Text-to-speech

[Brian van den Broek]

Paul McGuire said unto the world upon 2005-03-21 03:10:
> How about a clerihew instead of a limerick?
> 
> Guido van Rossum
> Had an idea most awesome.
> When he lost track of his braces,
> Just replaced them with spaces.
> 
> -- Paul McGuire
> 

Hi all,

that's pretty good, Paul.

However, I must insist that you both cease and desist.

Your "Allusion to the computational instructional language Python,
through the inclusion of 'brace' (and its derivative forms) and
'space' (and its derivative forms) in a rhyming couplet in a comedic
verse", while quite amusing, is a clear violation of my Intellectual
Property. My Intellectual Property rights are attested to by my extant
prior art <http://tinyurl.com/4bu3n>, the patent application pending 
before the Patent Office of The Republic of Freedonia covering same, 
and Darl McBride's say-so.

Having drafted a patent application covering the use of 'space' and
'brace' in poetic contexts, I saw no good reason to stop there. Hence,
the pending patent application also covers both the use of braces and
whitespace as delimiters (block or otherwise) in any language or set 
of instructions, (natural, computational or otherwise artificial). So, 
I must also demand that you, and the rest of the Python community 
immediately cease and desist from producing any instructions, in any 
language, which employ either of these syntactic constructs to 
represent either structure or relations of logical dependency.

Please do note that I make no claim to 'ENDSUB' and like constructs;
insofar as my Intellectual Property rights are concerned, you are free
to employ such constructs, in any linguistic expression, including,
but not limited to, provision of instruction and poetic expression,
regardless of context or language in which they are employed.

A formal statement of my position shall be forthcoming from my
solicitors, the illustrious firm of Dewey, Cheatem, & Howe. I am
optimistic that we will be able to arrive at licencing terms both fair
and equitable.

I remain your most faithful servant,

Brian vdB