Power law distribution. A small percentage of the content gets a large proportion of views and attention, because it's the best content that everyone wants to see. This particular article is probably something like the top 1% of the top 1% of all the internet content about programming.
1995 - Brendan Eich reads up on every mistake ever made in designing a programming language, invents a few more, and creates LiveScript. Later, in an effort to cash in on the popularity of Java the language is renamed JavaScript. Later still, in an effort to cash in on the popularity of skin diseases the language is renamed ECMAScript.
When I first saw ECMAScript mentioned, I read it as ECZEMAscript.
I didn't know that, but as another commenter point out in another thread, part of he humor about pearl is that Larry Wall is really religious:
While in graduate school at University of California, Berkeley, Wall
and his wife were studying linguistics with the intention afterwards of
finding an unwritten language, perhaps in Africa, and creating a writing
system for it. They would then use this new writing system to translate
various texts into the language, among them the Bible. Due to health
reasons these plans were cancelled, and they remained in the United
States, where Larry instead joined the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
after he finished graduate school.
For a more accurate, informative and very digestible history of the evolution of programming languages, I urge you to watch this. It really is worth it!
Lore has it that in the golden days of IBM, Casual Friday meant you could work with your suit jacket unbuttoned.
While we're calling out our favorites, I'll nominate Prolog. I know nothing about Prolog but that entry makes me laugh every time. "His goal is to create a language with the intelligence of a two year old. He proves he has reached his goal by showing a Prolog session that says "No." to every query."
23 comments
[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 63.8 ms ] threadhttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3503896 45 comments
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https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5695816 33 comments
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https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6953863 12 comments
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6504217 8 comments
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5804668 5 comments
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3504010 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1327881 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5804907
- HN user base is growing
- the post is fun, entertaining or technically valid
- Internet is small and we stumble on the same cat pictures
I can't stop laughing.
:)
http://xkcd.com/297/
"These are your father's parentheses..."
I didn't know that, but as another commenter point out in another thread, part of he humor about pearl is that Larry Wall is really religious:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Wall#Educationhttp://tjathurman.tumblr.com/post/64695616290/molesworth-1
(and for those who don't get the background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Molesworth )
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JxAXlJEmNMg
Love it.
While we're calling out our favorites, I'll nominate Prolog. I know nothing about Prolog but that entry makes me laugh every time. "His goal is to create a language with the intelligence of a two year old. He proves he has reached his goal by showing a Prolog session that says "No." to every query."