peatmoss

53 ms·

541.
by peatmoss 8y ago
The counter factual simulation features are amazing and easy.
542.
by peatmoss 8y ago
And then there is the Zelig modeling framework for R that I can’t imagine not using after having used it. Don’t get me wrong, I like Python well enough, and knew it before I coded R. But Python is really behind R in stats support. I’d also
543.
by peatmoss 8y ago
An incrementalist approach that I’ve half wondered about is to build an implementation of R on top of Racket. My understanding is that R was originally built on a Scheme runtime. Since that time there’s been a lot of C/C++/Fortran
544.
by peatmoss 8y ago
At one point many years ago I realized that I was happy with approximately 486 CPU level performance. I wished at the time for a 486 built on Pentium fabs. Of course simply scaling down the size of an old CPU probably doesn’t work, but stil
545.
by peatmoss 8y ago
Slightly OT, but I hope you’ll indulge: The main thing keeping me from trying i3 and by extension Sway, is that I got used to a mostly default set of Xmonad keybinding and I’ve been too lazy to figure out how to configure i3/Sway to wo
546.
by peatmoss 8y ago
Racket-on-Chez may eventually result in a better performing Racket, but SBCL is still going to be a hard target to match. That said, Racket on Chez means more of Racket is getting written in Racket. In turn, I suppose Racket-on-SBCL is not
547.
by peatmoss 8y ago
Some exciting stuff happening in Guile land these days. They’re getting a new JIT which sounds like it makes Guile’s performance closer to Racket’s. Also, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by some of the libraries in Guile. For example I was l
548.
by peatmoss 8y ago
As a Racket dabbler, I’d say there are a couple things: - performant implementations (SBCL in particular is a standout). I mean, Racket’s pretty good, and will typically blow the doors off Python, but SBCL is in a different league. - multip
549.
by peatmoss 8y ago
I think some are bristling that Racket is the way to go, but Typed Racket is certainly a good way to go. https://docs.racket-lang.org/ts-guide/ You can start without types and later convert parts of your code to ty
550.
by peatmoss 8y ago
There’s also Realm of Racket which uses games to teach.
551.
by peatmoss 8y ago
The Master and Margarita is indeed a fantastic read, but there’s a dark subtext. For example, the supernatural happenings and bumps in the night from the neighboring apartment are likely Bulgakov making commentary on the purges. Bulgakov la
552.
by peatmoss 8y ago
This was a cool illustration of the Smalltalk programming language. I never found a use for Dabble (well, until recently when I went looking for it), but the demos were magical.
553.
by peatmoss 8y ago
To be fair, so do the untethered watches.
554.
by peatmoss 8y ago
Congratulations on retirement! The UI libraries in Racket are pretty interesting in that they use the native UI on whatever platform you happen to be running on. I haven’t seen a lot of larger GUI app examples, but I have to wonder if Rack
555.
by peatmoss 8y ago
I dunno, I was able to cobble together a timeseries forecast API using the plummer and forecast packages in an afternoon that a product team was then able to work against to create demos for customers. Yeah, they’d probably eventually want
556.
by peatmoss 8y ago
I’ve taught R (and Python) to mostly non-programmer scientists as part of multi-day Software Carpentry workshops. Especially with R, I feel like most attendees after a couple of days were able to do things that would be decidedly non-trivia
557.
by peatmoss 8y ago
Past a low complexity bar, I feel like R is a much easier answer than Excel. Excel can get pretty hairy pretty fast. As you mention below, debugging even terrible R code is easier than debugging Excel.
558.
by peatmoss 8y ago
Man, this list deserves to be a post in its own right. Incidentally, the Woodwright’s Workshop show on PBS is part of the reason I donate to keep the “passport” access. Reruns of that show are pretty much the definition of my happy place.
559.
by peatmoss 8y ago
How is it piracy if you buy the music? Do you live in a country that forbids format shifting?
560.
by peatmoss 8y ago
> There are clear-cut numbers here—Apple Music’s streams tap out around 256 kbps, whereas Spotify and Tidal both stream “hi-fi” audio at 320 kbps—but you can also just listen to it. As I understand it, Apple’s 256 kbps AAC is probably hi
561.
by peatmoss 8y ago
Change for change’s sake. I feel like F/OSS has a potential advantage here in being able to take the time to build durable, long-lived, stable software. The web-everything world we live in right now has led to a cambrian explosion in n
562.
by peatmoss 8y ago
Man, I’ve really wanted to take the plunge and dedicate some play time to GUIX for a while now. I feel like between the GUIX package system and Shepherd, they’re creating an authentically new and exciting thing in the universe of Linux dist
563.
by peatmoss 8y ago
Most important thing is to buy a domain so you can port your email address from provider to provider. I’ve had the same email address and several hosts over the years. I’m currently on Fastmail and find the service good.
564.
by peatmoss 8y ago
I think we just had a different set of ideals back then. I feel like maybe we got tired of fighting the same battles. Or maybe Microsoft was being judged more harshly on moral grounds because their software was also widely criticized for be
565.
by peatmoss 8y ago
I feel like a few years may have cleared up issues on Windows. Compilers and Windows vs. The Rest of the World felt wilder and weirder not long ago. In general I feel like F/OSS tooling on Windows has gotten lower friction. I base this
566.
by peatmoss 8y ago
If Nim’s compile-to-c is attractive, and you like lisp, how about Chicken Scheme?: https://www.call-cc.org/ What little I’ve done is a pleasure. I like some of Racket’s post-Scheme language features better, but Chicken has
567.
by peatmoss 8y ago
Every comedian needs a straight man as a foil, no? ;-)
568.
by peatmoss 8y ago
The article says the administered dose is well short of toxic and merely simulates a near death experience. People can and frequently do experience actual actual death while engaging in alchoholic revelry. I’m not opposed to drinking, but t
569.
by peatmoss 8y ago
There’s something too this, though I also think dvorak has some real RSI related benefits. Case in point, my handwork is a mess of barely legible chicken scratches in English and whatever other latin character using language I might dabble
570.
by peatmoss 8y ago
I mean, sorry that the author spent time on something that he wishes he hadn’t, but his anecdata conflicts with my anecdata and that of my spouse and various friends. Learning dvorak many years ago was something I’m still glad I did. I didn

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