Editing MAD (programming language) (section)

== MAD, Mad magazine, and Alfred E. Neuman ==

[[File:MAD-alfie-1960.jpg|thumb|right|Line printer output following a MAD compiler error on an IBM 704 computer at the University of Michigan, c. 1960]]

In a pre-release version of the original MAD, as a reference to MAD's namesake, ''[[Mad (magazine)|Mad]]'' magazine, when a program contained too many compile time errors the compiler would print a full-page picture of [[Alfred E. Neuman]] using [[ASCII art]]. The caption read, "See this man about your program--He might want to publish it. He never worries--but from the looks of your program, you should."<ref name=UnisysMad/> This feature was not included in the final official version.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shneiderman |first1=Ben |last2=Plaisant |first2=Catherine |date=May 7, 2004 |title=Designing the user interface |publisher=[[Addison Wesley]] |edition=4th |isbn=978-0-321-19786-3}}</ref> However, it was included in the production version for the IBM 7040.

And Bernie Galler remembers:
:By the time we designed the language that we thought would be worth doing and for which we could do a compiler, we couldn't call it Algol anymore; it really was different. That's when we adopted the name MAD, for the Michigan Algorithm Decoder. We had some funny interaction with the Mad magazine people, when we asked for permission to use the name MAD. In a very funny letter, they told us that they would take us to court and everything else, but ended the threat with a P.S. at the bottom - "Sure, go ahead." Unfortunately, that letter is lost.<ref name=BernieGallerInterview>{{cite journal |last1=Galler |first1=Bernard A. |last2=Galler |first2=Enid H. |date=January 2001 |title=A Career Interview with Bernie Galler |pages=22–33 |journal=[[IEEE Annals of the History of Computing]] |volume=23 |issue=1 |doi=10.1109/85.910847 |issn=1058-6180}}</ref>