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The demise of Lisp at JPL is a tragedy. The language is particularly well suited for the kind of software development that is often done here: one-of-a-kind, highly dynamic applications that must be developed on extremely tight budgets and schedules. The efficacy of the language in that kind of environment is amply documented by a long record of unmatched technical achievements. The rise and fall of Lisp at the Jet Propulsion Lab.
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In the past, programmers didn't get into wars over programming languages.
COBOL programmers did their work quietly in banks and commercial enterprises.
Fortran programmers did scientific programming.
Assembly language programmers wrote programs when speed was of the essence or getting down and dirty was necessary.
And nobody went around saying EXEC IV on the Univac was superior to MVS on the IBM 360.
Nobody went around with his nose up in the air.
It took Unix, C, C++, Java, Python, etc., to create the current environment where if you don't write in C, C++ or Java under Unix/Windows/MacOS, you are not a good programmer.
The closing of the programmer's mind portends nothing good for the future.
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Funny you should put Java in the list. Java and C# are two sides of the same coin. I work in C#. I did work with Visual Basic at one time, and did get the somewhat deserved discrimination.
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Microsoft came out with C# because Sun Microsystems sued Microsoft from using the name "Java" in any form, trying to keep control over how the Java language evolved (or, how Java didn't evolve, since Sun considered that Java was already perfect as it was  ).
But my primary point was about the closing of the programmer's mind which caused Lisp to be eliminated at JPL.
If that could happen at a place as dedicated to science as JPL, what would happen at a bank or a hospital?
And to think that these programmers actually claim to have a college education! They are so much inferior to people who get their computer training at DeVry University or the ITT educational institutions for the simple reason those guys do not put on any airs.
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I have looked at lisp many years ago when the syntax was extremely alkward. My initial impression was the same as APL, and that was they did a horrible job with syntax. Fortunatley, I beleive, they improved the syntax. Understood the general idan, but never how to program. remember I worked with a guy that was very good at lisp, and would occationally take jobes, but there just was not enough demand to make ends meet. Just like functional programming, wish I better understood how to use it. With time I have adapted very well to ood, lisp, etc. Still takes time to get one's head around it.
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Recently I had the opportunity to debug the clipboard in Windows, and I thought I’d share some of the things I learned. The clipboard is one of those parts of Windows that many of us use dozens (hundreds?) of times a day and don’t really think about. Before working on this case, I had never even considered how it works under the hood. It turns out that there’s more to it than you might think. The magic behind Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V.
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Rice has floated include the notion of a Pigovian tax designed to correct the current "broken" market outcome in the software industry. That's to say, end users pay the price for shoddy software through attacks, bolted-on security solutions, and the never-ending patching process. If security related vulnerabilities were somehow taxed, the cost burden would be shifted more from the consumer of software to the software manufacturer. How, exactly, would a developer tax on bugs work?
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Despite us entering a seemingly golden age of browser consistency, what I am seeing is an increasing reliance on a whole slew of polyfills, CSS frameworks and boilerplate starting points. I am concerned that these things are being promoted as something everyone should include from the outset, rather than being a toolkit you draw on to deal with problems once they have arisen. We’re in a really exciting time for standards-based web development. So why all the kludgey tricks?
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When I first started designing interactive products, it was a struggle. Small projects were fine. But when the interactions got more complex, I noticed that tools, team communication, and even my own thinking started breaking down. I see many startups facing these same problems today. So I wanted to share some of the ways that I’ve changed my design process over the years to handle the complexity of large products. Here are some great tips for keeping the design process focused on real user stories.
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Most mobile robots are not truly autonomous; most operate in simplified environments. Almost all non-industrial robots still require a helping hand from humans. However, we are interested in building robots which will be self-sufficient in terms of decision making and energy - robots which can be left unsupervised to organize their work and nourishment. A proof-of-concept vehicle capable of detecting and collecting slugs... for fuel.
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Yes, Commodore is still around and selling computers. And believe it or not, the firm has just unveiled a small-form-factor PC that's purportedly fit for use as a home-theater system, a workstation, and a gaming machine — whatever tickles your fancy. It sure is tiny, and it might be attractive (beauty is in the eye of the beholder), but is it a powerhouse? A look inside the new Commodore Amiga.
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Teachers and researchers in the field of online education have recently published the Manifesto for Teaching Online in conjunction with the University of Edinburgh. I really like this document because it makes you question what you believe about teaching and learning spaces. Distance is a positive principle, not a deficit. Online can be the privileged mode.
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The Windows 8 user interface is designed to scale to systems of all sizes. Like Windows versions of old, it will have to scale all the way from 1366×768 10-inch tablets up to 2560×1440 30-inch desktop monitors and beyond. But it's not just different numbers of pixels that Windows 8 will have to cope with: different sizes of pixels matter too. Windows 8 will have to scale from screens with around 96 dots per inch all the way to screens with almost 300 dpi. Windows 8 is Retina display-ready.
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With SUA, aka "Subsystem for Unix based Applications," being deprecated - marked for death, likely not being included in a future Windows version - it's a good time to look at the other options available, many that have been around for a while and have a very loyal and thriving community. Cygwin : UNIX shell for Windows.
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Quote: A blog posting on the Pirate Bay site said the service had gone offline for a few hours on 18th March to move its front machines (which redirect a user’s traffic to a masked location). "We have now decided to try to build something extraordinary," it said.
What this means is that it could use small GPS-controlled drones – availing of low-price radio equipment and small computers, citing the Raspberry Pi as an example – “that will float some kilometers up in the air”
http://www.themusicnetwork.com/music-features/industry/2012/03/22/pirate-bay-take-to-international-airspace/[^]
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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In this installment we talk to Sebastien Lambla, consultant, blogger, teacher and open-source developer. Meet the coder behind OpenWrap and OpenRasta.
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Woz’s leaving Apple Computer was a watershed event. There is more here than Wozniak’s falling out with a buddy who had metamorphosed from a Yippie to a Yuppie. Wozniak felt uncomfortable, no longer free to do what he wanted to do. and reportedly, even betrayed. In a sense, Wozniak’s disenchantment symbolizes the changing role of all hackers.
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The web is such an exciting place. It lulled for a while in the last few years, but major upheavals are afoot again. And every time it’s passionate, clever, generous, and thoroughly nice people at the forefront. It’s what I love about the web. Even when I moan. The grass is always greener on the other side of the browser.
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Application performance is something we hear about all the time. It almost always falls into one of the top three issues when we aggregate all of the feedback channels from .NET developers. While performance has many characteristics, application startup time is something that everyone can easily relate to. Here are some of the ways the .NET Framework 4.5 beta helps speed things up for you. Ready for launch in 3... 2... 1... Go!
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Programmers come out of college in one of two modes: either they are full of fire and initiative, ready to change the world with their “mad h@x0r skillz” and energy, or they are timid and tentative, completely afraid to take any chance or risk that might possibly lead them to getting fired from their job. The first are the ones that scare me. "Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try."
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Random number generation is one of the most fascinating subjects in cryptography -- mostly because of how terrible things get when people screw it up. And oh boy, do people screw it up. When this happens, people get nervous. They start to wonder: am I at risk? And if so, what can I do to protect myself? Answering this question is easy. Answering it in detail is hard. What's a bad RNG? And what do I do if I 40713455...
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The Free Universal Construction Kit - a 3-D-printable collection of 80 parts that function as a a Rosetta Stone for young builders - connects lego to lincoln logs to tinkertoys, with the aim of making those systems spark truly unlimited creativity. Lego, K’Nex, Tinkertoys... Oh my!
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The IE team published an in-depth post over the weekend, raising a few concerns about StatCounter’s methodology (or lack thereof) for reporting browser market share. Their points were interesting to consider, but what’s the use in splitting hairs about this? Cooking the books is hard and doesn't help anyone.
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Cooking books is easy. All you need is a microwave.
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Seattle. Cost of gas, energy, and real estate (not to mention natural beauty) are just some of the reasons why the Emerald city is not only one of the best places in the country to live, but also one of the most attractive places for startups to bootstrap or for bigger companies to make the hires necessary to scale their operations. Three months of sun is all anyone really needs.
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