[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Microsoft Proves Pronouns Patentable
Forwarded from the W3C list: > Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2004 19:24:07 -0400 > From: TheoDP@a... > To: public-web-plugins@w... > Subject: Microsoft Proves Pronouns Patentable Five days after arguing that the Eolas browser plug-in patent should be invalidated as obvious, Microsoft pocketed a patent of its own for 'Computer programming language pronouns', which covers the use of ellipses, blanks, and ditto marks as substitutes for names in a computer programming language. Perhaps the USPTO was won over by the patent's eloquent conclusion: 'Eliminating names is a substantial benefit as programmers dislike creating names.' See the patent at: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=6,748,585 --------- Computer programming language pronouns Abstract: Programming language constructs called pronouns and referents, and a method, system, and apparatus for translating computer source code that contains the pronouns and referents. A referent is any semantic or syntactic construct in the source code (e.g., a statement, a portion of a statement, an expression, or a value) to which a pronoun refers. A pronoun is a programming-language defined source-code symbol or a sequence of symbols that refers to the referent. As a result, pronouns eliminate the need to define new names or macros for repeated program segments. When a translator encounters the pronoun in the source code, the translator searches the source code for the referent and substitutes the referent for the pronoun. Thus, by using pronouns and referents, the programmer can write programs faster and easier and eliminate program redundancy without losing readability. We claim: 1. A computerized method for translating source code, where the source code is written in a high-level programming language, comprising: - recognizing a pronoun in the source code, wherein the pronoun is defined by the programming language; and - finding a referent in the source code, wherein the pronoun refers to the referent, and wherein the referent is defined by a programmer of the source code ------------- Note to XML-DEV readers: if this sounds bizarre, remember that Todd Dickinson (Director of the US Patent and Trademark Office) believed it should be possible to patent a football (timing) play or a legal argument, if they were new and 'non-obvious'. (http://xml.coverpages.org/patents.html#Dvorak) Scary as it may be, there are living human beings who actually think this way; they get jobs at the USPTO.
|
PURCHASE STYLUS STUDIO ONLINE TODAY!Purchasing Stylus Studio from our online shop is Easy, Secure and Value Priced! Download The World's Best XML IDE!Accelerate XML development with our award-winning XML IDE - Download a free trial today! Subscribe in XML format
|