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+-   First spoof language (INTERCAL) author reveals all on Friday July 04 2008, @12:53AM Anonymous Coward

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 04 2008, @12:53AM
programming
An anonymous reader writes "Techworld's examination of the history of programming languages takes a humourous turn with an interview with Don Woods, creator of the spoof INTERCAL language who reveals the history behind the spoof language, and the story of Google's INTERCAL style guide: What prompted the name Compiler Language With No Pronounceable Acronym? And how on earth did you get INTERCAL out of this? I think we actually started with the name INTERCAL. I'm not sure where it came from; probably it just sounded good. (Sort of like FORTRAN is short for "Formula Translation", INTERCAL sounds like it should be short for something like "Interblah Calculation"). I don't remember any more specific etymology. Then when we wanted to come up with an acronym, one of us thought of the paradoxical "Compiler Language With No Pronounceable Acronym." Has anyone ever accidentally taken INTERCAL to be a serious programming language? Heavens, I hope not! (Though I was concerned YOU had done so when you first contacted me!)"
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