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From: ins_aaaw@jhunix.UUCP (Adlai A. Waksman)
Newsgroups: net.jokes
Subject: Re: Yet Another Yet Another
Message-ID: <1774@jhunix.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 5-Feb-86 15:38:49 EST
Article-I.D.: jhunix.1774
Posted: Wed Feb  5 15:38:49 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 11-Feb-86 03:07:30 EST
References: <1983@gondor.UUCP>
Organization: TARDIS Repairs Inc.
Lines: 36

> In other words, we keep on getting Yet Another Yet Another!! (YAYA)

> For those of you who understand recursion, this series does not have an
> ending case.  In other words we are getting ourselves into a stack which
> will grow until it has tied up all the storage space on the network!!
> 
> It won't stop there - the network will spill onto other storage space, and
> soon every disk in the country will be filled with Yet Anothers.
> 
> (Imagine the stack's delight as it finds Yet Another Disk Drive.)

> The worst part about this is that I haven't the slightest idea what to do
> about it.  Best I can figure is that we have 6 months, a year at the most,
> before every hard disk, floppy, and mag tape in the world is used up!

There's a simple solution; in fact, it's the same as the solution proposed
here a while ago to the problem of /dev/null getting full and overflowing.

Empty the bit bucket (/dev/null) into itself.  (cat /dev/null >>/dev/null)
Eventually, it will reach critical density, and collapse into a black hole.
*Nothing* escapes once inside.  One or two of those should take care of the
infinite series of Yet Anothers quite handily.

p.s.: In fact, the existence of such a /dev/blackhole could explain the
      mysterious Line Eater.

-- 
Adlai Waksman
Mathematical Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD  21218
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