| Greybeard | |
| An aging [unix hacker] type with an impressive [unix beard] that has now turned grey. Originally a young [neckbeard], these [Gandalf] resembling [curmudgeons] are renowned for their knowledge of theoretical computer science, arcane unix and complete inability to use a remotely contemporary computer. | |
| Typically employed in academia, they are a dying breed from an antediluvian age of 8" [floppies], magnetic tape and timeshared computing. Despite having invented multiuser OSes and the internet, Greybeards prefer to live in the past, where they consider [Fortran] to be a high level programming language. Typical Greybeard computers are dated [Sun workstations] or old PCs running a command line only [BSD] variant, Greybeards shun GUIs, unless they're horrible and dated, like CDE or [Amiga] Workbench. | |
| Some, like Edsger Dijkstra do most of their computer science as entirely theoretical exercises on paper and haven't programmed a computer since 1972. | |
| Contacting a greybeard can be dificult, due to their anti-social and neo-luddite nature. Your best bet is to give up on texting, facebook or the phone and instead try the unix finger command or [HAM radio]. | |
| Famous greybeards include: Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Ken Thompson, Richard M. Stallman, Edsger Dijkstra. | |
| Note: an actual beard can be optional, as demonstrated by Donald Knuth and Clifford Stoll. | |
| Example: The professor for my CS 320 class is a total greybeard! All his handouts are typset in LaTeX, he uses the chalkboard instead showing slides and the computer in his office is a Sun workstation! He only accepts classwork in Lisp and checks his email once a week! | |
| Source: http://pastebin.com/kMZ4hDf2 |
Enjoyable read, but including Dennis Ritchey but not Brian Kernighan?
There is no way you were taught by a Greybeard, he would have enforced a per line character limit on this. xD
There is no way you were taught by a Greybeard, he would have enforced a per line character limit on this. xD
Good point. Does it claim I was taught by a Greybeard?
There is no way you were taught by a Greybeard, he would have enforced a per line character limit on this. xD
Good point. Does it claim I was taught by a Greybeard?
No. No it does not. Oof.
I would welcome any edits to get it to the essence. I have completely forgot I posted this.
Ah no worries, I was just being a bit cheeky that day, it was a lovely read.
Appreciate it!
It's not dead yet: http://vmssoftware.com/updates_port.html
OpenVMS FTW!
It's not dead yet: http://vmssoftware.com/updates_port.html
Gives a 404...
...perfect way to end this thread ;-)
It is a perfect way to end!
But, we can do better. The page is archived on The Wayback Machine:
https://web.archive.org/web/2021*/http://vmssoftware.com/updates_port.html
Looks to be tangentially-related-to-the-topic post:
https://web.archive.org/web/20191015214540/http://vmssoftware.com/updates_port.html
I'm surprised no one mentioned that there was a typo in the spelling of Dennis Ritchie's name.
was your professor Mr Stone?