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Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 08:24:10 -0400
From: John Colagioia <JColagioia@csi.com>
Organization: No Conspiracy Here...
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Subject: Re: Other languages
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Richard Bos wrote:

> Andrew Plotkin <erkyrath@eblong.com> wrote:
> > Greg Ewing <greg@cosc.canterbury.ac.nz> wrote:
> > > No, 'A' was descended from '@' which was descended
> > > from '>' which was descended from '<' which...
> > > Thus, we can see that all programming languages are
> > > ultimately descended from one primitive proto-language
> > > called NUL, details of which are lost in the mists
> > > of time.
> > The legends say that there's only one NUL program, and it doesn't do
> > anything. This is why other languages evolved.
> > However, the legends are clearly bullshit, because we all know that
> > they didn't speak ASCII back then. They spoke EBCDIC.
> The legends are correct. They are, however, badly spelled these days.
> Now we mostly use ASCII, the difference seems slight, but the legends
> originally spoke of the null program, and the null language. In ASCII,
> of course, 0 == NUL == null; in those days, though, this might not have
> been true, as you so perceptively note. But the Legendary Ones knew
> this; that's why they wrote "null", not "NUL".

Ah, but you're overlooking one critical detail.  EBCDIC is a relatively
recent, human invention.  ASCII, on the other hand, was bestowed to the
ancient Atlanteans by aliens (from space--not run-of-the-mill foreigners),
in exchange for twenty-four dollars in trinkets, a gingerbread house, and a
pair of fourteen-pound sledgehammers.  With nothing to use ASCII for,
however, the Atlanteans merely hid their knowledge in the collective
unconscious memory of humanity, waiting for its day in the sun.


