sb

10 ms·

121.
by sb 15y ago
Hi, thanks so much for linking this. I have always been a fan of the history of computing (e.g., Moshe Vardi mentioned Charles Peirce in a talk once http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Sanders_Peirce , and I have seen a reconstruction of
122.
by sb 15y ago
Supporting your statement: I am positive that Python 3 could be a lot faster than Python 2. If people are interested in what's possible, they should follow the corresponding mailing list (python-dev).
123.
by sb 15y ago
There is also a second edition, which updates some chapters with much more recent resulst (AFAIR, the book is from 1992.) In addtion, the author (Dick Grune) also co-authored a book on compilers ("Modern Compiler Design"), which I like a lo
124.
by sb 15y ago
In yesterday's "Fast VM" thread I asked about memory consumption of PyPy vs. CPython, because most of the benchmarks focus on speed and there usually are no memory consumption figures (iirc, they were huge for Unladden Swallow [~800megs on
125.
by sb 15y ago
Hm, I agree about having benchmarks with memory impact is more compelling, but wouldn't it be at least interesting to show the memory impact as it is right now? (i.e., how much more memory does PyPy need?)
126.
by sb 15y ago
Regarding the hints: without those hints the compiler would also trace the interpreter dispatch loop. If you trace them, too, then your generated code would contain unnecessary branching code. Hence, in a sense, these mechanisms allow the t
127.
by sb 15y ago
While I find it good that the article explicitly addresses issues with trace-based compilation (usually this is not the case), a completely fair account needs to present the additional memory requirements for using the PyPy tool chain. Quit
128.
by sb 15y ago
IIRC, expanding with programming languages (PLDI, CGO, ISMM, OOPSLA, etc.) was already discussed when this link was first mentioned on HN. Unfortunately, it seems to not have been done yet... Anyways, PLDI has the "Best of PLDI" papers from
129.
by sb 15y ago
Queinnec's Lisp in Small Pieces is a superb book, if you liked that you might also like Henderson's book on implementation of functional PLs (particularly SECD machines.) Regarding the list: I think it's a nice effort, but lacks several exc
130.
by sb 15y ago
Which is actually what Python is doing, too. There is (IIRC) a mark and sweep collector that collects cycles. Another interesting technique for dealing with this problem is called "trial deletion."
131.
by sb 15y ago
I think that's a good point and was also heavily commented on when Google's Unladden Swallow released its benchmark numbers (IIRC, for the django benchmark its binary size grew to 800 megs.) Probably that was even a reason they stopped work
132.
by sb 15y ago
Just for the record and to provide additional references, the technique of reusing a pointer for integer representation is rather old, for example fixnums refer to the same technique in Lisp implementation, IIRC, in Smalltalk this refers to
133.
by sb 15y ago
If you don't mind reading German then you might be interested in the the four volume series "Deutsche Gesellschaftsgeschichte" by Hans-Ulrich Wehler. Friends from Germany keep telling me that this is the reference about Germany's society.
134.
by sb 15y ago
seconded! I made the same beginner's error, too, and then decided that it was just the wrong thing to do. Emacs does not have a modal concept and cursor movement is not done with "hjkl" (and "ew") in Emacs. As Steve Yegge said, you should u
135.
by sb 15y ago
Hi, I have been using vim extensively for about 8 years and used a boring phase during my previous work-life to start learning Emacs. My motivation was not because I liked anything particularly well in Emacs or disliked vim, but more that I
136.
by sb 15y ago
Thanks for that list, it seems to me that this is the list all of the articles refer to.
137.
by sb 15y ago
I wondered what the other biggest gifts were, but could not find a canonical list. A good starter is the following: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/nr/2000/neurogifts.html I guess that its top 3 still hold. In addition, I found the followin
138.
by sb 15y ago
Hm, instead of MC I prefer dired+ within Emacs, I have never used anything more powerful than this (particularly with TRAMP and the regex features.) So, if you are already learning Emacs, I think it pays off to at least take a look at dired
139.
NIH research on obesity (check out link to NIH Java applet)(economist.com)
1 points by sb 15y ago|0 comments
140.
by sb 15y ago
Well, at least in the area of virtual machines and interpreters, the usual argument goes like this: A stack-based virtual machine architecture has compact code representation (only bytecodes) where operands are pushed onto and popped of the
141.
by sb 15y ago
I agree and there used to be (maybe it's still the case) problems with parser generators if you wanted to have good error recovery and reporting to the user. It's also very telling that sometimes--contrary to what people might expect--parse
142.
by sb 15y ago
While I agree with your point about starting, I think that parsing is a rather beautiful part of compiler construction by itself, with a nice theory behind it all, too. Furthermore, if you are using Wirth style compilers, syntax-directed co
143.
by sb 15y ago
tl;dr: Haven't read it but it's on top of my to-read stack. A slightly better version from the author's home page: http://www.paultaylor.eu/~pt/prafm/
144.
by sb 15y ago
While I agree with your suggestion of reading books (which is IMHO in general a good advice), I have to sort of disagree with your description of a PhD: The goal of getting a PhD at least in science, technology, engineering and mathematics
145.
by sb 15y ago
larsberg has already given several suggestions, however, since nobody else mentioned it yet, you might want to complete your view of functional programming language implementation by taking a look at "Lisp in Small Pieces" by Christian Quei
146.
by sb 15y ago
In addition to the other comments (at the time of this writing: silentbicycle and dons), I would say: - Regarding the importance of the book: it's discussion of the G-machine (probably also interesting is another paper by SPJ, "The spineles
147.
by sb 15y ago
"Enron - The Smartest Guys in the Room" seconded! It is by far my most favourite documentary. In addition, I like the following documentaries: - "Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1638362/ - "Planet
148.
by sb 15y ago
An interesting concept, for programmers it would be great, if they supported something along the lines of 1996s "Software Visualization in the Large", by Thomas Ball and Stephen Eick [1]. I did something like that (i.e., marrying the visual
149.
by sb 15y ago
Two of my favorites in the "best small books" area are from Niklaus Wirth: - NW: Algorithms and Datastructures. 179 pages. PDF: http://www-old.oberon.ethz.ch/WirthPubl/AD.pdf - NW: Compiler Construction. 131 pages. PDF: http://www-old.ob
150.
by sb 15y ago
EDIT: Of course, the question in the third paragraph should read: Does a programming language implementation using a JIT subsystem require more or less energy than an interpreter?

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