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# dave's documents
lol

(it's from 2001:A Space Odyssey if you don't get the HAL 9000 thing)
(, Sun 3 Jun 2007, 16:14, archived)
# I guess most of you guys know that HAL...
was named thus because of the letters that follow H, A and L in the 'English' alphabet. It was a wee computery-type joke by Arthur C. Clarke, or so I am led to believe.
(, Mon 4 Jun 2007, 2:15, archived)
# That
is kinda clever.
(, Mon 4 Jun 2007, 17:14, archived)
# Sorry, but coincidental
Arthur C Clarke said that it was short for "Heuristic Algorithm". Apparently there is also a reference to this in chapter 16 of the book.

(although not sure whether this represents The Sentinel, of the novelisation that came out after the film).

Link
(, Mon 4 Jun 2007, 17:45, archived)