@dabeaz@mastodon.social avatar

dabeaz

@dabeaz@mastodon.social

Free-range computer scientist living in Evanston, Illinois. Former academic. I teach computer science courses, but you'll probably find me yapping on about bikes, dogs, and other random stuff here. I wrote the Python Cookbook, 3rd Ed (O'Reilly) and Python Distilled (Addison-Wesley). Teaching CSCI 1730, Design and Implementation of Programming Languages at Brown.edu in Fall 2023!

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dabeaz, to random
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Recovering from last week's compilers course, working on various improvements. I've been experimenting with the whole approach of writing a "nanopass" compiler (basically, having a lot of very small compiler phases).

I'm struck by how much this approach really leans into issues of the type-system, but with respect to the implementation of the compiler itself. Wasn't fully anticipating the scale of it, but it's great.

dabeaz,
@dabeaz@mastodon.social avatar

@lesley It was interesting. We were coding in Python where there is all of this flexibility and you can do all this incremental evolution of things. But, at the same time you feel pulled to put more structure on it. A type system can do that. Although it's unclear if the type system as presented by "optional typing" is that type system.

chrisjrn, to random
@chrisjrn@social.coop avatar

I learned Python with import cgi, sad to see it go 😓

dabeaz,
@dabeaz@mastodon.social avatar

@chrisjrn I cried the day cgi died.

FWIW, I still actively use the cgi module.

brainwane, to random
@brainwane@social.coop avatar

folks, my friend @zwol has a question

https://hackers.town/@zwol/112462627700972824

and would love to talk on Sunday with someone who works on the import statement part of the core language.

dabeaz,
@dabeaz@mastodon.social avatar

@brainwane @zwol FWIW, The person that comes to mind for almost anything related to import is Brett Cannon.

dabeaz, to random
@dabeaz@mastodon.social avatar

Thought: "Superstition" would be a good name for a programming language.

dabeaz,
@dabeaz@mastodon.social avatar

This inspired by Stevie Wonder and the lyric "you believe in things you don't understand."

diji, to random
@diji@mastodon.social avatar

@simon has just explained at a rule that I have, that can be summed up as:

“Do not do magic that you do not understand.”

dabeaz,
@dabeaz@mastodon.social avatar

@diji @simon Corollary : "Do not do magic that you do understand."

dabeaz, to random
@dabeaz@mastodon.social avatar

Random thought: Something sort of like cicadas, but not cicadas. Instead, squirrels.

dabeaz,
@dabeaz@mastodon.social avatar

@bhearsum I was thinking more about quantity. But, yeah, sounds could be cool too.

dabeaz,
@dabeaz@mastodon.social avatar

@bhearsum I'm just imagining every garbage can in the neighborhood being gnawed down to a little nub and stuff. That'd be crazy.

dabeaz, to random
@dabeaz@mastodon.social avatar

Trying to convince the kid to do summer community band with me. Aside from the big hurdle of "playing with a bunch of olds", I contend that community band is the way to get good.

We'll probably play 20+ songs. Real arrangements. Stuff they'd play in the top HS band. You'd probably only get 1-2 rehearsals per song--tons of sight reading. People are there to play and have fun. So, it's totally chill, not competitive. Get to be out in the community. And it's free. Unlike band camp.

dabeaz, to random
@dabeaz@mastodon.social avatar

Apropos that last boost, it's not too far removed from how ChatGPT formulates the code for the Raft distributed consensus algorithm.

jacob, to random
@jacob@jacobian.org avatar

I wanna hear about the best concerts you’ve been to! Some of mine:

  • Ozomatli at The Catalyst - played until curfew, spilled out onto the street and jammed for another hour until the cops came
  • Flaming Lips at Liberty Hall - second set, played the entirety of Dark Side
  • Dar Williams at Liberty - power went out, she sat on the edge of the stage and played three songs by flashlight
  • Joni Mitchell, Brandi Carlisle, et al at the Gorge - simply magical
dabeaz,
@dabeaz@mastodon.social avatar

@jacob I sat about 6 feet away from Chick Corea at Space in Evanston. That was amazing.

Envious of your Ozomatli gig. I bet that was nuts.

acdha, to random
@acdha@code4lib.social avatar

Nothing says “alpha male” like shooting your company in the foot because you can’t handle a woman disagreeing with you.

Hopefully the beta version will ship soon. https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/inside-story-elon-musks-mass-firings-tesla-supercharger-staff-2024-05-15/

dabeaz,
@dabeaz@mastodon.social avatar

@acdha What an absolute tool.

asx, to random
@asx@hachyderm.io avatar

Pro tip for speakers, presenters, tutorial hosts - dark text on white background is more legible than vice versa. The projector does a better job at projecting white light and the dark text shows off in a better contrast. As a member of the audience it’s more legible on a projector screen than white text on dark background - especially from far.

dabeaz,
@dabeaz@mastodon.social avatar

@mpirnat @asx Checks calendar.... people are still trying to figure this out?

dabeaz, to random
@dabeaz@mastodon.social avatar

Ramdom thought: Proper grammer used to be important to prove that you was educated, but maybe its best to avoid it to prove that your not AI.

dabeaz,
@dabeaz@mastodon.social avatar

@fabian @deshipu I didn't claim it was a good idea. It was a random thought.

dabeaz,
@dabeaz@mastodon.social avatar

@fabian I must admit that I entertain certain thoughts though. For example, if my kid included a minor grammatical mistake in his college admission essay, would someone seeing it interpret it as "he doesn't know how to write" or would it now be interpreted as "he probably wrote this essay himself"? I don't know.

bagder, to random
@bagder@mastodon.social avatar

What's (open source) maintaining?

dabeaz,
@dabeaz@mastodon.social avatar

@bagder Surprised the bird isn't pooping in that pic.

shriramk, to random
@shriramk@mastodon.social avatar

This is an amazing article, because it manages to contain something to offend just about everyone. It also contains the kind of less-than-half truths that are symptomatic of bad programming languages courses (and blogs and Wikipedia pages) everywhere. Wow!
https://www.wired.com/story/inside-the-cult-of-the-haskell-programmer/

dabeaz,
@dabeaz@mastodon.social avatar

@shriramk What did I just read?

dabeaz, to random
@dabeaz@mastodon.social avatar

Saw a deer following/chasing a coyote this morning. Babies must be nearby.

dabeaz,
@dabeaz@mastodon.social avatar

@slampoud I dunno. That deer pretty actively chased that coyote out of the swampy area, across a busy road, and into a nearby housing subdivision.

dabeaz, to random
@dabeaz@mastodon.social avatar

Note to self: "I'm sorry" is not the most tactful response when other parents say they're working on a project related to AI-- correct though it may be.

dabeaz, to random
@dabeaz@mastodon.social avatar

Sure, there's bike riding. And early morning bike riding into the sunrise. And early morning bike riding into the sunrise in the crisp clear air after a rainstorm. But then there's early morning bike riding into the sunrise in the crisp clear air after a rainstorm under the wispy skies of an aurora borealis. In Chicago. Sublime.

Aurora borealis with Ba'hai Temple (Wilmette) in foreground.

dabeaz,
@dabeaz@mastodon.social avatar

Early morning in this case being about 3:40am. May need a nap later...

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