God created the bit... (fwd)

[tfreeman <tfreeman@vnet.net>]

I realize that this is _grossly_ off topic here, and I suspect that many
on the list may enjoy anyway. My appologies to those on the list who may
be offended - 

---------- Forwarded message ----------

In the beginning, God created the bit. And the bit was a zero.

On the first day, He toggled the 0 to 1, and the Universe was. (In
those days, bootstrap loaders were simple, and "active low" signals
didn't yet exist.)

On the second day, God's boss wanted a demo, and tried to read the
bit. This being volatile memory, the bit reverted to a 0. And the
universe wasn't. God learned the importance of backups and memory
refresh, and spent the rest of the day (and his first all-nighter )
reinstalling the universe.

On the third day, the bit cried "Oh, Lord! If you exist, give me a
sign!" And God created rev 2.0 of the bit, even better than the
original prototype.

Those in Universe Marketing immediately realized that "new and
improved" wouldn't do justice to such a grand and glorious creation.
And so it was dubbed the Most Significant Bit. Many bits followed,
but only one was so honored.

On the fourth day, God created a simple ALU with 'add' and 'logical
shift' instructions. And the original bit discovered that -- by
performing a single shift instruction -- it could become the Most
Significant Bit. And God realized the importance of computer
security.

On the fifth day, God created the first mid-life kicker, rev 2.0 of
the ALU, with wonderful features, and said "Screw that add and shift
stuff. Go forth and multiply." And God saw that it was good.

On the sixth day, God got a bit overconfident, and invented
pipelines, register hazards, optimizing compilers, crosstalk,
restartable instructions, microinterrupts, race conditions, and
propagation delays. Historians have used this to convincingly argue
that the sixth day must have been a Monday.

On the seventh day, an engineering change introduced Windows into the
Universe, and it hasn't worked right since.

(original author unknown)
------------------------------- End Forwarded -------------------------------

heh

chris
------------------------------- End Forwarded -------------------------------



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