willtim

81 ms·

901.
by willtim 9y ago
Linux would provide support for old hardware far in excess of what Apple provides. It's an OS for the many, not a priviledged few; and needs your support. It's also a big security gamble downloading these hacked OSX images from q
902.
by willtim 9y ago
> "you can do immutable/functional programming with regular ol' Python" One cannot easily and safely do functional programming in Python due it's imperative semantics. For example variables are captured as mutabl
903.
by willtim 9y ago
FORTRAN pioneered expressions which were used in addition to statements. This was huge. Modern languages are still expanding on the idea of programming with expressions (especially functional languages).
904.
by willtim 9y ago
Actually INI files are usually in a predictable place. It is registry entries that are spread all over the registry and are not cleaned-up when an application is uninstalled.
905.
by willtim 9y ago
Laziness never prevented high-performance array libraries like Vector being implemented. GHC Haskell also now has a module-level pragma that turns on strict-by-default. Python typically doesn't implement any high-performance primitive
906.
by willtim 9y ago
Don't blame the NHS IT staff. The decision to not pay for XP security updates came from the highest level, the UK Tory government: https://www.benthamsgaze.org/2017/05/13/the-politics-of-the-...
907.
by willtim 9y ago
I want Nix and Nixpkgs. A genuinely innovative and different package manager / distro alternative.
908.
by willtim 9y ago
I'm running i3, polybar, connman and rofi as my Linux desktop environment and its very productive, configurable, lightweight and reliable. My only worry is that one day I'll be forced to move to something akin to what you describe
909.
by willtim 9y ago
I've been doing this for years using pandoc and beamer.
910.
by willtim 10y ago
Inheritance may be a theoretical superset of ADTs, but it is not as convenient due to the complexity of subtyping and problems with its inference. Scala is the proof of this. Both extensible records and open recursion can be achieved with
911.
by willtim 10y ago
ADTs and pattern matching are much more convenient and higher-level in practice than using OOP with inheritance. The visitor pattern, essentially just a fold, is the best one can do in an OOP language. With type-class abstractions and data
912.
by willtim 10y ago
More generally, functor sum and products allow composition of recursive data types. The cofree comonad, which Brian describes, is a special case of a functor sum.
913.
by willtim 10y ago
Hate is a strong word. People can be very critical at times, myself included, but this isn't the same thing. People often vent frustrations and justify their own personal choices by criticising. It might often be a tad anti-social but
914.
by willtim 10y ago
Linux doesn't have to be that inconvenient. You can now buy machines preinstalled with Ubuntu LTS. If you want to keep upgrading to the latest and greatest, yes it can be a rough ride.
915.
by willtim 10y ago
Any perceived smugness on my part was a response to baiting from the parent such as "It's kinda sad nobody can compete with Apple". Open-source can compete on many fronts and offers many other advantages (i.e. freedom), but o
916.
by willtim 10y ago
Ubuntu are trying for ease-of-use and it's a noble goal. But if you are going to judge them only on ease-of-use, then it is difficult for them to compete with the resources of Apple, who are the richest company on the planet. My point
917.
by willtim 10y ago
I suggest you choose your distribution and software more wisely. Yes, this is the big disadvantage of freedom and choice.
918.
by willtim 10y ago
Free software offers a spectrum of quality and innovation; and you've picked the worst of it. I use a desktop (i3), package manager (nix), editor (Emacs), programming language (GHC Haskell), file system (ZFS), bidirectional sync (uniso
919.
by willtim 10y ago
Yes. But this is more the problem of vendor lock-in than anything to do with Haskell.
920.
by willtim 10y ago
Decent static typing with inference has also missed the mainstream
921.
by willtim 10y ago
Dart is just a Java-clone by some of the same people and hasn't really incorporated any lessons from 20 years of Java. For example, their answer to Tony Hoare's billion-dollar mistake is... "The Elvis operator"
922.
by willtim 10y ago
Of course, lazy-by-default also brings many advantages: http://augustss.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/more-points-for-lazy-...
923.
by willtim 10y ago
Yes. Connman (developed by Intel) is a much more modular design. Network Manager evolved from a Gnome applet.
924.
by willtim 10y ago
Good alternatives exist too, like the light and fast connman. I use it on a thinkpad running NixOS and it works beautifully.
925.
by willtim 10y ago
Yes I agree. Haskell is a powerful principled general-purpose language, but not everyone will need this. But this does not mean I am happy with the current mainstream status quo :)
926.
by willtim 10y ago
For me personally it is the most productive and expressive language I have worked in. There is a steep learning curve, which will make one a better programmer, but not without significant buy in. There is no free lunch. Haskell is very expr
927.
by willtim 10y ago
Microsoft and various Linux distributions do at least offer a stable version for enterprise customers and others that don't want the bleeding edge.
928.
by willtim 10y ago
No one is funding these studies, so I wouldn't hold your breath. It is down to you to decide for yourself. As an anecdote, I switched to Haskell professionally 5 years ago and am both happier and more productive.
929.
by willtim 10y ago
There is a third way, nix and NixOS.
930.
by willtim 10y ago
Forgot to mention that I didn't downvote either, despite disagreeing with much of the post.

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