It doesn't pass the sniff test because it stinks. By that definition, phonecalls are a "computer language" because it's both a communication standard and is regularly used to control devices*. Yet, not a single person in the world would agree that the protocol used by telephones is a "computer language".

<rant>There seems to be some fundamental misunderstanding of how computers work in the mind of the general public. What we do is not magic nor is it some completely new idiom in the history of mankind. We define tasks, then hand them off to a servant (slave, really) to do. The only difference between a computer programmer and a slaveowner in Rome is that our slave will do exactly what we say, has perfect recall, and will do it for as long as was asked for. We're not wizards in a tower stirring a bubbling cauldron containing Eye of Newt and Bat's Wings. Gah! We do nothing more than give directions from A to B.</rant>

* Remote detonation of a bomb is just the first example that comes to mind. Another is the standard automated thing that you get when you call your bank looking for a human.

My criteria for good software:
  1. Does it work?
  2. Can someone else come in, make a change, and be reasonably certain no bugs were introduced?

In reply to Re^7: Looking for old Perl CGI code by dragonchild
in thread Looking for old Perl CGI code by ton

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