Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site deepthot.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!deepthot!magi From: magi@deepthot.UUCP (David Wiseman) Newsgroups: net.jokes Subject: "C" for the Fifth Generation Message-ID: <157@deepthot.UUCP> Date: Tue, 14-Feb-84 14:32:23 EST Article-I.D.: deepthot.157 Posted: Tue Feb 14 14:32:23 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 15-Feb-84 07:11:25 EST Organization: UWO CS, London Canada Lines: 50 "HAI-c" "C" for the Fifth Generation While the overall goals of the current Japanese research effort in the area of artificial intelligence are well known, little has been revealed in the way of specific "product" developments. With the rising popularity of UNIX as the operating system for micro-computers, there has been great research interest, both academic and corporate, in developing a fifth generation equivalent of "C", the language and foundation of this versatile system. The Japanese have in the past expressed interest in "C" and, in a soon to be released article, will announce formal plans to create a fifth generation "C", tentatively called "HAI-c". Not much is currently known about the nature or content of the project; however, inside sources claim that the Japanese have always admired the "C" language for many qualities that are absent from other more familiar occidental languages, such as COBOL and PL/I. The language is structured and concise but is capable of expressing a myriad of almost mystical low-level programming concepts. This last problem has burdened Japanese technocrats for years; there has been no language which properly expresses the workings of the oriental mind. The fifth generation "C" is purported to be based on the ancient "haiku" poetry. This will be the perfect marriage of the so-called "oriental mind" with current software techniques. All functions and procedures will be 3 lines long and perfectly self-documenting. Programs will, for the first time, be profound and meaningful. The art community is said to be totally enthralled with the idea of computer programming raised to a literary level. Some western analysts are not so keen. We present here a small pre-release of a typical UNIX i/o driver and leave it to the reader to sit in either eager anticipation or total fear of what may eventually befall us. An anxious frog waits On an unobtrusive path The fly disappears++. The presentation of this material was made possible by a grant from deepthot!changft. magi (David Wiseman @ UWO Comp Sci, London Canada)