This picture was posted in a number of places several years ago, but has largely vanished into undeserved obscurity. With some effort, I unearthed it and now re-post it here. (If anyone knows its permanent home, please let me know.)
If reports on the latest volley fired in the Net Neutrality Wars are filed under “meaningless [...]
Tim Daly on Symbolics and the elimination of the Compile-Pray-Debug Cycle:
“The Symbolics machine (its kittens all the way down…) gave me the insight that one of the most important parts of programming is the time it takes to “close the loop”. Start from the point of failure, find the failure in source code, fix the [...]
Tim Daly of Axiom artfully debunks Steve Yegge’s infamous “Lisp is Not an Acceptable Lisp”:
“I am currently working in Java to re-implement an algorithm I prototyped in lisp. If I replace all of the required curly-braces and semicolons in Java with parens it turns out that the Java program has more parens than the lisp [...]
Behold:
“The rolling element is a sphere a foot or so across, the upper part of which fits into a cage equipped with motors and drive-wheels. The rider sits on a saddle projecting up from this framework. Should he begin to topple, accelerometers detect the movement instantly, and the onboard microprocessor commands [...]
When Google buys ITA, their first order of business will be:
its de-Lisping.
As described here, for example. The temptation is simply irresistible.
And yet the famous travel search engine will continue to work!
However, its feature set will be permanently ossified.
The latter will ensure a slow death-by-irrelevancy, even if the (likely inevitable) creeping bugginess and ballooning maintenance costs [...]
Erik Naggum died slightly more than a year ago.
I have never met the man in the flesh, and yet he is the one person who had most often and most radically re-shaped my opinions at their core, solely through the printed word – not only on the subject of computer programing, but [...]
Many graphical Java apps will hang with a blank grey screen when started under Ratpoison and other non-reparenting window managers.
The workaround for this appalling brokenness is a very simple one, yet it took me three days of frustrated search – so I ought to post it:
Install wmname.
Spoof your window manager’s name string:
wmname LG3D
Use Java app, [...]
The now-infamous iPhone / iPad SDK Section 3.3.1 reads:
“3.3.1 — Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and [...]
I’ve been patient, I’ve been gracious
And this mountain is covered with wolves
Hear them howling, my hungry children
Maybe you should stay and have another drink and think about me and you.
Jonathan Coulton, “Skullcrusher Mountain”
The howls of protest coming from iPhone and iPad developers are loud and shrill, and are sure [...]
All of my Nock/Urbit explorations will now live here.
