Real floklore -- a computer joke

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4 total messages Started by jo... Douglas W. Jones201H MLH31... Tue, 19 Dec 1989 15:11

#514

Author: jo... Douglas W. Jones201H MLH31...
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 1989 15:11

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Here's a joke I remember hearing back in the 1970s.  Does anyone know who
originated it?

  An architect, a hooker and a programmer were talking one evening, and
  somehow, the discussion turned to which profession was the oldest.

  "Come on, you guys!  Everyone knows mine is the oldest profession,"
  said the hooker.

  "Ah," said the architect, "but before your profession existed, there
  had to be people, and who was there before people?"

  "What are you getting at, God?"  The hooker asked.

  "And was He not the divine architect of the universe?" The architect
  asked, looking smug.

  The programmer had been silent, but now he spoke up.  "And before God
  took on himself the role of an architect, what was there?"

  "Darkness and chaos," the hooker said.

  "And who do you think created chaos?" the programmer said.

I think there was once a system called CHAOS (an operating system, judging
by the trailing OS), and of course, this joke alludes more literally to the
role of programmers in creating chaos.

  				Doug Jones
  				jo...@herky.cs.uiowa.edu

Re: Real floklore -- a computer joke

#515

Author: Wm E. Davidsen Jr
Date: Mon, 25 Dec 1989 02:36

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In article <3...@ns-mx.uiowa.edu> jo...@pyrite.cs.uiowa.edu (Douglas W. Jones,201H MLH,3193350740,3193382879) writes:

| I think there was once a system called CHAOS (an operating system, judging
| by the trailing OS), and of course, this joke alludes more literally to the
| role of programmers in creating chaos.

CHAOS is an OS for a LISP environment, among other things.
-- 
	bill davidsen - sysop *IX BBS and Public Access UNIX
davidsen@sixhub.uucp		...!uunet!crdgw1!sixhub!davidsen

"Getting old is bad, but it beats the hell out of the alternative" -anon

Re: Real floklore -- a computer joke

#516

Author: shiffman... Hank Shiffman
Date: Mon, 25 Dec 1989 17:29

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In article <239@sixhub.UUCP> davidsen@sixhub.UUCP (bill davidsen) writes:
>In article <3...@ns-mx.uiowa.edu> jo...@pyrite.cs.uiowa.edu (Douglas W. Jones,201H MLH,3193350740,3193382879) writes:
>
>| I think there was once a system called CHAOS (an operating system, judging
>| by the trailing OS), and of course, this joke alludes more literally to the
>| role of programmers in creating chaos.
>
>CHAOS is an OS for a LISP environment, among other things.

Nope.  Chaosnet was the original *networking* protocol for the MIT
Lisp Machines, later used by Symbolics, LMI and TI.  It included both
the networking hardware and the communication protocol which ran on
it.  The Chaos hardware, which had a maximum throughput of 6 megabits
per second, was replaced by Ethernet by the time Lisp Machines left
MIT.  The Chaosnet software protocols are, as far as I know, still the
default for Symbolics machines.  (IP-TCP and Decnet are available at
extra cost.)

BTW, the Chaosnet name referred to the fact that there was no master/
slave relationship among the hosts in the network, unlike IBM's SNA.
Since there was no hierarchy and everybody was free to try to initiate
communication whenever they wanted, the name Chaosnet seemed awfully
appropriate.

-- 
Hank Shiffman                                     (415) 336-4658
Marketing Technical Specialist
Software Engineering Technologies               ...!sun!shiffman
Sun Microsystems, Inc.                          shif...@Sun.com

Zippy sez:
  UH-OH!!  I put on ``GREAT HEAD-ON TRAIN COLLISIONS of the 50's''
 by mistake!!!

Re: Real floklore -- a computer joke

#517

Author: s... Stephen Crawley
Date: Mon, 08 Jan 1990 21:57

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In article <3...@ns-mx.uiowa.edu> jo...@pyrite.cs.uiowa.edu writes:
>
> I think there was once a system called CHAOS (an operating system, judging
> by the trailing OS), and of course, this joke alludes more literally to the
> role of programmers in creating chaos.
>

The operating system of the Cambridge CAP computer was called CHAOS.  Sadly, 
the CAP still sits in the Titan Room with its power off.  It depended on
the Cambridge Ring world for its file system etc, and the ring world has 
been dismantled.  So much for progress ...

-- Steve

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