Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site dartvax.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!harvard!talcott!panda!genrad!decvax!dartvax!merchant
From: merchant@dartvax.UUCP (Peter Merchant)
Newsgroups: net.jokes
Subject: Computer Bloopers
Message-ID: <3425@dartvax.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 2-Aug-85 10:01:39 EDT
Article-I.D.: dartvax.3425
Posted: Fri Aug  2 10:01:39 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 4-Aug-85 07:28:45 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Lines: 13

Well, the one I heard that I always liked is one of the old FORTRAN compilers
that would allow you to change the value of constants if you passed one to
a subroutine (or whatever FORTRAN calls them) because EVERYTHING was passed
by reference.

Thus, if you had a subroutine that added one to a passed argument and you passed
1 to this subroutine, the program would now be magically changed to add two
instead of one.

Now, I can't figure out for the life of me how this might have worked, but if
it did I think it's a definite classic.
--
"The summer seemed to last forever"                Peter Merchant