scroot

53 ms·

511.
by scroot 9y ago
And it was the best selling computer game of all time for a good chunk of the 90s!
512.
by scroot 9y ago
Same. Aside from some very primitive BASIC, at about 9 or 10 this was my first experience with programming. And yes, it counts as programming. Hypercard hints at the kind of elegance that's possible when there isn't such a strict
513.
by scroot 9y ago
Can't tell if this pun was intentional, but I'll give it to you anyway
514.
by scroot 9y ago
> I just wanted to add to this that it's not as if the Spaniards were appalled by violence itself, just by the cultural difference in how it was applied Yes exactly. Here we have two cultures still heavily under the influence of the
515.
by scroot 9y ago
Ritual human sacrifice, across history, is universal. However, in the Old World it became less common (and animal sacrifice more common — a possible explanation for animal domestication). Watson and others argue that Shamanism was different
516.
by scroot 9y ago
I was not insinuating anything in particular, merely pointing out the vast differences in the cultures and, to an important extent, their inability to reason about each other in a constructive way. As I said, the clash would have been hard
517.
by scroot 9y ago
> What would the Americas -- the world -- look like today if the Europeans never came here? Or at least, came and engaged respectfully One historical scene in particular plays out this idea. It occurred as Cortes marched across today&#x2
518.
by scroot 9y ago
Amber [1] is a Smalltalk that you use to develop in a Web Browser, but which will compile for you to JS on the back end. [1] http://www.amber-lang.net/
519.
by scroot 9y ago
I want a machine like that.
520.
by scroot 9y ago
This story keeps getting weirder
521.
by scroot 9y ago
I hear he's doing great things
522.
by scroot 9y ago
I feel you. This guy is working on an interesting project called the Reform laptop [1]. You might have seen this already. He will eventually have it run his own lisp (called "Interim") all the way down. [1] http://mntmn
523.
by scroot 9y ago
I agree in principle, but the academy is not what it was in the 50s, 60s, and 70s when most computing breakthroughs took place. The whole funding model has changed. Short term thinking is the way of the world now.
524.
by scroot 9y ago
None of us really know what programming is, and we don't have institutions at present that will allow people to explore the problem thoroughly. These guys deserved a better culture to work in.
525.
by scroot 9y ago
I would add that today, as opposed to past periods of fragmentation, there are more widely adopted universal formats, standards, and protocols. So much so that as long as different systems can support just a few key pieces of software, they
526.
by scroot 9y ago
Bulliet has an entire book ("The Camel and the Wheel") in which he takes great care to address this point. As another reader has pointed out, harnessing camels is much more difficult than harnessing a horse, and camels are not goo
527.
by scroot 9y ago
> Writing things down, even if you throw it away right afterwards, seems to increase recall more than typing it. Your intuition here is spot on and backed up by actual research: https://www.npr.org/2016/04/17&#x
528.
by scroot 9y ago
When you read about Kay's Dynabook idea (and get past how the machine mockup looks) you see that he's essentially describing the "computational equivalent" to paper. With such a medium, one could create digital forms as
529.
by scroot 9y ago
> Should hard work, natural intelligence and giftings be punished in the grand scheme of things because others might not have that same inherent benefit? Should family wealth, connections, social status be punished because others lack? R
530.
by scroot 9y ago
As a general statement of fact, American companies do not pay their workers enough. We know this because aggregate corporate profits are their highest share of GDP ever, and wages from labor are at or near the lowest. There are whole sector
531.
by scroot 9y ago
Things seem to be getting better in that regard [1]. We'll need better software/interfaces for using these kinds of displays though. [1] https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/e-ink-monitor-with-hdmi-p...
532.
by scroot 9y ago
All displays should be e-ink. It's crazy to stare at a backlit screen all day.
533.
by scroot 9y ago
Hard to fathom why everyone is optimistic about this. Hasn't recent history overwhelmingly demonstrated that adding AR tech to out current culture will result in exactly the situation from the video?
534.
by scroot 9y ago
We do not have a culture that is anywhere close to prepared for this kind of technology. It should be patently clear from the past 20 years that this is the case. For example, here's a realistic vision of how it plays out: https:&#x2F
535.
by scroot 9y ago
This only tells me what would happen next year. What about 5, 7, 10 years out?
536.
by scroot 9y ago
A couple of things: > It was not designed for and could not support teamwork. Smalltalk implementations could, did, and still do support all the things you'd expect from today's systems: code sharing, merging, etc. Envy was an
537.
by scroot 9y ago
This seems to relate directly to what Malcom Harris discusses in his new book [1]. I just happened to read these back to back and I couldn't believe it. [1] https://nplusonemag.com/online-only/book-review/not-
538.
by scroot 9y ago
Ian Milligan has done some interesting work [1] on the history of GeoCities, including some archives I think [1] http://www.ieee-tcdl.org/Bulletin/v11n2/papers/milligan.pdf
539.
by scroot 9y ago
Have you looked at Ian Piumarta's work with COLAs? Curiously it's a mix of a Smalltalkish higher level object language with a lower-level lisp like language. I never quite understood how they worked together, but maybe you can und
540.
by scroot 9y ago
I don't think we're on the same page here. You don't need Linux for the kernel. Insofar as there's a kernel, it's the programming environment itself (like Smalltalk) or a set of primitive programs written in that en

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