Date:  15 February 1983 02:52 mst
From:  Lippard.DSOP (James J. Lippard)
Subject:  Miscellaneous Digest V2 #9
Reply-To:  misc
To:   (Miscellaneous Mailing List)

Miscellaneous Digest                              Volume 2 : Issue 9

Today's topics:
		Real Analysts
		VALGOL
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[These messages are from Human-Nets Digest]
Date: 8 Feb 1983 2106-EST
From: John S. Labovitz <RMS.G.HNIJ at MIT-OZ>

This was from some issue of ComputerWorld between July and November
1982, in another column by Jean Tricebook.  I don't know how
applicable it is to the `hacker world,' but I think it's amusing.

                        *****

     `REAL ANALYSTS' DON'T LOST SLEEP OVER WALKTHROUGHS

     The person who was once a Real Programmer and is now struggling
to become a Real Analyst has a difficult transition to make.  Like
it or not, he must organize and plan projects, attempting to please
such diverse groups as operations, programming and users.  He's
probably already noticed that yelling at a programmer elicits a
response he never experienced when cursing at a terminal.

     If he's been an analyst since the days when his work was
mysterious and his word was law, the analyst needs new guidance now.
In this age of structured walk-throughs, standards manuals and tech
bulletins, how is an analyst to cope?

     Guidance is here.  The suggestions below should help the
systems analyst get his act together -- and they are listed in
unstructured format:

     - Real Analysts speak English.
     - Real Analysts have read at least one Yourdon book (with
which they did not fully agree).
     - Real analysts are not baffled by complex equipment, such
as the copier or telephone.
     - Real Analysts do not lose sleep before a walk-through.
     - Real Analysts say ``I don't know'' when they don't.
     - Real Analysts understand the more exotic Cobol verbs,
but cannot get a simple WRITE statement to work.
     - Real Analysts write in English.
     - Real Analysts know who does what in operations.
     - Real Analysts do not read code.
     - Real Analysts always leave the user smiling.
     - Real Analysts know what they are doing.
     - Real Analysts know each of the unique names by which
operations, programming, users and management refer to the same
system.
     - Real Analysts lack facility with TSS commands.
     - Real Analysts can maintain a cooperative relationship
with quality assurance.
     - Real Analysts can install a software package without
psychiatric treatment for hostility and anxiety.
     - Real Analysts are not intimidated by contractors.
     - Real Analysts can attend a meeting of the Technical
Standards Committee and still work the rest of the day.
     - Real Analysts don't work on weekends.
     - Real Analysts can't write JCL.
     - Real Analysts don't tell war stories about the good old
days.
     - Real Analysts are kind to programmers.
     - Real Analysts dress for success when they have a walk-
through.
     - Real Analysts read books like ``Effective Listening and
Communication Skills.''
--------------------
Date: 9-Feb-83 11:52 PST
From: WBD.TYM@OFFICE-3
Subject: The TRUE History Of VALGOL

From:  Don Andrews (dia.tym@office)

VALGOL I and II were developed by Val Shorre about the ed
Compilers).  The  VALGOL's were ALGOL-like languages implemented in
Val's Meta II compiler writing system.  All were revealed in "A
Syntax-Oriented Compiler Writing Language", D.  V. Shorre, but my
hardcopy does not have the name of the publication on it!!   Ah,
here we go-- it's the Proceedings of the 19th National Conference of
the  ACM, 1964.  --Don
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End of Miscellaneous Digest
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