the python name

[DL Neil]

On 8/01/19 12:04 PM, Dennis Lee Bieber wrote:
> On Tue, 8 Jan 2019 10:10:13 +1300, DL Neil <PythonList at DancesWithMice.info>
> declaimed the following:
> 
>>
>> Why is that obscure? It makes perfect sense - to those of us who have
>> used tape/serial storage! Perhaps less-so to [bobble-heads], sorry I
>> mean people who grew-up with 'bubble memory' (Memory sticks, 'flash
>> drives', SSDs). In point-of-fact, Python Context Managers
>>
> 	Apologies, but "bubble memory" is something completely different --
> using movable magnetic domains rather than capacitive charged bits.


You are correct.

Although, back in the days of such excitement: that we had a 
rapidly-approaching possibility of a cost-effective alternative to other 
forms of memory - particularly 'spinning rust'; only the electrical 
engineers worried too much about the underlying technologies. In fact, 
many of the early devices were too optimistic and didn't enjoy 
longevity. However, with persistence (hah!) here we are today, taking 
SSDs for granted...


As mentioned 'elsewhere', that particular team I joined had their 
average-age considerably elevated when I arrived. As such an object of 
curiosity, one of the things noticed was that I ("pomodoro") take 
regular seat-breaks to stretch and move. Apparently, the arm and 
shoulder-loosening movements gained fans, so one tea-break I arrived to 
find them all lined-up around the room, with joined hands, doing a 
night-club dance version of the Brazilian Wave and giggling insanely.

However, as some (already) suffer neck and head-aches, I was(seriously) 
asked for ideas to combat that common oppression. I taught them to 
rotate the head (slowly, but fully) sideways (in the fashion of a 
westerner saying "no") + three repeats, then to nod (westerner saying 
"yes") etc, and finally to 'waggle' the top of the head side-to-side 
(Indian "agreement").

Perhaps you can imagine the next tea-time, dance-floor routine! In 
between chuckles, I referred to them as a bunch of "bubble-heads". (with 
some dispute as to whether I actually said "bobble-heads", but the term 
took their fancy and entered into common parlance)...

At about the same time, someone turned-up with a bust of Mozart, 
Beethoven, or some-such; making a point about having stiff necks that 
felt solid... The next thing I knew, someone else has added to the 
collection, a particularly ugly bobble-head doll. A day or so later, 
someone else 'improved' on it with a bobble-headed dog...

Finally, during a meeting last week (just before this conversation 
on-list), someone made the mistake of describing an incomplete idea as 
"bubbling-up in my mind", which utterly brought the house down!

With lightning wit (moving at a speed which belies my years) I took full 
advantage by claiming that not just he, but they all have having 
bobble/bubble memories!

(you don't have to be mad to work here - but it helps!)


OK, so that's more than you ever wanted to know about why I (erroneously 
or otherwise) used such a term...

Refs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2E8f-_ERl0
http://www.bobbledad.com/man-in-mankini-bobblehead
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?LH_CAds=&_ex_kw=&_fpos=&_fspt=1&_mPrRngCbx=1&_nkw=bobble+head+dog&_sacat=&_sadis=&_sop=12&_udhi=&_udlo=&_fosrp=1
(here do we stumble upon the reason eBay's server is called "rover"?)


>> Why "print"? I thought I was displaying something on the screen (indeed
>> STDIO might go to a file, eg log-like). Whither print?
>>
> 	Using the wrong language then... COBOL has DISPLAY <G>

Indeed, and it survived into the CICS/terminal-based era!
(although these days I recommend handing-off to HTML as a front-end - I 
guess then I should observe that HTML has no command to display/print!)


> 	Why "print" -- least surprise! Languages back to FORTRAN (and predating
> terminals) had "print" as the quick&dirty output statement (vs the more
> complex formatted output). FORTRAN, BASIC, Pascal, probably Modula-2.

"Print" only has "least-surprise" to those of us who can claim a history 
like yours/ours. When we used Teletype terminals and all user 
(human-readable) output went to a line printer, then the word was 
appropriate. To programming neophytes it makes no sense whatsoever, any 
more than would "type".

 From your own description, what about "output"?

DISPLAY works for me. I've heard folk talk about "emit", there's 
"write"*, and "type", "present", "exhibit" - from photography 
"expose"... Going to an ink-jet printer could we say "spit" or to a 
laser, "burn"?

Referring back to an earlier point, I don't "print" but have developed 
the habit of using another, specific function/method to "log"!

* with the recent move to f-strings (Py3.3 was it? - haven't gone back 
to look it up) and the articles discussing their advantages over 
what-went-before, reminded me very much of the essential logic of 
FORTRAN's READ/WRITE and FORMAT statements!


>> Reminds me of the person who upon being told to move his mouse to the
>> top of the screen, picking-up the device and raised it from the desk
>> surface. Made sense to him!
>>
> 	And with modern sensors, would make sense for a 3-D modeling program
> <G>

+1

Yes, I use a Wacom drawing tablet to highlight and annotate screen text 
for presentations. Many times I have thought that the old light pens 
were a better idea, eg http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/2250.html
(PS the "2250" was a fore-runner of the venerable IBM 3270 terminal (and 
extant protocol of the same name) - an IBM 1130 was my first "PC")

-- 
Regards =dn