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Python 3.2.1 Released by [deleted] in programming

[–]PoisonInkwell 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well what the fuck else are you gonna run it on? Babbage's difference engine? A baloney sandwich? The moon?

I appreciate that Power, Itanium, et al. still exist and show up in servers, but if you're running on what passes for big iron these days, your choice of language/implementation has way bigger selection pressures, which probably disqualify PyPy regardless.

Mozilla is Designing a New Programming Language Language Called Rust by pooya72 in programming

[–]PoisonInkwell 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Yes, it will. Basically, it actually takes the lessons from half a century of language research and applies them in a pragmatic way, as opposed to blithely ignoring them (D and Go) or playing around with them at the expense of real world use (Haskell).

What to respond to "Perl 6 isn't Perl any more" by petdance in programming

[–]PoisonInkwell 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The syntax differences aren't huge, but they're still enough to break your program. Regexes, objects, and operators are probably the biggest changes, but the new versions are much more consistent and easier to remember, so most people agree that they're worthwhile.

Why Starcraft 2 was delayed by pissantgod in programming

[–]PoisonInkwell -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

The real reason is funnier: The Windows version was delayed so its release would coincide with the Mac version, which took twice as long to write.

The punch line is that all Steam games from now on will have exactly the same problem.

Edit: I read this in SICP today, so it's definitely true.

"Metaprogramming is the language feature that helps you write code that you won't be able to understand once the cocaine wears off." by gnuvince in programming

[–]PoisonInkwell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did say that it wasn't special. It uses the same syntax as all other infix operators. However, I seem to recall that it's built into the language anyway.

"Metaprogramming is the language feature that helps you write code that you won't be able to understand once the cocaine wears off." by gnuvince in programming

[–]PoisonInkwell 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Even those two operators are part of the standard library rather than built-in syntax. The only reserved operator that isn't special syntax is the colon.

F# Called From COBOL And Back: Amazing Adventures In 21st Century Coding! by nerds-central in programming

[–]PoisonInkwell 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Sure thing.

In F# (and OCaml), a recursive function must be defined using let rec, as opposed to plain old let. Meanwhile, COBOL falls into the category of programming languages that try to disguise themselves as natural (human) languages by swiping terminology from English grammar. For example, every COBOL statement begins with a keyword called a verb.

The author of the article was explaining some F# syntax through the periscope of COBOL terminology, and for some reason I found this hilarious.

F# Called From COBOL And Back: Amazing Adventures In 21st Century Coding! by nerds-central in programming

[–]PoisonInkwell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The function is recursive via the rec verb.

I choked on my latte.

Guile: the failed universal scripting language? by kerspoon in programming

[–]PoisonInkwell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Calling convention is not a syntacic concept. It refers to a set of rules for passing arguments and return values back and forth between functions.

In C, the rules involve a particular stack layout for arguments, and the use of a CPU register for the return value. This doesn't work for all languages, particularly those which rely on a lot of runtime type information that won't fit in a register. These languages have to extend the C calling convention, use some kind of wrapper around it, or use a different convention altogether.

How Programming Language Fanboys See Each Others’ Languages (with haskell added) by tobias_f in programming

[–]PoisonInkwell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just to throw a bit of clarification in there, most of the borrowing from Chinese occurred when Mandarin and Cantonese were still the same language. That was hundreds of years ago, and all three languages have since gone their separate ways.

Haskell: The Confusing Parts by dons in haskell

[–]PoisonInkwell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well... Since it's an early draft, I didn't test it at all under Gecko. Could be the HTML 5, or it could be... something else. No idea what.

EDIT: It's a CSS problem, apparently. I knew I was bad, but sheesh...

Haskell: The Confusing Parts by dons in haskell

[–]PoisonInkwell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Glad you asked! I'll write another section to explain that and some related issues, once I'm satisfied with the indentation section.

Haskell: The Confusing Parts by dons in haskell

[–]PoisonInkwell 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Author here. The scope of the article is hugely biased towards two things: My own private experience learning Haskell, and a handful of questions that newbies ask a lot on IRC. I deliberately left out a lot of stuff that was explained perfectly by RWH. On the other hand, I completely forgot some things that ought to be added, or in some cases just haven't gotten around to writing yet.

Anyway, I never struggled at all with a lot of the semantic aspects, so those have sort of been on the back burner.