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Archive for July, 2007

This is the 2nd part to my previous post, Squeak is like an operating system. I also refer you to this post on Giles’s blog, which provides some context.
It’s easy to get lulled into the notion when programming in Smalltalk that you can use it like you would a programming language that is separated from the OS, that uses [...]

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The Squeak 3.9 desktop
In foreground is a System Browser (what I call a ”code browser”–the default developer IDE), and one of the desktop “flaps” on the right (like a “quick launch” bar–it retracts). Behind the System Browser is the Monticello Browser, a version control system for Squeak. The bar at the top contains some system menus and desktop controls. The wallpaper is called “Altitude”.
I was inspired [...]

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“Pascal is for building pyramids–imposing, breathtaking, static structures built by armies pushing heavy blocks into place. Lisp is for building organisms–imposing, breathtaking, dynamic structures built by squads fitting fluctuating myriads of simpler organisms into place.”
– Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs,
by Harold Abelson and Gerald Sussman
In this post I’m going to talk mostly about this speech below, [...]

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Is everything a form of computation? That’s what some scientists are saying. I found the CACM article “Computing is a Natural Science”, by Peter Denning on reddit recently. I looked at the title and thought, “Yeah, so?” When I took computer science at Colorado State University 14 years ago it was in the College of Natural Sciences. At some [...]

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A few years ago Alan Kay was on a tour of sorts giving a speech entitled, “The Computer Revolution Hasn’t Happened Yet”. I believe he began it when he won his Turing Award in 2003. For so many years Alan Kay has been saying “The computer revolution hasn’t happened yet”. He sees the computer as [...]

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This topic takes me back to some of the “good old days” of when I was a C programmer. I found “Top 10 Ways to be Screwed by the C programming language”, by Dave Dyer, on reddit. As I read through it I got a chuckle. Here were some good ones.
Note: none of the code [...]

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