Re: Fighting Software Patents (Software Inventions Index)

[Gerard Vignes]

On Oct 26, 12:34 am, jellybean stonerfish <stonerf...@geocities.com>
wrote:
> On Thu, 25 Oct 2007 04:29:09 -0700, Gerard Vignes wrote:
>
> > 3.  Start laying the groundwork to fight future patent claims. We must
> > provide a global, public index to document when and by whom something
> > has already been invented. This is not the same as a code repository.
> > This is an index of software inventions (concepts, architectures,
> > designs, algorithms, data structures, ...) with structured references
> > to existing code which has implemented those software inventions.
>
> Great idea.  Have you started the work yet.  Let's see what you have
> cooking and maybe someone here will add some more meat.
>
> stonerfish

Thanks Stonefish!

This is not the format I am proposing. This is the concept I am
proposing. I doubt that any software company, no matter how predatory,
is arrogant enough to try and patent "Hello World". Still...

COMMON NAME:
Hello World

CONTEXT:
programming language -> first program -> hello world
programming language -> installation -> test -> hello world

SIGNIFICANCE:
"Hello World" is the generic name for a simple test program whose
purpose is to
(1) check a programmer's ability to code and run a simple program in
that language; and
(2) check the basic installation of a programming language's compiler/
interpreter and runtime environment.

FIRST KNOWN OCCURRANCE:
The C Programming Language, 1st ed., Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice
Hall. ISBN 0-13-110163-3.
Kernighan, Brian W.; Dennis M. Ritchie (February 1978).

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/cbook/

EXAMPLE CODE SNIPPET:

main() {
       printf("hello, world");
}

SYNONYMS:
Hello World!
HelloWorld
HelloWorld!

The actual format might look like an XML application of the Gang of
Four's "Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented
Software" (ISBN 0-201-63361-2. They prescribe a very elegant way of
describing design patterns. The challenge here is very similar,
although not limited to design patterns.

The purpose of the index I propose it to QUICKLY DOCUMENT AS MANY
SOFTWARE INVENTIONS AS POSSIBLE. Inventions can range from the
conceptual stage all the way to the implemented phase. This
documentation must be of sufficient quality to withstand a legal
challenge to its correctness. The keywords are SPEED, QUANTITY and
QUALITY. This is well within the abilities of the open source
community.

Gerard Marshall Vignes
Seattle, WA  98105