> Randy Smith wrote:.. something to do with software engineering: I seem to
> recall an extremely boring aspect of the study of programming langugages
> being that a proper programming language possesses 3 properties:
> generality, orthogonality, and *something else*.
Obscurity. Programming languages must be complicated enough and
obscure enough that the boss cannot figure out how to read the code,
thus ensuring job security for the coders.
Orthogony was similarly introduced at a technical programmers
society, when a presenter could not think of a word, she improvised
and said "orthogony" without missing a beat. The audience, not wishing
to appear ignorant or non-hip, all nodded in complete understanding,
emperor's-new-clothing style. The term continues to be used in technical
conferences to this day with no one admitting they dont know what it is.
Goofing partially aside, if a term isnt widely known, it should be discarded.
spike
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