She laughed, touched my elbow, and said "oh no, not your compiler!" Another coworker (Eric Engstrom, yes, that guy!) heard this and let out huge belly laugh. She suddenly realized what she had said, and got very embarrassed. (I won't print her name. I've long since forgiven her! I just thought it was funny.) Good ole' Eric. Truly larger than life. I miss him.