THE PURPOSE OF COMPUTING IS INSIGHT, NOT NUMBERS. (via Wikipedia via John)
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Tag Archives: philosophy
When it Comes to R7RS; R6RS Users are Quiet
Friday, September 25, 2009
R6RS users don’t seem to have much to say about R7RS. Most R6RS users seem to happy with Scheme and busy using it rather than worrying about how it should be split into two parts (little and big).
Is It Our Duty to Maintain Our Body?
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Suppose that you awoke to find your consciousness contained within a robot. You don’t know where you came from before this existence, you don’t know who gave you this robot, and there is no manual for the time you will spend in this robot. Is it your duty to maintain your robot?
The Clarity that Tragedy Brings
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Sometimes tragedy brings a certain clarity to one’s life. Suddenly, your priorities are clear and things are so simple. You know what matters, and everything else doesn’t. Why is that the case? When tragedy passes, why does that clarity so easily slip away?
Serious Statistics Programs Pay for the Fun Ones
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Here is an article that explains how one of the four co-founders of SAS, a statistician, has an awesome job where the serious product (SAS) pays for him to develop the fun product (JMP). Note: That is an understatement, as it probably would pay for him to stare at the ocean for the rest of [...]
Why PLT Scheme disllows one-armed ifs
Monday, September 7, 2009
In 1991 I asked Bob Hieb (Kent’s Chez Scheme buddy then, and my co-researcher on theoretical stuff) what the most frequent annoying bug was in the code. He ranked an accidentally omitted else branch among the top three. Indeed, he said that because of this, they had agreed to use WHEN and UNLESS exclusively for [...]
Being Scrappy
Friday, September 4, 2009
What does it mean, exactly? It’s basically the diminutive form of belligerent. Someone who’s scrappy manages to be both threatening and undignified at the same time. Which seems to me exactly what one would want to be, in any kind of work. If you’re not threatening, you’re probably not doing anything new, and dignity is [...]
When To Deliver News
Friday, September 4, 2009
Want something to blow up? Tell the world about it on a Tuesday morning. Avoids the Monday avalanche people face and gives you the rest of the week to get play. Want something to fade away? Tell the world about it on a Friday afternoon. It’ll fade into the weekend. Obvious, but had you thought [...]
What’s the point of a Scheme standard?
Friday, September 4, 2009
Here is a copy of Joe’s post on r6rs-discuss: What’s the point of a Scheme standard? I can think of a number of uses. A guideline for new Scheme implementations. A touchstone to distinguish a “real” implementation from a wanna-be. A reference point for academic papers so they don’t need to devote an appendix to [...]
How Do You Compete for Your Own Job, or, Are You Really Learning?
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
A few days ago my friend and I were talking about the software development market and how as you pass multiples of 10 years of age you tend to face “new concerns” at work. For example, when you turn 30 you get promoted to lead developer, when you turn 40 you get promoted to manager, [...]