Congratulation
                                     on Your
                                 20th Birthday,
                                    Lady Ada

                                Christoph Grein


 Primeval times when Babbage dwelt:
 not were bit nor byte
 nor operating system,
 not hardware below
 nor above software,
 abyss abundant,
 but computer nowhere.

 And lo, there was Ada,
 and Ada separated the numbers
 and split them,
 in Zero and One did she split them.

 And there was Zuse,
 and Zuse created the beast Z1,
 which fed on the numbers
 created by Ada,
 and there was absolute joy among
 mankind.

 And mankind created languages
 that they be able to command the
 creatures
 which fed on the numbers,
 and the numbers were commands
 and the commands were numbers.

                      And there rose two giants,
                      Fortran and Algol.
                      And the giants were fruitful and
                      multiplied,
                      and sprang from them of languages
                      countless many:
                      APL and PL/1,
                      Simula and Jovial,
                      Lisp and Cobol.
                      And Wirth created Pascal and Modula.
                      And there were Oberon and Occam and
                      Eiffel,
                      C and C++,
                      Prolog and Smalltalk.

                      And there was a great confusion among
                      mankind,
                      and one man did not understand the
                      other man's words,
                      and some did not understand their own
                      words.

                                     And DoD spoketh:
                                     "Let us restore concord among mankind
                                     and create ONE language,
                                     that all men speak the same language,
                                     in the large as in the small."

                                     And there arose Strawman,
                                     and Strawman begat Woodenman,
                                     and Woodenman begat Tinman,
                                     and Tinman begat Ironman.
                                     Ironman however begat Steelman.

                                     And lo, from him emerged of colours four:
                                     Red, Green, Yellow and Blue.

                                     And the colours were weighed and found
                                     wanting
                                     except one.

                                     And ANSI spoketh to Green:
                                     "Ada shalt be thy name henceforth
                                     and servest all mankind
                                     in the large as in the small."

                                     And DoD spoketh:
                                     "Thou shalt not have another language
                                     beside Ada."

                                     And Ada shone in beauty,
                                     and it was the day of the Lord
                                     the 10th of December 1980.





The original was published in German on her 18th birthday. It can be found at

    http://home.T-Online.de/home/Christ-Usch.Grein/AdaMagica/18.html

this English version at

    http://home.T-Online.de/home/Christ-Usch.Grein/AdaMagica/20.html



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Mein Radunfall
My bike accident


Christoph Grein
Mitglied von Ada-Deutschland
Member of Ada Germany
http:/www.ada-deutschland.de

http://home.T-Online.de/home/Christ-Usch.Grein
eMail: [log in to unmask]