Maybe I should have psted that here, not in .misc:

I have read, long ago, a short story that I'll vaguely summarize:

The Hero is a xenolinguist working in an exploration team on a newly discovered planet, trying to find out if the observed species are
intelligent (because this would forbid human settlement).

His software can't match on the sound samples, until he forces it
to ignore the sound and match on the silence.

(There was a joke programming language like that:
[[Whitespace (programming language]].)

(Some intra-humans romance involved.)
Does anybody remember this? I suspect it might be from the 1980s, possibly late 1970s.

(I read this translated to German, I assume it came from the English
language.)

Regards
-is

--
A medium apple... weighs 182 grams, yields 95 kcal, and contains no
caffeine, thus making it unsuitable for sysadmins. - Brian Kantor

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Ignatios Souvatzis wrote:

Maybe I should have psted that here, not in .misc:

I have read, long ago, a short story that I'll vaguely summarize:

The Hero is a xenolinguist working [...]

His software can't match on the sound samples, until he forces it
to ignore the sound and match on the silence.

I wonder whether this might be "Silence" (in the translation to
German: "Stille") by J. Holly Hunter (Joan Carol Holly). Alas, the
collection this would have been in is probably one that I've put
into a public book-swap rack or sold a while ago.

-is


-is

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

In article <slrn10jtm9o.kmv.u502sou@neuserv.bnhb484.de>,
Ignatios Souvatzis <u502sou@bnhb484.de> wrote:

Ignatios Souvatzis wrote:

Maybe I should have psted that here, not in .misc:

I have read, long ago, a short story that I'll vaguely summarize:

The Hero is a xenolinguist working [...]

His software can't match on the sound samples, until he forces it
to ignore the sound and match on the silence.

I wonder whether this might be "Silence" (in the translation to
German: "Stille") by J. Holly Hunter (Joan Carol Holly). Alas, the
collection this would have been in is probably one that I've put
into a public book-swap rack or sold a while ago.

I happen to have the issue of _Fantastic Stories_ (June 1965) that has
this story and it is not the one requested. The protagonist is a
musician and the story appears to be horror.

--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_. ?-----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Ignatios Souvatzis wrote:

Maybe I should have psted that here, not in .misc:

I have read, long ago, a short story that I'll vaguely summarize:

The Hero is a xenolinguist working [...]

His software can't match on the sound samples, until he forces it
to ignore the sound and match on the silence.

It is not "Silence" (in the translation to German: "Stille") by J.
Holly Hunter (Joan Carol Holly).

-is


-is

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

In article <slrn10jtuqd.kmv.u502sou@neuserv.bnhb484.de>,
Ignatios Souvatzis <u502sou@bnhb484.de> wrote:

Ignatios Souvatzis wrote:

Maybe I should have psted that here, not in .misc:

I have read, long ago, a short story that I'll vaguely summarize:

The Hero is a xenolinguist working [...]

His software can't match on the sound samples, until he forces it
to ignore the sound and match on the silence.

It is not "Silence" (in the translation to German: "Stille") by J.
Holly Hunter (Joan Carol Holly).

Weird. I keep running into references to J. Holly Hunter....
--
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My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)