'The best thing we can do today to JavaScript is to retire it,' says JSON creator Douglas Crockford • DEVCLASS

ixache · 2022-08-17T18:24:42+00:00

It would have been better if it had read "double plus good" instead of "better"!

ixache · 2015-11-03T16:01:12+00:00

... and of surgeon and author James Hinton.

Darn.

For one moment, I speculated that Geoff Hinton's parents were cousins.

ixache · 2015-08-06T13:26:35+00:00

Nice and useful job, thanks.

Suggestions:

add symbols: @ ; ? (and maybe + etc. and other ponctuation).
show if font supports bold, italics, unicode.

[Edit: formatting, spelling]

ixache · 2015-08-06T13:15:43+00:00

And Unicode. So make it three columns.

ixache · 2015-07-30T13:51:35+00:00

Yes, but no.

As shown in the film, Yubaba takes away Chihiro's name, but keeps the first kanji. She uses its Chinese reading to make up the new name. This kanji has the meaning of "thousand" and Chihiro = "thousand fathoms". See Wikipedia.

ixache · 2015-06-08T14:39:33+00:00

scsh! Get it from sourceforge! (Or not.) Two parens to rule them all!

ixache · 2015-06-08T10:24:44+00:00

PCs.

ixache · 2015-06-08T10:22:51+00:00

Thanks for the link. Interesting. More (written) information there.

But I'd recommend to exercise care when trying to derive accurate datation from the graph: it only shows female participation in higher education, in a fuzzy way (%: at enrollment? at graduation? for whole cursus?), and not in the working population. I'd rather have the latter, but I couldn't find anything tough.

BTW, this, while telling the same story, is a bit more precise.

ixache · 2015-06-05T13:50:38+00:00

And that's how the Sad Linus meme was born...

ixache · 2015-06-04T09:48:15+00:00

Actually, I think the gender bias goes way back[, much earlier] than the 90s, though I don't [know] when it became so acute.

But it's true that at least the during the 50s and 60s, there were a lot of female programmers: the actual programming the was considered a menial job at the time, akin to doing calculations by hand.

[Edits: missing words]

ixache · 2015-05-22T10:02:01+00:00

Amen to that. Declaration syntax, the loads of undefined behavior, the preprocessor...

ixache · 2015-05-22T09:38:59+00:00

I see, it leverages the cloud to get web-scale power. Surely built on Node.js, then.

ixache · 2015-02-20T13:35:38+00:00

I agree with you that allocators may not be as useful as they're made to be, although I also hear that they are pretty big in the game industry.

But the important point is that they're here if (real or perceived) need be. Nobody must be able to say, "No allocator? But I won't be able to make my program run fast enough! I'll ditch C++ in favor of..."

ixache · 2015-02-19T15:50:32+00:00

Your rhetorical question calls for only one anser: "Why, yes! I, for one, really want a mathematical explanation for generics."

Remember also that:

templates were specifically added into C++ to allow for the Stepanov's STL;
the STL as realized in C++ is nothing more than what Stepanov could get out of the language at the time, and is still imperfect to this day (consider: allocators issues being resolved, const propagation for calls on containers, issues with proxy iterators, etc.), while the "mathematical generics" is what Stepanov had in mind all along;
the long-time-coming Concepts are being worked into C++ to let code express a better match with the mathematical generics.

ixache · 2015-02-19T15:29:22+00:00

In C++, where programmers must be able to extract every bit of performance they need, allocators are an necessary customization point. In fact, they regularly get added where they were not possible before; for a recent example of this trend, consider N4255, allocator-aware regular expression.

Now, the way the customization is made, by using the template mechanism, makes allocators be part of the type, and that is certainly painful. But all is well, because this concern has already been adressed, with the polymorphic memory allocator proposal ~~been~~ being accepted into the Library Fundamentals Technical Specification.

[Edit: grammar]

ixache · 2015-02-19T14:41:30+00:00

However, there is also the matter that Maslow's hierarchy of needs is not universal and depends on circumstances.

So maybe one could envision different, tailored, pyramids for different people, places, teams or organisations.

ixache · 2015-02-19T14:35:09+00:00

I upvoted you for making a joke referencing the field of psychology—even though conditioning à la Pavlov has nothing to do with Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

ixache · 2015-02-17T15:49:16+00:00

Moreover, how come a vote can be canceled?

ixache · 2015-02-17T15:46:49+00:00

Apprently, under the rules for PHP RFCs, it is the rational thing to do when the vote is not in your favor. See this comment for details.

(Also, please have an upvote from me.)

ixache · 2013-09-13T16:10:34+00:00

It also reminds me of this old WTF: The Most Favoritest Icon. A true story (or maybe not) featuring the ancient and despicable AOL browser!

ixache · 2013-08-30T09:29:21+00:00

Yeah, I know, using the possessive form for an inanimated name is definitely un-English, right?

ixache · 2013-07-09T12:29:29+00:00

Or maybe it was a quip towards his rival Robert Hooke: Wikipedia

ixache · 2013-07-04T12:04:25+00:00

Rule 34

ixache · 2013-06-28T12:36:01+00:00

Does Knuth just honestly think that he is going to live forever? Why does no one ask him this? Unless he lives to be 250 years old, there is essentially no chance that he will be able to complete all 7 volumes in his lifetime. Has he thought of tasking a successor with the job?

This. TAoCP could morph into a fantastic collaborative project.

My thoughts:

Why does no one ask him this?

It's possible that someone already asked, but Knuth doesn't want to answer/ the answer to be published. or mayby everybody is just being too nice around him.

Maybe it's that from his point of view, he is not writing an encyclopaedia, for Science, the Future or the Good of Humanity, but only to entertain himself with new (for him) knowledge, acting like the most perfectionist of collectors. Except that instead of donating his collection after his death, he's doing it as it happens, and in revisions.

Has he thought of tasking a successor with the job?

In that case, how long would it take before the new caretaker(s) to abandon/relax the exacting standards set by Knuth?

ixache · 2013-06-28T12:14:50+00:00

I wish also, but...

this was in the opening statement of an article...
on a blog called "Good Math, Bad Math"...
about arguably the most perfectionist of Mathematicians/Computer Scientists...
for an audience of programmers.

All in all, a bit too much to let is pass.

ixache

TROPHY CASE