My favorite support story is the classic Olin Shivers story about a support call to Microsoft. Date: Sat, 12 Apr 1997 06:03:30 -0400 (EDT) From: Olin Shivers To: sunday-lunch-list Subject: Losing $35 Reply-to: shivers@ai.mit.edu
No lunch on Sunday, I am afraid.
Having just concluded a continuous 14-hour conversation with technical support people at Microsoft, my weekend plans have been altered to simply sleep.
> The amazing project which no one had any idea > would go so far from the original April Fool's > Joke by Simon Cozens (also posted on Slashdot on > April 1, 2001) to really unite Perl and Python one > day (not to mention Tcl, Scheme,...
Saying that it in it's current state supports Scheme is, well, at best a joke (and I am in a good mood today). Havin a subdirectory named Scheme, doesn't actually mean they work.
If corporations want to avoid the trouble IBM now is facing perhaps they will see the advantage of using GPL'ed code. A GPL licence can't suddenly be revoked.
And furthermore (if anyone was in doubt) it clearly shows how ridicusly SCO is acting for the moment.
Note that the macro introduces a new variable tmp. Even in the case that e2 uses the variable tmp it works. The macro system makes sure to "rename" our tmp variable so no name clashes occur. One calls this "hygienec macros".
> Clearly recursion should be confined to those > problems where it's really needed, and not used > just because you can find a way to state the > problem using recursion.
There is nothing wrong with the/concept/ of recursion. Just make sure you use a compiler that supports tail recursion.
If the result of the recursive call is immediately returned, then a compiler can make sure that the stack doesn't grow. In languages like Scheme this part of the language standard. But som compilers for C such as gcc also supports tail recursion.
Sussman have written another delightful book (this time with Jack Wisdom) it is called Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics. It uses computer programs to describe physical phenomena. Very interesting.
This book is also online:
http://mitpress.mit.edu/SICM/
Note: Amazon has a discount if you buy SICM and SICP together.
It is a classic. So classic that it has an entry in the jargon file:
Wizard Book n.
"Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs" (Hal Abelson, Jerry Sussman and Julie Sussman; MIT Press, 1984, 1996; ISBN 0-262-01153-0), an excellent computer science text used in introductory courses at MIT. So called because of the wizard on the jacket. One of the bibles of the LISP/Scheme world. Also, less commonly, known as the Purple Book. Now available on the http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.h tml
> How can you call Spanier nice?? > I don't know of anybody who's been able > to read more than two pages! It's dense and > very confusing in its "great generality"! > Completely unreadable!
I didn't say it was easy. From the preface:
| The reader is not assumed to have prior
| knowledge of algebraic topology, but he is
| assumed to be mathematically spohisicated.
The topics come in a orderly fashion. And there no gaps in the proofs. The original book is from 69 and there is a reason it is still in the shops.
They are offering two new Sega games to all who bought their Sega before november 9. I think that is an ok gesture.
As has been pointed out before it is possible to connect the Sega to the internet using a LAN, but if one bought the Sega to gain Internet access (I can't imagine who) then one would proably feel a little cheated.
Is certainly is true, that age has a great impact on the performance of chess players. Why? Well, one of the reasons is that their physical form gets worse. This implies that they are not able to concentrate for as long as they used to. This impliy that it gets more and more difficult to in a chess match over many games.
Of course, it was worse in the old K vs. K days, where you didn't play a fixed number of games, but played until one player had won 8 gameds. This took months. (Remember the match that was prematurely ended?)
The players know, that a bad physical form affect their play, so they actually have physical training. The most popular are ordinary running, but others play tennis etc.
This reminds of an interview the national Danish television once had with Kasparov concerning the match between him and Deep Thought. Due to Kasparovs funny english accent, the translator wrote "Deep Throught" in the subtitles:-)
How come/. removes all white space from posters ? All source code on/. look pretty ugly. My attempts to "pretty print" mathematical formulas in ascci has also suffered a cruel destiny due to the removal of white space. Example:
Slashdot Mirror
My favorite support story is the classic Olin Shivers story about a support call to Microsoft.
Date: Sat, 12 Apr 1997 06:03:30 -0400 (EDT)
From: Olin Shivers
To: sunday-lunch-list
Subject: Losing $35
Reply-to: shivers@ai.mit.edu
No lunch on Sunday, I am afraid.
Having just concluded a continuous 14-hour conversation with
technical support people at Microsoft, my weekend plans have been
altered to simply sleep.
More...
Ask the math department of your nearest univeristy for help.
m l
A true reasearch project might be somewhat of an undertaking, but
they can probably find something appropriate.
BTW - don't cheat yourself of trying Simon Singh's CD-rom
on cryptology: http://www.simonsingh.net/Shop_-_Crypto_CD-ROM.ht
IT conversations have a recently recorded interview with Joel in which he tells about the book. Great stuff.
IT Conversations's interview with Joel
> The amazing project which no one had any idea ...
> would go so far from the original April Fool's
> Joke by Simon Cozens (also posted on Slashdot on
> April 1, 2001) to really unite Perl and Python one
> day (not to mention Tcl, Scheme,
Saying that it in it's current state supports Scheme is, well, at best a joke (and I am in a good mood today). Havin a subdirectory named Scheme, doesn't actually mean they work.
Okasaki's book is delightful. Anyone interested
in data structures owe themselves read his book.
I became so inspired that I implemented all the heap
algorithms in Scheme:
http://www.scheme.dk/heaps-galore/heap.scm
The code contains implementations of the following heaps:
- leftist heaps
- binomial heaps
- pairing-heaps
- splay heaps
- lazy binomial heaps
- lazy pairing heaps
- skew binomial heaps
The documentation is here:
http://www.scheme.dk/heaps-galore/doc-heap.txt
Quicksort is a bad choice of algorithm for
sorting lists. There is less overhead in
using mergesort.
Install the old RealPlayer.
(The last before the name change to RealOne).
Then go to the update menu and update the
codecs.
> Lisp is never truely compiled.
Yes it is.
> It can be compiled down to machine code, but you > always have to keep the S-expressions around,
No.
> In Lisp, macros are expression constructors that
> return a lambda.
No. A macro rewrites one expression to another.
No need to talk about lambda here.
The idea to use computer programs against plagiarism is not new.
Professor Queinnec has a nice Perl script:
In general for the comparion of the Linux-kernel and BSD (or SCO) the theory behind rsync (by Tridge
the creator of Samba) is probably the best tool.
His Ph.D thesis is full of theory of how to compare files:
http://samba.org/~tridge/phd_thesis.pdf
If corporations want to avoid the trouble
IBM now is facing perhaps they will see
the advantage of using GPL'ed code. A GPL
licence can't suddenly be revoked.
And furthermore (if anyone was in doubt)
it clearly shows how ridicusly SCO is
acting for the moment.
> It's not obvious to us all.
...) becomes ...))))
...).
...) (let ((tmp e1)) ...)))]))
> I'm slightly confused on what exactly is
> happening.
I won't blame you - the example is bad.
The idea of the macro system is that
it is very easy to state the rewrite
rules.
Let us write a small or macro that works
the same way as C.
We want (my-or e1 e2 e3) to evaluate the
arguments in turn and return the value
of the first expression that is true and
false (writen #f) otherwise.
This way if e2 is true then e3 is never evaluated.
[Of course this construct is already in the
language, but it is a nice example].
Let us see what rules we need.
(my-or) becomes #f (false)
(my-or e1) becomes e1
(my-or e1 e2) becomes (let ([tmp e1])
(if tmp tmp e2))
This evaluates e1 and store the result
in tmp. If tmp is true then the result is tmp.
If tmp is false the result is e2.
And in general if there is more than one
expression after e1:
(my-or e1 e2
(let ([tmp e1])
(if tmp
tmp
(my-or e2
where I didn't bother expanding the (my-or e2 e3
The macro system of Scheme allows us to write this as:
(define-syntax my-or
(syntax-rules ()
[(my-or) f)
[(my-or e1) e1)
[(my-or e1 e2) (let ((tmp e1))
(if tmp tmp e2)))]
[(my-or e1 e2
(if tmp
tmp
(my-or e2
Note that the macro introduces a new variable
tmp. Even in the case that e2 uses the variable
tmp it works. The macro system makes sure to
"rename" our tmp variable so no name clashes occur. One calls this "hygienec macros".
> Clearly recursion should be confined to those
/concept/ of recursion. Just make sure you use a compiler that
> problems where it's really needed, and not used
> just because you can find a way to state the
> problem using recursion.
There is nothing wrong with the
supports tail recursion.
If the result of the recursive call is immediately returned, then a compiler can make sure that the stack doesn't grow. In languages like Scheme this part of the language standard.
But som compilers for C such as gcc also supports tail recursion.
Sussman have written another delightful book (this time with Jack Wisdom) it is called
Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics. It uses computer programs to describe physical phenomena. Very interesting.
This book is also online:
http://mitpress.mit.edu/SICM/
Note: Amazon has a discount if you buy SICM and SICP together.
--
Jens Axel Søgaard
It is a classic. So classic that it has an entry in the jargon file:
h tml
Wizard Book n.
"Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs" (Hal Abelson, Jerry Sussman and Julie Sussman; MIT Press, 1984, 1996; ISBN 0-262-01153-0), an excellent computer science text used in introductory courses at MIT. So called because of the wizard on the jacket. One of the bibles of the LISP/Scheme world. Also, less commonly, known as the Purple Book. Now available on the http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.
Note: SICP is pronounced: "Sick pee".
> How can you call Spanier nice??
> I don't know of anybody who's been able
> to read more than two pages! It's dense and
> very confusing in its "great generality"!
> Completely unreadable!
I didn't say it was easy. From the preface:
| The reader is not assumed to have prior
| knowledge of algebraic topology, but he is
| assumed to be mathematically spohisicated.
The topics come in a orderly fashion. And there no gaps in the proofs. The original book is from 69 and there is a reason it is still in the shops.
Bredon's "Topology and Gemetry" is a modern classic.
The old one was Spanier's "Algebraic Topology".
(which is also quite nice).
My favourite obfuscation is this pi-program.
The only thing in main() is large drawing of a filled circle. And then it says
"If you want better accuracy, make a bigger drawing"!
They are doing it on purpose.
I just press ø.
Oh. I have a danish keybord.
--
Jens Axel Søgaard
Remember to pick up:
http://media.salon.com/mp3s/tolkien2.mp3
It is: "The Mirror Of Galadriel"
Good thing they didnt `kill -9` ...
An idea for the next release of kill. Instead of using the switch -9, I would just love to write:
>kill kenny
They are offering two new Sega games to all who bought their Sega before november 9. I think that is an ok gesture.
As has been pointed out before it is possible to connect the Sega to the internet using a LAN, but if one bought the Sega to gain Internet access (I can't imagine who) then one would proably feel a little cheated.
Is certainly is true, that age has a great impact on the performance of chess players. Why? Well, one of the reasons is that their physical form gets worse. This implies that they are not able to concentrate for as long as they used to. This impliy that it gets more and more difficult to in a chess match over many games.
Of course, it was worse in the old K vs. K days, where you didn't play a fixed number of games, but played until one player had won 8 gameds. This took months. (Remember the match that was prematurely ended?)
The players know, that a bad physical form affect their play, so they actually have physical training. The most popular are ordinary running, but others play tennis etc.
This reminds of an interview the national Danish television once had with Kasparov concerning the match between him and Deep Thought. Due to Kasparovs funny english accent, the translator wrote "Deep Throught" in the subtitles :-)
How come /. removes all white space from posters ? /. look pretty ugly. My attempts to "pretty print" mathematical formulas in ascci has also suffered a cruel destiny due to the removal of white space. Example:
:-(
All source code on
x squared
2
x
The 2 ought to be at the proper place