@jwildeboer The 1st edition of the Java Language specification is full of this sort of thing
Ramanujan, Srinivasa, 224
On page 224 is an example with
class Super { static int taxi = 1729; }
It all disappeared in the 2nd edition
Your post reminded me of someone, so what is the chance they wrote about 1729 today!
https://mastodon.social/@ionica@mathstodon.xyz/111750326024706992
Regrettably that post by @ionica has disappeared, but this is another place explaining the love for the number 1729 in English:
https://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/news/ionica-koos-een-getal-en-wij-maakten-dat-moeilijk
(not sure why Mastodon has been rate-limiting me over the last couple of days making posting tough, but the responses lately so many years after your initial post are because I finally found the combination of energy and time for writing up a blog post on the puns in these books)
Jan Wildeboer 😷
John Wilson
Jeroen Wiert Pluimers