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[alt.folklore.computers] Re: YKYHBHTL...



------- Start of forwarded message -------
From: [email protected] (Gene Wirchenko)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers
Subject: Re: YKYHBHTL...
Date: Mon, 06 Oct 1997 15:02:33 GMT

[email protected] (Lord Xarph and his Orchestra) wrote:

>In article <[email protected]>, cbh@REMOVE_THIS.teabag.demon.co.uk (Chris Hedley) wrote:
>>I don't know the context, but there're still plenty of applications
>>out there where a mechanical relay is preferable to a solid-state
>>switch...
>
>Any electronic device that you want to survive a nuclear war. =)

     Imagine this scenario:

     There is a nuclear war on this planet.  Very little survives.
Some time after, aliens land on our planet to investigate.  They find
a variety of computers.  Being a peaceful race that emphasizes mental
abilities (as opposed to us and our material physics) and thus having
little experience with computers, they misclassify our computers.
>From the executive summary of their report:

Computer Technology on Earth

Sophistication:             most primitive     most advanced
Computer Type:              IC based           relay-based
Example of Type:            Pentium MMX        ENIAC
Condition of Artifacts:     nonfunctional      some fully functional

     Obviously, as computer technology advanced on Earth, computers
became more durable, but due to the extreme requirements of this more
advanced technology, only a few instances of it have been found.

     Although we have been unable to find a runnable instance of it,
we understand from translation of hard copy documentation
(surprisingly hard to find) that the more primitive computer systems
were picture-based.  We surmise that as language developed on Earth,
it became more text-based and that that was reflected in the design of
its computers.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

C Pronunciation Guide:
     y=x++;     "wye equals ex plus plus semicolon"
     x=x++;     "ex equals ex doublecross semicolon"
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