Re: The Inform Designer's Manual


30 Dec 1995 22:56:30 GMT

In article <4c2api$a9t@grid.direct.ca>, Neil K. Guy <nkg@grid.direct.ca> wrote:
>Magnus Olsson (mol@marvin.df.lth.se) wrote:
>>[very atypical anti-American rhetoric deleted]

>I think that's a pretty accurate cultural observation. One that may
>offend some Americans, but in my experience valid.

I really can't believe I'm reading this kind of stuff from you two.
Tell me you had a bad day, please!

And if you want your notion of "American" textbooks challenged, get a copy
of Abelson and Sussman's _Structure and Interpretation of Computer
Programs_. Not being an MIT undergrad (thank you, Lord), I came to this
book late. It's by far the best introductory computer science book I've
ever encountered. Nothing like "spoon-feeding," and a damn sight better
written than any IF manual, American or otherwise.

>But like most North Americans I lack self-discipline when it comes to
>education...

Most North Americans? Speak for yourself! North America is so diverse I
imagine it's impossible to say *anything* nontrivial about "most" of them.

Sorry, but childish TADS vs. Inform politics are one thing. Negative
generalizations about entire continents are quite another!

For the record, I thought the anonymous criticisms were almost entirely
constructive (and usefully specific), acerbic as they may have been.

Dave Baggett
__
dmb@ai.mit.edu
"Mr. Price: Please don't try to make things nice! The wrong notes are *right*."
--- Charles Ives (note to copyist on the autograph score of The Fourth of July)