[Info-vax] VMS process communication

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 3/14/2023 4:01 PM, Steven Schweda wrote:
>> If you stop 100 random people on the street and ask about integers, then
>> 99 won't have a clue what you are talking about.
> 
>     99 might be high, but I'd guess at least 90.  Unless you choose the
> street _very_ carefully.
> 
> 
>> Those that remember their math should think of Z.
> 
>     You can't remember what you never learned.  I live in a country where
> store clerks can't make change for a dollar in their heads.  Back when I
> commonly used cash, and wasn't feeling depressed enough, I could buy
> something, hand over some bills, wait for the register to calculate the
> change, and then hand over some coins to reduce the number of coins
> returned.  And watch the puny-brain at the register suffer a complete
> intellectual collapse.
> 
>     So, no, I wouldn't expect 99% of "random people on the street" to
> have any idea what an integer is.
> 
>> The rest should vaguely remember that "numbers without decimals" are
>> called integers.
> 
>     "should" and "would" are spelled differently for a reason.
> 
>     Thirty-odd years ago, on a business trip to California, I had
> breakfast a few times at a Burger King in Fremont which was convenient
> to the motel.  I was late enough to miss the morning rush, so I dealt
> with the manager, who rang up the sale, entering the purchase total as
> the amount tendered.  He then made change, correctly, using his head
> rather than the register.  I was so thrilled by this performance that I
> almost wrote a commendation letter to the company.  But I realized that
> he was violating company policy, and decided not to risk getting him
> reprimanded (or worse).
> 
>     But he was an immigrant, not educated here.

I would expect those that went through high school to
know that:

N = natural
Z = integer
Q = rational
R = real

and those that went through college in something STEM related
to have heard of algebraic numbers, transcendental numbers and
complex numbers.

But maybe I have too high expectations.

Arne