12 ms·

Plop appears to be part of a Google-summer-of-code project. I don't think that makes it a Google product/project. It just means Google paid a student to work

by enomar 18y ago

Plop appears to be part of a Google-summer-of-code project. I don't think that makes it a Google product/project. It just means Google paid a student to work on an open source project. That student appears to have written some of that code in Lisp. Why is that interesting?

axod 18y ago
if (submission.title.indexOf("lisp")!=-1) submission.voteUp(); surely...
- DavidSJ 18y ago
  I think you mean: (if (search "lisp" (submission-title submission)) (incf (submission-score submission)))
  - ken 18y ago
    Oh dear, I hope axod wouldn't have used IF with a single then-form. That's just asking for trouble. :-)
    - DavidSJ 18y ago
      Are you worried about the return value or something?
      - ken 18y ago
        No. I'm worried somebody will add another form, without realizing it has the opposite meaning (i.e., else) from the INCF call. Traditionally, if you have only one then-form, you'd use WHEN.
        DavidSJ 18y ago
        Ah, fair point. I actually made that mistake a couple days ago, in fact.
  - Maascamp 18y ago
    I think you mean if(strpos(strtolower($title.$body), 'lisp') !== false) ++$votes; Oh wait, this is Hacker news. Apologies.
moshe 18y ago
Actually, I work full-time for Google Research (and have written all of the plop code, so far). Google happens to have sponsored a bunch of summer-of-code students through opencog.org, one of whom I supervised, but he coded in C++. I think that the idea of a Lisp system that learns Lisp programs via probabilistic modeling is intrinsically interesting regardless of who funds it, but that could be personal bias ;->.
- enomar 18y ago
  I meant no offense. The work does appear to be interesting, but not for the reason indicated in this post's title.
  - moshe 18y ago
    None taken. Thanks!
- frisco 18y ago
  moshe: by the way, you have the greatest email address ever.
  - staticshock 18y ago
    madscience at google com? wow, i second that sentiment
  - moshe 18y ago
    Heh, thanks. moshe at google dot com was already taken, it was my second choice...
aswanson 18y ago
That student appears to have written some of that code in Lisp. Why is that interesting? Yes, I distrust all language zealots and I avoid them. Committment to a language is a lack of integrity.
- thomasmallen 18y ago
  Unless you know that language best and deliver the best results in it. I used to always be completely technology-agnostic, until I realized that not everyone has time to learn the best technology for the job (unless your company is filthy rich with talent). A coworker of mine was preaching "you can't just go with what you know" the other day, and I thought to myself, "hold on, that may be good and PC, but if I'm the head developer on this project, and I'm not using anything too exotic, why not, assuming that the app is stable and can be reasonably supported?" I know that when I work with other developers, I want them to use what they will do best with, because I know that I and others are more than smart enough to make minor changes without breaking the thing. Now, it better be well documented, but that's another matter... Edit: And dammit, why does this topic title tempt me so much to say "your mom is implemented in Lisp"? That's gotta mean something, and I'll bet it's cold as ice.
  - jodrellblank 18y ago
    Nah, it just means she's been collecting the garbage since the 70's. :/

by enomar 18y ago

axod 18y ago

if (submission.title.indexOf("lisp")!=-1) submission.voteUp(); surely...

DavidSJ 18y ago
I think you mean: (if (search "lisp" (submission-title submission)) (incf (submission-score submission)))
- ken 18y ago
  Oh dear, I hope axod wouldn't have used IF with a single then-form. That's just asking for trouble. :-)
  - DavidSJ 18y ago
    Are you worried about the return value or something?
    - ken 18y ago
      No. I'm worried somebody will add another form, without realizing it has the opposite meaning (i.e., else) from the INCF call. Traditionally, if you have only one then-form, you'd use WHEN.
      - DavidSJ 18y ago
        Ah, fair point. I actually made that mistake a couple days ago, in fact.
- Maascamp 18y ago
  I think you mean if(strpos(strtolower($title.$body), 'lisp') !== false) ++$votes; Oh wait, this is Hacker news. Apologies.

moshe 18y ago

Actually, I work full-time for Google Research (and have written all of the plop code, so far). Google happens to have sponsored a bunch of summer-of-code students through opencog.org, one of whom I supervised, but he coded in C++. I think that the idea of a Lisp system that learns Lisp programs via probabilistic modeling is intrinsically interesting regardless of who funds it, but that could be personal bias ;->.

enomar 18y ago
I meant no offense. The work does appear to be interesting, but not for the reason indicated in this post's title.
- moshe 18y ago
  None taken. Thanks!
frisco 18y ago
moshe: by the way, you have the greatest email address ever.
- staticshock 18y ago
  madscience at google com? wow, i second that sentiment
- moshe 18y ago
  Heh, thanks. moshe at google dot com was already taken, it was my second choice...

aswanson 18y ago

That student appears to have written some of that code in Lisp. Why is that interesting? Yes, I distrust all language zealots and I avoid them. Committment to a language is a lack of integrity.

thomasmallen 18y ago
Unless you know that language best and deliver the best results in it. I used to always be completely technology-agnostic, until I realized that not everyone has time to learn the best technology for the job (unless your company is filthy rich with talent). A coworker of mine was preaching "you can't just go with what you know" the other day, and I thought to myself, "hold on, that may be good and PC, but if I'm the head developer on this project, and I'm not using anything too exotic, why not, assuming that the app is stable and can be reasonably supported?" I know that when I work with other developers, I want them to use what they will do best with, because I know that I and others are more than smart enough to make minor changes without breaking the thing. Now, it better be well documented, but that's another matter... Edit: And dammit, why does this topic title tempt me so much to say "your mom is implemented in Lisp"? That's gotta mean something, and I'll bet it's cold as ice.
- jodrellblank 18y ago
  Nah, it just means she's been collecting the garbage since the 70's. :/