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Re: Forth, Befunge, Whitespace, or Malborge: which is hardest to write buggy code in?   25 Sep 04
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(Source: comp.lang.forth)
  >>Here is a version of Forth that runs under Windows, written in Whitespace:
  >
  >>
  >>I can't get it to run.  Do you think my browser has clobbered the code?
  Hmmm. I did exactly as the web page[1] suggests: "What do you do? Simply
  print it out and delete the file, ready to type in at a later date.
  Nobody will know that your blank piece of paper is actually vital
  computer code!"  I sure hope that I didn't mistake my only copy of the
  source code for an ordinary blank page!

  Perhaps writing my Befunge[2] compiler in Malborge[3] and then making it
  to a Forth[4] compiler written in Whitespace[1] wasn't such a good idea...

 References:
 1 http://compsoc.dur.ac.uk/whitespace/
 2 http://dmoz.org/Computers/Programming/Languages/Befunge/
 3 http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=28147
 4 http://www.cbel.com/forth_programming_language/

Forth "versus" Whatever   25 Sep 04
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From comp.lang.forth
 >>Which brings me to an excellent 'forthism' I once read in a
 >> newsletter.  It stated:
 >>
 >>     "You can do anything in Forth - but you must be prepared
 >>     to do it yourself."
 In a recent discussion in c.l.functional, about why popular languages
 are popular, I summarized the relationship between Lisp and Forth
 more-or-less as follows:
 "From the Lisper's perspective, every other language is a cute subset
 of lisp; whereas from the Forther's perspective, every other language
 is a cute extension of Forth."

I've never been a Project Manager before   25 Sep 04
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Check out the excellent Dilbert

Paris Metro firm to run Wi-Fi buses   25 Sep 04
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(Sourc: register) Wireless Internet access will soon move beyond railways and onto the roads if RATP, the company which runs the Paris Metro and the capital’s bus services, has its way.

The organisation will next week show off a Wi-Fi enabled bus at the Paris-hosted Public Transport Exhibition 2004. It will also launch a public trial of the technology, on the number 38 bus, which runs between North and South Paris. Buses on the route have already been equipped with Wi-Fi, RATP said. Travellers will be able to connect their (suitably equipped) PDAs and notebooks with the bus’ on-board access point. However, Internet connectivity is only provided at Wi-Fi speeds when the vehicle passes within range of a fixed hotspot - at a major terminus, for example. For the rest of the journey, connectivity is maintained through a GPRS link. link

Unit Tests -- just do it!   25 Sep 04
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Been coding a lot these days on SmallWorld. I try to be disciplined and continue adding unit tests to the hundreds of unit tests wherever sth. could go wrong, but ever again I go off the track and code several methods and even entire classes without any tests. It’s simple stuff and hey, this is ruby :-).

Then I sit here for 3 hours trying to understand why the dammed computer does not do what it should. It’s that feeling I hate most. You waste time .. I mean I could as well go skiing or drink a bottle of vodka .. would be about the same productivity progress on my code and at least I would enjoy the sun.

After hitting my head long enough and starting to isolate the stuff .. I found it .. I had forgotten one return in a most trivial three line long method. Shame on me. Now I will go back to being test-infected. test-first is even better. Dammit .. sorry for the rant, but I doubt there are many systems like computers where one comma at the wrong place can make everything go boom. Oh well, try to modify the DNA and do not know what you are doing. :-).

Game Design & Engineering Theory   25 Sep 04
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(Source: Miyamoto’s Tokyo Univ. Lecture Today (July 3), at the Komaba campus of Tokyo University, a lecture was held by Shigeru Miyamoto, director and head of information development at Nintendo Co., Ltd. I’ll write out the main points of the lecture here. I’ve deliberately left some parts out; my apologies for this.

…I arrived at the classroom ten minutes before the lecture began. I was worried that there wouldn’t be any seats left, but I discovered one at the fourth row from the front so I hurried over and sat down. The classroom, which can hold around 200 people, filled up almost instantly. By the time I entered the room, Mr. Miyamoto was already sitting in a chair next to the blackboard.

Since Miyamoto was apparently too busy to make any special preparations for the event, it was decided to move from a traditional lecture format to a more informal discussion. To start off things, the instructor in charge discussed CERO [the Japanese game rating system], age restrictions, GTA, Kakuto Chojin, and other topics related to game regulation.

And then Miyamoto stepped up to the mike. Applause…

www.video-fenky.com/features/miyamoto.html

Extreme Leadership   25 Sep 04
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An interesting read. Patterns of extreme Leadership by Kent Beck. pdf

Just Ship, Baby   25 Sep 04
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(Source: Kent Beck) Short two page essay: The focus on shipping is not an excuse for cutting corners, but perfect adherence to the practices is no excuse for not shipping. groups.yahoo.com/group/extremeprogramming/files/just%20ship.pdf

Working on a book: Driving Software Projects with Examples   25 Sep 04
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Brian Marick posted this to agile-testing.

I’ve started work on a book, tentatively titled _Driving Projects with Examples: a Handbook for Agile Teams_. All that’s done to date is the Preface.

Two years ago, this would have been about driving projects with tests, but I think the role of examples in projects is larger than that. Also, examples fit more obviously into the whole "individuals and interactions over processes and tools" thing. Examples are something people use to explain themselves to each other. Conversations and learning are more obviously part of the picture.

Because I’m so hot on examples, I’ve put the draft book on a new site, exampler.com. Here’s the book: <www.exampler.com/book/>

(And, rather than "QA", "tester", or even "ECaBian", "exampler" might be a good name for those people on an Agile project that exhibit certain traits more strongly than other team members.)

Some of you practice the style of development I’m documenting - or variants of it. If you do, I want to talk to you, be it on the phone, or via emai, or in person. (I am budgeting travel money to visit worthy sites.) I’m serious about the "handbook" in the title: I want to fill it with tricks, tips, techniques, and stories. The more people I gather them from, the better the book will be.

Simple things ..   25 Sep 04
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I was just now doing some research on bus ticket clearing houses and I came across his post in rec.travel.europe from 2001 by Michael Forrest.
 >Reciprocity is not guaranteed on airlines (or toll bridges - it
 >has always amused me that the toll on the Severn Bridge between
 >England and Wales is GBP 4.20 for a car to enter Wales but there
 >is no toll the other way, ie entering England). (Maybe it shows
 >how the two countries value themselves?)

All of the bridges in the San Francisco Bay area only charge toll in one direction. Some genius realized that, on the average, just about as many cars went each way for the obvious reason that most trips across the bridges are round trips. So they doubled the toll and took down the toll booths going one way (except for the Golden Gate Bridge where the toll booths remain, unattended). There has been considerable saving in toll collection costs and the toll booth traffic jams in one direction are gone. Is it possible the Severn Bridge does similarly?

 

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