From: Eric S. Raymond Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2004 05:54:09 +0000 (+0000) Subject: Some more historical stuff. X-Git-Tag: 1.0~45 X-Git-Url: http://thyrsus.com/gitweb/?a=commitdiff_plain;h=2be0bf232e32ccd3b179f2c58c16cab924a847d8;p=mad.git Some more historical stuff. --- diff --git a/doc/mad-manual.xml b/doc/mad-manual.xml index 6994edb..5e7419d 100644 --- a/doc/mad-manual.xml +++ b/doc/mad-manual.xml @@ -98,14 +98,17 @@ formulas, but in the language syntax descriptions where script letters are used as metavariables. The whole is written in the rather stilted over-formal prose one typically finds in mathematical papers. -Certain phrasings in the manual suggest that the authors -thought of flowcharts as the primary notation for programs, and -considered MAD code a sort of hand-compiled derivative of it. This -made sense at the time; programming notations were clumsy and -primitive, and the typical complexity of programs was very low. -By five years later (roughly three or four Moore's-Law doublings) -flowcharting was going out of fashion, probably for the simple -reason that flowcharts were getting too large to draw and read! +Certain phrasings in the manual suggest that the authors thought +of flowcharts as the primary notation for programs, and considered MAD +code a sort of hand-compiled derivative of it. This made sense at the +time, though it would have made much more sense if the authors had +actually settled on a consistent notation (this manual uses at least +three conflicting styles). Programming languages were clumsy and +primitive, resources were scarce, and the typical complexity of +programs was very low. By five years later (roughly three or four +Moore's-Law doublings) flowcharting was going out of fashion, probably +for the simple reason that flowcharts were getting too large to draw +and read! There are some significant respects in which MAD was actually rather advanced for its period. The multiline WHENEVER statement @@ -1736,7 +1739,7 @@ L = J . -This statement casues the block of statements which follows +This statement causes the block of statements which follows immediately afterwards to be repeatedly executed, each time varying the value of some variable, until the specified list of values for that variable is exhausted, or until some specified condition is