gdp

27 ms·

211.
by gdp 17y ago
I believe compressed source code size is one of the metrics available on the "Computer Language Benchmark Game": http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/ I feel relatively strongly that LoC is almost entirely worthless as a metric. Even compre
212.
by gdp 17y ago
Right, I'm not arguing that anonymous first-class functions are useful , I'm just saying that I think there are so many other things that are seriously broken with PHP as to make this akin to worrying about having enough clean forks for a
213.
by gdp 17y ago
s/in Lisp//
214.
by gdp 17y ago
Anonymous first-class functions in PHP? I can't say that was high on my list of things I would classify as necessary to make it usable.
215.
by gdp 17y ago
It's not bytecode! There is no bytecode involved at all. It's just a representation of the source program text. For example (in some pseudo-code): a = x + 10 Perl 5 builds a tree from this (e.g. Assign(a, Add(x, 10))) and then executes it
216.
by gdp 17y ago
Seriously unimpressed. I really, really hate it when people use very small neural networks and extrapolate the results to some sort of biological plausibility. Also, isn't this at approximately the level of a first AI project? Building rob
217.
Hardware/Software Co-design(plsadventures.blogspot.com)
1 points by gdp 17y ago|0 comments
218.
by gdp 17y ago
It's building a parse tree, and then attempting to use the unambiguous bits like an abstract syntax tree, presumably to side-step the statically unresolvable ambiguity mentioned in the previous article. And yes, that is as bizarre as it
219.
by gdp 17y ago
From the "questions" section at the bottom of the article: > Wait, so Perl 5 doesn't interpret every statement as it parses it? I'm sorry, was anyone seriously suggesting this? Don't most production-grade interpreters still parse the
220.
by gdp 17y ago
I think you've misunderstood my use of "pattern matching" in the post above. The way you've used it is a bit like saying "C is the best language for if statements". A pattern match in ML is something like: fun f 0 = <do something>
221.
by gdp 17y ago
If by "real-world" you mean "sending signals to a display within certain timing constraints", sure. My point is that software is inherently virtual, therefore there are far fewer constraints placed on its shape, size and smell than any simi
222.
by gdp 17y ago
> I think it's specious to suggest that the problems in programming language design and implementation are illusionary That's definitely not what I was trying to suggest. I was suggesting that we do not need to accept "trade-offs" as
223.
by gdp 17y ago
And that's learning, right? I did exactly the same thing and I consider it a positive thing that people can easily produce software that is usable by other people without having to convince others to install software or do any "distributio
224.
by gdp 17y ago
I would feel enormously pleased, because it would mean that we had finally lowered the barrier of entry for programming to a point where people with little or no specialist training could create useful programs that were largely correct and
225.
by gdp 17y ago
That's certainly one platitude that contains some of the same keywords as the article. Except that programmers work in a synthetic world. We shouldn't have to "trade off" (nor should we find this acceptable) unless we actually encounter
226.
by gdp 17y ago
True. And in particular, there are a few things I really like: Hindley Milner-style type systems make life easier. You don't write out very many type annotations, but you get a type safety guarantee. People seem to underestimate just how
227.
by gdp 17y ago
I went through a similar progression. Then I learned SML. I haven't started hating it yet, and it's been about 6 years. YMMV, but I generally find that the things I hated most about most "main stream" programming languages are absent in
228.
by gdp 17y ago
Starting a sentence with "I'm sorry, but..." is a very British thing to do, in my observation (and Bill Bryson's, for that matter).
229.
by gdp 17y ago
> You seem to have a strange definition of communism, as well as the history of nazism. Rather, you seem to be buying into the American propaganda that "democracy is the great good" I was being ironic and parroting the sentiments expr
230.
by gdp 17y ago
> So forgive me for being smarmy and offensive, but I have no interest in being a ‘web guy’. And there are two reasons for this. First, it’s not a challenging medium for me. And second, because the vast majority of Internet companies
231.
by gdp 17y ago
What about starting smaller? Arrange an informal meetup in a bar or a cafe or something? At least that gives you an opportunity to gauge interest without needing any particular financial outlay. If there is sufficient interest in that ev
232.
Simple patterns for better arguments about programming languages(plsadventures.blogspot.com)
11 points by gdp 17y ago|2 comments
233.
by gdp 17y ago
Erm, yeah, about that. You understand the the US is atypical in the way that it treats health care? The implication that pretty much the rest of the western world is communist because they ensure that everyone has access to at least some
234.
by gdp 17y ago
My experiences of the New Zealand health system and the NHS in Britain have been nothing but positive. What's all this talk of crashing and burning? Really, the free market and the individual as the fundamental unit of society rarely act in
235.
by gdp 17y ago
I think for domain-specific languages, visual programming makes perfect sense if the domain lends itself to visual representation. I guess the interesting question is whether we can even begin to approach generality.
236.
by gdp 17y ago
I also like the implication that scientists (you know, that wonderfully cohesive and homogeneous group of people who all share an agenda and a single world view) have nothing better to do than attempting to take over Hollywood's movie produ
237.
by gdp 17y ago
I really have to call you on this one. Usually I would just let it go, but really, this has just missed the mark. You're suggesting that the presence of certain keywords in a question permit you to totally rephrase that question and then
238.
by gdp 17y ago
I would be very careful not to write off an entire field just because you consider it difficult or complicated. It has its place and purpose, and the complexity is not just for show. It's not "one size fits all", it's just that the minimu
239.
by gdp 17y ago
This seems to assume a fixed number of programmers, all of whom program during the week and at the weekend. My guess would be that it's much more likely to be two largely disjoint sets: Professional programmers at work during the week, and
240.
by gdp 17y ago
I can't help but feel rather put off by the reporting in the article, if not by the entire subject matter. Mostly because it seems to imply that those of us with two fully-functional hemispheres are somehow deeply unhappy people, incapable

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