DougMerritt

Although its core is low level, PostScript is a pretty good language by some metrics; it's often been claimed to be a (supposedly accidental) dialect of Forth with some powerful features bolted on.

What makes Zmachine.ps so bad? Certain programming issues, or are you going off a general feel?

Years ago, somewhere I read that children have a genetically-based urge to avoid bitter flavors, since they may signal natural poisons, whereas adults can judge better, so the urge is lessened.

(And even if that source were true, that wouldn't make the genetic effect an absolute; it would depend on individual genetics and the variable expression of those genes. And probably on the individual's experience, either as a child or as an adult.)

> we shouldn't judge coffee based on months-old pre-ground grocery store roasts.

Next you'll be claiming that we shouldn't judge sushi based on months-old grocery store sushi.

> I am now just going to go through the (single file) of code and just fix it myself.

That's front page news, in this era.

This appears to be mercifully shorter and less intimidating than the must-have bible, "Curtis Roads. The Computer Music Tutorial. MIT Press, Cambs, MA, 1996".

It says it was originally published by Wiley in 2009, and the rights reverted to the author in 2025, whereupon the author released it on the net for free.

It's not uncommon to have a regression test for compilers that are written in their own language (e.g. some C compilers): compile each new version with itself, then use that to compile itself again, then use the result on unit tests or whatever, which should yield the same results as before.

The point being that determinism of a particular form is expected and required in the instances where they do that.

(I'm not arguing for or against that, I'm simply saying I've seen it in real life projects over the years.)

That's an excellent question, but the answer would depend on goals and the evaluation system used.

It seems to me that CEOs have a different opinion than anyone who cares instead about actual people.

SO is the website Stack Overflow.

Life mimics art.

Yep; this has frustrated me for two decades.