Real Programmers Don't Use Pascal: Difference between revisions

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"'''Real Programmers Don't Use Pascal'''"<ref> The title is a parody of the bestselling 1982 tongue-in-cheek book on stereotypes about masculinity ''[[Real Men Don't Eat Quiche]]''</ref> is an essay<ref>{{cite web

| url = http://www.ee.ryerson.ca/~elf/hack/realmen.html

| title = Real Programmers Don't Use Pascal

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}}</ref> about [[computer programming]] written by Ed Post of [[Tektronix, Inc.]], and published in July 1983 as a [[letter to the editor]] in ''[[Datamation]]''.<ref>Volume 29 number 7</ref>

Widely circulated on [[Usenet]] in its day, and well- known in the computer software industry<ref> {{cite articleweb

| url = http://www.th-soft.com/zzJargon/R.htm#Real_Programmer

| title = Real Programmer

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| author = Eric S. Raymond, editor

| accessdate = 2008-03-28

}} </ref> the article compares and contrasts ''real programmers'', who use punch cards and write programs in [[FORTRAN]] or [[assembly language]], with modern-day "quiche eaters" who use programming languages such as [[Pascal (programming language)|Pascal]] which support [[structured programming]] and impose restrictions meant to prevent or minimize common [[software bug|bug]]s due to inadvertent programming logic errors. Also mentioned are feats such as the inventor of the [[Cray-1]] supercomputer toggling in<ref> ''Toggling in'' refers to setting an array of [[toggle switch]]es or rocker switches which supplement program memory </ref> the first operating system for the [[CDC 7600]] through the front panel without notes when it was first powered on.

The next year [[Ed Nather]]’s "The realest programmer of all"<ref name=usenet-1984-11-20>Matt Crawford [http://groups.google.com/group/net.jokes/browse_thread/thread/936255290cc94a96 The realest programmer of all] Newsgroup: net.jokes November 20, 1984.</ref> [[USENET]] posting extended the theme, as have many subsequent articles,<ref> {{cite journal

| url = http://csdl2.computer.org/persagen/DLAbsToc.jsp?resourcePath=/dl/mags/so/&toc=comp/mags/so/1995/06/s6toc.xml&DOI=10.1109/52.469755

| author = Ian Gorton

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| accessdate = 2008-03-28

| doi = 10.1109/52.469755

}} </ref><ref> {{cite web

| url = http://www.cs.utah.edu/~elb/folklore/afs-paper.ps

| title = The Heroic Hacker: Legends of the Computer Age

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| page = 4

| accessdate = 2008-03-28

}} </ref><ref> {{cite web

| url = http://www.suslik.org/Humour/Computer/Langs/real_prog2.html

| title = More About Real Programmers

| accessdate = 2008-03-28

}} </ref> cartoons<ref>[http://xkcd.com/378/ REAL programmers] xkcd.com</ref> and in-jokes&mdash;with the alleged defining features of a "Real Programmer" differing with time and place, in the way of the "[[no true Scotsman]]".

==See also==

{{Wikipedia books|Real Programmers Don't Use Pascal}}

*[[Real Men Don't Eat Quiche]] - arguably the model for Real Programmers Don't Use Pascal

*[[Real Programmer]]

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==External links==

{{Wikipedia books|Real Programmers Don't Use Pascal}}

*[http://www.ee.ryerson.ca/~elf/hack/realmen.html Real Programmers Don't Use Pascal (full original)]

[[Category:Computer folklore]]

[[Category:Pascal]]

{{Compu-lang-stub}}