Software Patterns: East Meets West

I'd like to start off with a joke. It concerns a talk that Grady Booch gave here in Japan during a series of public lectures sponsored by Rational. He said that he'd like to start off the talk with a joke. And he proceeded to tell the following joke: A physician, a civil engineer, and a computer scientist were arguing about what was the oldest profession in the world. The physician remarked, "Well, in the Bible, it says that God created Eve from a rib taken out of Adam. This clearly required surgery, and so I can rightly claim that mine is the oldest profession in the world". The civil engineer interrupted, and said, "But even earlier in the book of Genesis, it states that God created the order of the heavens and the earth from out of the chaos. This was the first and certainly the most spectacular application of civil engineering. Therefore, fair doctor, you are wrong: mine is the oldest progression in the world". The computer scientist leaned back in her chair, smiled, and then said confidently, "Ah, but who do you think created the chaos?" The translator then said, "The speaker has just told a joke, please laugh". So at this point in my talk I would kindly request that the honorable translator dispense with translating the humble and poor joke I just told, and to tell the audience, "The speaker has just told a joke, please laugh".