stevecooperorg

10 ms·

61.
by stevecooperorg 15y ago
Isn't his point rather that Lisp goes beyond the normal definition of 'programming language'? "Lisp is almost an interpreter builder rather than just an interpreter/compiler" So most languages have a fixed grammar, and programs are always w
62.
by stevecooperorg 15y ago
I think I've missed an important part of this discussion -- if driverless cars would be revolutionary, what do they provide that an existing taxi service doesn't? A taxi has many of the listed benefits; - you don't need to buy the car - you
63.
by stevecooperorg 15y ago
I think weather can be more of a perceived problem than an actual one, sometimes. I ride a bike here in northern England. For two short rides of about 15-20 minutes each way, the chances of being rained on are pretty small; maybe ten times
64.
by stevecooperorg 16y ago
> You won't be writing code in the browser anymore You could be. Impement a URL like http://mydomain/scripts/MyScript.bytecode . This is a page which compiles, say MyScript.rb into bytecode and delivers it back to the client. You get a
65.
by stevecooperorg 16y ago
It would almost certainly be a good deal slower. Or at least, it would be if I wrote it. I know cappucino ( http://cappuccino.org/ ) works with a JavaScript language interepreter, so there are mature products out there heading along these l
66.
by stevecooperorg 16y ago
As people have commented, I'm suggesting writing a javascript function which takes pre-compiled bytecode; like so; function interpret(bytecode) { // stack machine implementation goes here } And called like so; var
67.
by stevecooperorg 16y ago
I'd also be interested in knowing. AFAIK, things like coffeescript compile to readable, plain JS. Can a relatively efficient system be made which interprets something more 'bytecodey' than readable JS; eg, interpret(['.maxstack 8', 'ldstr
68.
by stevecooperorg 16y ago
I'd be really interested in seeing this develop. Define a bytecode interpreter (JSVM?) and push bytecode into it. Performance may be god-awful, but you'd be free to use whatever language you fancy. Parchment is an example of the approach, i
69.
by stevecooperorg 16y ago
VB.NET is a solid language saddled with a terrible pedigree -- VBA macros, VB6, classic ASP. All nasty. But VB.NET now is an entirely different beast which happens to share the same name. It's like being the kid called 'Adolf'. It's not rea
70.
by stevecooperorg 16y ago
(tl;dr: VB.NET can be every bit as expressive as Python. See my translation of Norvig) Here's a line-by-line translation of Norvig's code into VB.NET. Exactly the same number of lines, unless you count the block terminators like `End Functi
71.
by stevecooperorg 16y ago
Facebook takes common words and redefines them -- so that on Facebook, the 'like' button mean 'subscribe to updates', not 'I think this is good'. Facebook makes more sense when you realise the work is misappropriated. I wonder if we should
72.
by stevecooperorg 17y ago
The intent isn't (purely) anti-terrorism. It's an effort towards reducing things like benefit fraud, too. So any success from the card reduces these kind of budget 'leaks.'
73.
by stevecooperorg 17y ago
I think that's what they're doing. From the OP: "Each one of these files is supposed to be protected with a special digital key"
74.
by stevecooperorg 17y ago
I very much doubt they did. What they did is read information from the card, which is it's very purpose. Then they wrote a card with their own information, and signed it with an invalid key. I am not, as yet, terrified.
75.
by stevecooperorg 17y ago
The information on the card should be digitally signed; the information on the card should be verifiably untampered. I'm convinced the article itself fails to take account of how digital signing works. The benefit of keeping signed data on
76.
by stevecooperorg 17y ago
Here's what I think they really did. From this; "Each one of these files is supposed to be protected with a special digital key, so that if anyone attempts to change it, the card would be identifiable as a fake to any official with a digita
77.
by stevecooperorg 17y ago
Not the same size, but vastly more controlling. On a windows machine you could always install netscape. On an iPhone you have to download apps only from apple-approved sources. I suppose the question is whether the concerns of one marketpla
78.
by stevecooperorg 17y ago
Should we form some kind of support group for writers of needless compilers? Programmers Against Needless Time Sinks...
79.
by stevecooperorg 17y ago
As someone who has written a todo-list and calendar compiler for text files, I know how you feel. But keep away from it. It's a productivity death spiral -- if you have the time to do this, then you don't have enough stuff on your plate to
80.
by stevecooperorg 17y ago
I think a free market has to be free -- that practices that stifle competition hurt consumers immediately. I think Apple's locking out of Google is very similar to Microsoft's locking out of Netscape. It's reasonable tobring the samre monop
81.
by stevecooperorg 17y ago
how so?
82.
by stevecooperorg 17y ago
For me, they're different 'flavours' of programming and fit on a different chart. The C++/Java/C# line is for static programming with heavy reliance on a compiler -- the idea is that the compiler helps you find lots of errors. In all three
83.
by stevecooperorg 17y ago
She's right that if all you need to do is glue stuff together, then she doesn't need to study it. Trivial problems are trivially solved. By very low-paid people. Who are very bored. But what I've noticed is that there are only so many non-t
84.
by stevecooperorg 17y ago
That caught my eye, too! My best guess is that it counts as some kind of gambling or game of chance in Quebec, and there's legal implications. That's only a guess, though
85.
by stevecooperorg 17y ago
Item 11; stop reading hacker news... ;)
86.
by stevecooperorg 17y ago
We also have this; > But [MS .Net is] not revolutionary as Java was (by introducing the virtual machine, garbage collection and unified error reporting into the programming mainstream). which is odd, because Visual Basic had been runni
87.
by stevecooperorg 17y ago
They're not looking to put it on desktops -- they're looking to put it on dedicated appliance web browser devices. Also, no-one will know that this has anything to do with linux. People will just see the Google label, and they'll call the p
88.
by stevecooperorg 17y ago
Chrome OS isn't competing with Windows or Linux, in the same way the iPhone OS isn't competing with Windows. They are for two different types of device, bought by different markets for different reasons. Chrome OS and iPhone are both about
89.
by stevecooperorg 17y ago
No, the right word is translator. A compiler generally creates a form optimised for execution, like machine code or bytecodes. A translator creates source code files from other source code files. The program the poster was referring to is a
90.
by stevecooperorg 17y ago
The author suggests that popularity should be related to raw processing power. If his premise was true, Beowulf clusters would be more popular than Nintendo DS's. "The Windows' fan club likes to point out that Windows is far more popular th

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