In memory of my first program...

The Evolution of a Program

High School/Jr.High

        10 PRINT "HELLO WORLD"
        20 END

First year in College

        program Hello(input, output)
        begin
           writeln('Hello World')
        end.

Senior year in College

        (defun hello
          (print
            (cons 'Hello (list 'World))))

New professional

        #include stdio.h
        void main(void)
        {
          char *message[] = {"Hello ", "World"};
          int i;

          for(i = 0; i < 2; ++i)
            printf("%s", message[i]);
          printf("\n");
        }

Seasoned professional

        #include iostream.h
        #include string.h

        class string
        {
        private:
          int size;
          char *ptr;

        public:
          string() : size(0), ptr(new char('\0')) {}

          string(const string &s) : size(s.size)
          {
            ptr = new char[size + 1];
            strcpy(ptr, s.ptr);
          }

          ~string()
          {
            delete [] ptr;
          }

          friend ostream &operator <<(ostream &, const string &);
          string &operator=(const char *);
        };

        ostream &operator<<(ostream &stream, const string &s)
        {
          return(stream << s.ptr);
        }

        string &string::operator=(const char *chrs)
        {
          if (this != &chrs)
          {
            delete [] ptr;
           size = strlen(chrs);
            ptr = new char[size + 1];
            strcpy(ptr, chrs);
          }
          return(*this);
        }

        int main()
        {
          string str;

          str = "Hello World";
          cout << str << endl;

          return(0);
        }

Apprentice Hacker

        #!/usr/local/bin/perl
        $msg="Hello, world.\n";
        if ($#ARGV = 0) {
          while(defined($arg=shift(@ARGV))) {
            $outfilename = $arg;
            open(FILE, "" . $outfilename) || die "Can't write $arg:
 $!\n";
            print (FILE $msg);
            close(FILE) || die "Can't close $arg: $!\n";
          }
        } else {
          print ($msg);
        }
        1;

Experienced Hacker

        #include stdio.h
        #define S "Hello, World\n"
        main(){exit(printf(S) == strlen(S) ? 0 : 1);}

Seasoned Hacker

        % cc -o a.out ~/src/misc/hw/hw.c
        % a.out

Guru Hacker

        % cat
        Hello, world.
        ^D

New Manager

        10 PRINT "HELLO WORLD"
        20 END

Middle Manager

        mail -s "Hello, world." bob@b12
        Bob, could you please write me a program that prints "Hello, world."?

        I need it by tomorrow.
        ^D

Senior Manager

        % zmail jim
        I need a "Hello, world." program by this afternoon.

Chief Executive

        % letter
        letter: Command not found.
        % mail
        To: ^X ^F ^C
        % help mail
        help: Command not found.
        % damn!
        !: Event unrecognized
        % logout

Return back to my home page...