>
> Andrew Davie wrote:
> > we should all use them. Registers which are not defined in that document,
> > or where that document is ambiguous or in error, will have been defined in
> > various forms by various programmers over the years. Certainly we should
> > NOT create new names for them - but should search for earlier use, and
> > especially for names which have become 'standard' due to their use by
> nearly
> > everyone.
>
> Basically I agree with this. But the registers were named by hardware guys,
> not programmers. And besides, back then many assemblers could only
> recognize symbols with 5 characters. These days we can make them
> essentially as long as we want. Maybe it would be nice to name the
> registers in such a way that the functionality of a program becomes more
> self-evident.
* Each of the registers has enough quirks that recongizing the name
is much, much less than half the battle. To achieve any kind of
real comprehension, you need to know a lot more than the name, so
having weirdly compressed names is only a tiny additional burden.
* If we whole heartedly embraced a new, more "human friendly" naming
scheme, newer programmers who "grew up" on the new schemes wouldn't
be able to understand the old stuff in the archives, and there would
be a generation gap and loss of knowledge.
* People are encouraged to make their own "variable name" equates as long
as they please...and if they pick more verbose names, it will be visually
clear that the scrunched ones are communication w/ TIA et al., while the
longer names are just memory locations for storing data.
* 4 and 5 letter names are old skool kewl.
> Oh, what was that movie with Mel Gibson in it? Not the Australian ones --
> Braveheart.
>
> Freedom!!!!
I like Terry Pratchett's take on that movie/slogan:
"'They can ta'k our live but they can never ta'k our freedom!' Now there's
a battle cry not designed by a clear thinker..."
> But if there is going to be a committee, I'd like to be on it.
> It sounds like a lot of fun. I like committees. Lots of talk, and not too
> much action. And there's always a troublemaker. Always. ;-)
Well, I don't think it sounds like too much fun...luckily not too much
more action is required, I think:
* locate the best vcs.h from the previous round of discussion from the
archives
* amend it if need be, maybe notes on arguments like some of the current
VCS.H s have
* Get the Dig and tutorials like mine and other entry points to programming
to promote the new canonical VCS.H
--
KirkIsrael@xxxxxxxxxxxxx http://kisrael.com
STUPIDITY "Quitters never win, winners never quit, but those
that never win AND never quit are idiots."
--Demotivators, http://www.despair.com
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