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From: spqr@ecs.southampton.ac.UK (Sebastian P Q Rahtz)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.icon
Subject: Re: What is ICON?
Message-ID: <539.8912200931@alonzo.ecs.soton.ac.uk>
Date: 20 Dec 89 09:31:46 GMT
References: <8912192202.AA10764@megaron.arizona.edu>
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 >    An American visitor to London once commented to me that in that city
 >    they erect railings to stop people from crossing the street mid-block.
 >    She commented that in America we believe in freedom, so we allow
 >    people to cross and kill themselves.
I have to tell you, from these wet and wild shores, that we don't have
blocks on our streets. our permissiveness and freedom is such  that
most of out cities are built higgledy-piggledy. We also tend to have
traffic lights that simply go green, rather than instructing
pedestrians to WALK.

Icon, of course, is neither wet nor higgledy-piggledy; it always
strikes me when I defend or describe it that one of the joys is that
fact that it has a specific origin, namely Arizona and Ralph Griswold.
Of course lots of people have worked on it, but there is still a
feeling that a small group is looking after the language because they
care, not to make money or satisfy a committee. We'll know to give up
when ISO appoint an Icon committee!

Sebastian Rahtz                        S.Rahtz@uk.ac.soton.ecs (JANET)
Computer Science                       S.Rahtz@ecs.soton.ac.uk (Bitnet)
Southampton S09 5NH, UK                S.Rahtz@sot-ecs.uucp    (uucp)