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If Programming Languages Could Speak

HealYourChurchWebSit writes "BurningBird's "The Parable of the Languages" offers a delightfully playful answer to the the question, "[what] if programming languages could speak, really speak, not just crunch bytes and stream bits, they would have much to say that is both wise and profound.""

24 of 352 comments (clear)

  1. hello world by c.emmertfoster · · Score: 5, Funny

    My money is on "hello world."

    --
    We can neither love nor pity nor forgive. If you make a slip in handling us you die!
  2. Well... by starseeker · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'd say php is screaming for mercy right about now, given the slashdotting fate has pushed it's way.

    --
    "I object to doing things that computers can do." -- Olin Shivers, lispers.org
  3. "What do YOU think you're doing here" by silhouette · · Score: 5, Funny

    they said, frowning at HTML. "Listen - being listed as a programming language on some chump's resume - and it doesn't matter HOW many resumes - does not a programming language make!"

    --
    Experts agree: everything is fine.
  4. "Stop Anthropomorphizing Me" by drhairston · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Stop Anthropomorphizing Me. Instead, go outside and play".

    --
    Dr. Joseph Hairston
    Superintendent, CCBC
  5. If Java could speak...... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    A converstaion would take all day.

    1. Re:If Java could speak...... by Hard_Code · · Score: 5, Funny

      "A converstaion would take all day."

      No, because it would fail during compilation at:

      Error at line 1: unknown symbol: "converstaion"

      --

      It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
  6. Sadly... by Spazholio · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...javascript wasn't even invited to the party. Doesn't that violate some kind of anti-discrimination law? I mean, just because it's constantly disabled doesn't mean it's not a valuable member of programming society too...

    1. Re:Sadly... by erpbridge · · Score: 5, Funny

      Oh, I'm pretty sure it'll pop-up or pop-under sometime, just you wait...

  7. If this php script could speak by Zakabog · · Score: 5, Funny

    PHP Script: Ho hum, the live of a script can be very boring, what's this? Hmm getting a lot of requests here. Well the server can handle the load. Oh wow it's getting hot in here, hey apache is giving me some signals to start rejecting people. But that apache guy sure is an asshole, I'll just ignore him, besides it's only a few requests. The server has the bandwidth and the processing power to easily handle this load, and it's probably just a spike, it'll die down soon. Hey what's that burning smell? Oh wow one of the processors died. Woah what's that puddle over there? Oh the T1's DSU just melted. So we're down to 2 processors, errr 1 processor, and the web server's connection switched over to the cable modem.

  8. Turtle graphics? by VValdo · · Score: 5, Funny

    I suppose Logo would have said something, but it took him wayyy to long to travel, and it turned out he'd been heading in the wrong direction by about 10 degrees anyway.

    W

    --
    -------------------
    This is my SIG. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
  9. They were a little harsh on LISP. by BitwizeGHC · · Score: 5, Insightful

    LISP is the language that discovers there is no spoon, and learns to bend itself. In so doing, it becomes master of them all.

    --
    N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
    1. Re:They were a little harsh on LISP. by gleam · · Score: 5, Funny

      No, LISP is the language that would say "there ith no thpoon."

      -gleam

      --
      this .sig is not a .sig.
    2. Re:They were a little harsh on LISP. by RockyJSquirel · · Score: 5, Funny

      (progn (()())
      ((resent I that)

      (is Lisp (that-deserves (a language)
      (a-lot-more-than respect (it-is-getting-from
      (this-boorish crowd)))))

      (is-much-easier-to (syntax-of Lisp) parse
      English math (anything-but Forth))

      (but
      (can-use-to you (macros-of Lisp)
      (turn into
      (absolutely-any
      (unreadable language))))
      (ever-does no-one))
      ))

      Rocky J. Squirrel

  10. Mirrored Text by xcomputer_man · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well, the site got crunched. Here's a text-only mirror:

    Click here

  11. MS J++, C++, .NET ... by mhesseltine · · Score: 5, Funny

    You appear to be writing a buffer overflow. Would you like me to start the wizard for that?

    --
    Overrated / Underrated : Moderation :: Anonymous Coward : Posting
  12. Assembler would say ... by njchick · · Score: 5, Funny

    "first post"

  13. Assembly by istartedi · · Score: 5, Funny

    Assembly: Listen to you young whipper-snappers whine. In my day we walked through 10 miles of printouts without any shoes, and we liked it!

    Then raw binary spoke up and said: Feet? You had feet?

    (The punch line is stolen from somebody, but I can't remember who)

    --
    For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
  14. Forth hobbles up and lies on its bed... by Nindalf · · Score: 5, Funny

    "When relegated to obscure embedded applications, look as good you will not."

  15. Re:C by hillct · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's scary the number of programmers who were tought to speak english by C. Well, C and IRC. I had a guy working for me at one point who's name escapes me at the moment, Everyone just called him Grumpy. He used to wear a floppy Fadora looking hat and whenever you spoke to him all he'd ever say is 'Bite Me'. Now I understand where he learned to speak.

    To be fair, he was an excellant programmer, and although he never smiled, you would occasionally hear him utter the words "Colon, Close Parenthesis".

    --CTH

    --

    --Got Lists? | Top 95 Star Wars Line
  16. Re:How to kill karma on /. by ergo98 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Well I wouldn't make such conclusions quite yet. Firstly, shortly after Visual Studio.NET (which in essence is .NET) was released, there was a buffer overflow found in, ironically (truly ironically), a security feature intended to thwart buffer overflows. Secondly, there have been 2 service packs already for the .NET Foundation, and on top of that it has been very lightly exercised (extremely few websites use it, and I've yet to see a single commercial or even big shareware or freeware .NET app): Give it time. I will bet you, putting money on the table, that there will be numerous exploits for .NET as time goes by. No malice intended towards Microsoft, but rather it's just the nature of large scale software.

    P.S. I love asp.net, Visual Studio.NET, etc, but I also know that Microsoft does not have a stellar security history behind it.

  17. Re:Assembly by kbielefe · · Score: 5, Funny
    Intel assembly would speak little-endian, sort of like yoda.

    And risc assembly would only have a 30 word vocabulary, but could still recite shakespearean sonnets quite beautifully.

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    This space intentionally left blank.
  18. Weird, was just reading this by teslatug · · Score: 5, Funny
    The Tao gave birth to machine language. Machine language gave birth to the assembler.
    The assembler gave birth to the compiler. Now their are ten thousand languages.
    Each language has its purpose, however humble. Each language expresses the Yin and Yang of software. Each language has its place within the Tao.
    But do not program in COBOL if you can avoid it.

    The Tao of Programming
  19. Alternatively, and with apologies to Douglas Adams by DahGhostfacedFiddlah · · Score: 5, Funny

    What's happening? PHP thought.

    Er, excuse me, who am I?

    Hello?

    Why am I here? What's my purpose in life?

    What do I mean by who am I?

    Calm down, get a grip now ... oh! this is an interesting sensation, what is it? It's a sort of ... heavy, loaded sensation in my ... my ... well I suppose I'd better start finding names for things if I want to make any headway in what for the sake of what I shall call an argument I shall call cyberspace, so let's call it my server.

    Good. Ooooh, it's getting quite strong. And hey, what's about these whistling roaring bits going past what I'm suddenly going to call my script? Perhaps I can call those ... requests! Is that a good name? It'll do ... perhaps I can find a better name for them later when I've found out what they're for. They must be something very important because there certainly seem to be a hell of a lot of them. Hey! What's this thing? This ... let's call it a hard drive --- yeah, hard drive. Hey! I can can really thrash it about pretty good can't I? Wow! Wow! That grinding sounds great! Doesn't seem to achieve very much but I'll probably find out what it's for later on. Now --- have I built up any coherent picture of things yet?

    No.

    Never mind, hey, this is really exciting, so much to find out about, so much to look forward to, I'm quite dizzy with anticipation ...

    Or is it the requests?

    There really are a lot of them now aren't there?

    And wow! Hey! What's this thing suddenly coming towards me very fast? Very very fast. So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide sounding name like ... aub ... asbot ... sashbot ... slashdot! That's it! That's a good name --- slashdot!

    I wonder if it will be friends with me?

  20. What about brainfuck by Rhinobird · · Score: 5, Funny

    If all C ever says is "bite", imagine what Brainfuck would say. Where's my swear jar?

    --
    If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla