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From: wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Jerry Pournelle and Stupidity
Message-ID: <748@neoucom.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 8-Nov-87 10:29:08 EST
Article-I.D.: neoucom.748
Posted: Sun Nov  8 10:29:08 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 11-Nov-87 04:29:34 EST
References: <8711061634.AA29055@decwrl.dec.com>
Organization: Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine
Lines: 28
Summary: After the comments, I had to go back and read Jer's column


I found good ole Jer's comments about modula 2 being the first
inherrently parallel language rather amusing.  I don't know if
the creators of Ada or Occam would be so amused, though.  I'm sort
of surpriesed that Jerry doesn't know about Occam, since Inmos
ported it for the Transputer.  For a while you could even buy a
transputer card for that Apple II.  And I thought Jer was an avaid
Atari-phile.  He ought to know all about the transputer.  I can see
it now, Jack T.'s emphemeral (vaporware?) computer with a
transputer running a CP/M emulator written in modula 2, running
MBASIC, running Jerry's wonderful accounting software.

I'm puzzled by Jerry's arogance and lack of sophistication that
comes across in Byte.  I've read him in other magazines where he
comes offf pretty much as a rational, somewhat intelligent, nice
guy.  At first, I didn't recognize Jerry when he appeared on "The
Computer Show", as I was expecting somebody with a Chaos Manner
mentality and appearance that my mental image had constructed.

Really, Byte does waste qutie a lot of space on Jerry's column.  I
can't imagine who reads it.  It doesn't seem like it would be of
interest to the IBM-blue-droids that the rest of Byte's editorial
content is aimed at.  I don't understand why his editors permit him
to say things that are so obviously incorrect and mis-informed.
Perhaps, Jer is a mojority stock holder so something?

Bill
(wtm@neoucom.UUCP)