The Programmer's Alphabet
Words by Steve Savitzky © 1981, 1984
TTTO Sweet Betsy from Pike


My first computer song, based on various sailors' alphabets.



[C]A is for ASCII, our [G7]Alphabet's [C]name
[C]B is the Bugs, for which [G7]we get the blame.
[C]C the Computer, which [F]never works [C]right, and
[C]D is Debugging, the [G7]rest of the [C]night.

E is the Elegant problems we're set
F is old Fortran we try to Forget.
G is the GOTO we're trying to kill, and
H is the Hacker who uses it still.

	[C]Programming, programming, [G7]all through the [C]night,
	[C]We're stuck here until our new [G7]program works right.
	[C]Programming, programming, [F]isn't it [C]fun?
	[C]The maintenance starts when deb[G7]ugging is [C]done!

I is the Input we handle with care
J is the Jump to nobody knows where
K is the Kludge with which we got by, and
L is for Later to fix it we'll try.

M is the Memory, dropping a bit,
N the New version, that doesn't quite fit.
O is the Op'rating system we buy, and
P is the Patch to make our programs fly.

Q is for QWERTY, of typewriter lore,
R is the RAM that we used to call core.
S is the Standard we'll follow some day, and
T is the Teletype, banging away.

U is the User, that Unhappy man,
V is the Vengeance he wreaks when he can.
W is Work, it's the manager's call, and
X is the Xerox machine down the hall.

Y is the Yes you reply by mistake, and
Z is the Zeros all over your tape.
There may be more verses they wanted to send,
But they've all gotten clobbered, so this is the end.

	no chorus after last verse