I see that I have once again completely failed to communicate. I agree with you. Really. Computer science is not about bioses and endianness and all the other technical minutiae of computers. Abstraction is good.

When we create an abstraction, though, we don't always know whether we are making something useful or (to quote the Cryptonomicon) wanking ourselves. Just because you abstracted something doesn't bring it into existence. I think that there are fundamental limits to what a computer of any type can do, which are set by information theory and physics. Those limits define the compass of computer science. If we sit around and postulate new kinds of computers without addressing the limits (maybe by circumventing them in some way), I think we're dangerously close to wanking.

Also, I think not using goto is more an issue of engineering discipline than computer science.

That's all. I will now do my best to shut up and not add any more incoherent rantings to this thread.

In reply to Re: I *definitely* agree with Dijkstra by no_slogan
in thread about Coolness, Impatience and Complexity by Blop

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