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Re: Manual does say left to right
- To: DALTON FHL (on ERCC DEC-10) <J.Dalton%edxa@ucl-cs.arpa>
- Subject: Re: Manual does say left to right
- From: Guy.Steele@CMU-CS-A.ARPA
- Date: Thu, 13 Dec 1984 06:32:00 -0000
- Cc: common-lisp@SU-AI.ARPA
- In-reply-to: <131716-530-041@EDXA>
More and more I am reminded of the incident in which Asimov attended
a lecture on the subject of one of his short stories. The lecturer
made several remarks of the form "this part of the story has thus-and-so
purpose" and "clearly the author had X in mind in writing that passage".
Afterward Asimov came up to the lecturer and politely disagreed with
some of these points, suggesting other interpretations. They had a
friendly discussion but the lecturer did not yield, and finally Asimov
played his trump card: "Well, I think I might know what the author
had in mind because I am the author!" The lecturer smiled and said,
"Oh, my goodness, I am very glad to meet you, Dr. Asimov; but tell me:
just because you wrote the story, what makes you think you know
anything about it?"
Well, just because I wrote all the words in the CL manual doesn't mean
I know any more than anyone else about what's in it. I'm sure a good
deal of work remains for careful reviewers, critics, and exegetes.
--Guy