Subject: Re: Theory #51 (superior(?) programming languages) From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.no> Date: 1997/01/28 Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp,comp.lang.scheme Message-ID: <3063475763718260@naggum.no> * Bernd Paysan | But as C and Unix were hacker projects around '70 and got public (in the | broader sense) at around '80, a step back by 10 years should be expected, | anyway. Basic was a Hacker project in the 60th, and DOS was crap | only. And that's what many people use now, although it's cluttered with | Windows, the worst GUI incarnation (from the CS point of view) the world | has seen yet. a while ago, somebody posted a summary of programming cultures, noting that Microsoft is basically growing a whole new culture from scratch, rejecting all other cultures and what they have built. considering that it has taken 50+ years of research and very serious thinking by many more good people than Microsoft could ever hire, we should _expect_ that programmers under constant pressure to release products are no match for researchers. it's just like C and DOS and those other products they build: they effectively fail to recognize that cultures can be built "vertically", and instead build them "horizontally". #\Erik -- 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine -- a basic ingredient in quality software.