Re: Worst error messages of all time.

Article View: alt.folklore.computers

Article #4666

Back to alt.folklore.computers Previous Next

#4666

From: whe... Jerry Whelan
Date: Wed, 26 Sep 1990 01:40

15 lines
1425 bytes

In article <22...@opus.cs.mcgill.ca> pet...@opus.cs.mcgill.ca (Peter Deutsch) writes:
=> Another favorite, "Can't grok <string>" I believe this was
=> "lex"? Maybe "yacc"? ("LEX" is the Lexical analyser generator
=> program. "YACC" is "Yet Another Compiler Compiler").
=> Anyways, "grok" hasd found its way into the UNIX lexicon
=> as a general "I don't understand" lament.

	Just for the expansion of common knowledge, the term "grok"
originated in R.A. Heinlein's messianic "Stranger in a Strange Land."
It had a semi-mystical aura about it which probably explains why
the unix community adopted the term... 8)
(Good book too)
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
whelan@  (uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu || uhccux.BITNET || nextsrv.wslab.hawaii.edu)

Technical Details

Message-ID: <9560@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu>

Path:

mbox-mo1.pugleaf.net!gmdzi!unido!mcsun!sunic!hagbard!eru!bloom-beacon!snorkelwacker!usc!samsung!xanth!ames!uhccux!louie.wslab.Hawaii.Edu!whelan

References: <45094@apple.Apple.COM> <2288@opus.cs.mcgill.ca>

Show Full Headers

Complete Article Headers

Path: mbox-mo1.pugleaf.net!gmdzi!unido!mcsun!sunic!hagbard!eru!bloom-beacon!snorkelwacker!usc!samsung!xanth!ames!uhccux!louie.wslab.Hawaii.Edu!whelan
From: whe...@louie.wslab.Hawaii.Edu (Jerry Whelan)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: Worst error messages of all time.
Message-ID: <9560@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu>
Date: 26 Sep 90 01:40:32 GMT
References: <45094@apple.Apple.COM> <2288@opus.cs.mcgill.ca>
Sender: ne...@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu
Organization: Dot in the Deep Blue Sea
Lines: 15
Posted: Wed Sep 26 02:40:32 1990
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Reply to Parent Message