What is the name of the song?

Software Maintenance Blog

William A Clements

What is the name of the song?
      In my undergraduate Programming Language class, we, the class, were able to get the professor off on a side tangent. On one of these occasions, the professor referenced a scene in “Through the Looking Glass” by Lewis Carroll. As some of you might know Lewis Carroll mostly wrote mathematic books, except for Alice in Wonderland series, which has several mathematic under tones, one of which I am about to point out.
      In the scene, Alice is walking with the White Knight, and they have just finished coming to end of woods. Alice’s expression are mis-interrupted by the Knight:

“Alice could only look puzzled: she was thinking of the pudding.
`You are sad,' the Knight said in an anxious tone: `let me sing you a song to comfort you.'
`Is it very long?' Alice asked, for she had heard a good deal of poetry that day.
`It's long,' said the Knight, `but it's very, very beautiful. Everybody that hears me sing it -- either it brings the tears into their eyes, orelse --'
`Or else what?' said Alice, for the Knight had made a sudden pause.
`Or else it doesn't, you know. The name of the song is called "Haddocks' Eyes".'
`Oh, that's the name of the song, is it?' Alice said, trying to feel interested.
`No, you don't understand,' the Knight said, looking a little vexed. `That's what the name is called. The name really is "The Aged Aged Man".'
`Then I ought to have said "That's what the song is called"?' Alice corrected herself.
`No, you oughtn't: that's quite another thing! The song is called "Ways and Means": but that's only what it's called, you know!'
`Well, what is the song, then?' said Alice, who was by this time completely bewildered.
`I was coming to that,' the Knight said. `The song really is "A-sitting On a Gate": and the tune's my own invention.'
So saying, he stopped his horse and let the reins fall on its neck: then, slowly beating time with one hand, and with a faint…”[ ]

       The knight pointed out four ways of identifying something. The following example pointed out the differences in these four measures of identification. The first example identifies our national anthem. The second example is what one would see in typical programming language of an assignment of an variable. The third example represents the different definitions/scope of an object in Object Oriented Programming.

Four Definitions	Example 1	Example 2(int A = 2;)	Example 3 (OO)
The name of the song is called	National Anthem	Integer	Declaration
The name is called	Song	A	Instance
The song is called	“Oh say can you see”	Value/Variable	Definition
The song is	America the Beautiful	2 or Number	Symbolizes

Table 1: Illustration of Lewis Caroll's four different definitions