>>> IF IF = THEN THEN THEN = ELSE; ELSE ELSE = IF;

>> That's fairly tame compered to the lambda calculus.

> Since I am unfamiliar with lambda calculus, not being taught in the FORTRAN
> class I took at college, I looked it up on wikipedia.  After a few paragraphs,
> my eyes glazed over and could no longer focus.

What do you mean?

   λn· n (λj· (λx· (λy· y))) (λx· (λy· x))

It means "n == 0". What's so hard about that? ;-)

> At least I now understand where
> the lambda function in Python came from.

Yeah, probably.

> As far as COBOL is concerned, we
> typically assign new programmers to maintaining existing programs, some of
> which are over 15000 lines long.  I have heard that programs that size are not
> that unusual in the COBOL world.

I hope I never have to touch COBOL!

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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