"Syntactic sugar causes cancer of the semicolon" -- Alan Perlis

I'm reading Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, which MIT Press has kindly made available on line. Here is a tasty nibblet from the preface to the first edition:

Our design of this introductory computer-science subject reflects two major concerns. First, we want to establish the idea that a computer language is not just a way of getting a computer to perform operations but rather that it is a novel formal medium for expressing ideas about methodology. Thus, programs must be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute. Second, we believe that the essential material to be addressed by a subject at this level is not the syntax of particular programming-language constructs, nor clever algorithms for computing particular functions efficiently, nor even the mathematical analysis of algorithms and the foundations of computing, but rather the techniques used to control the intellectual complexity of large software systems.

As a hobby I've been learning Common Lisp. Several folks in the comp.lang.lisp newsgroup have recommended SICP to folks who desire to improve their knowledge of the theoretical underpinnings of Lisp, so here I am.

It all started when someone in c.l.l asked "why does lisp need the 'apply' function?". As an exploration of this question I attempted the impossible task of implementing Lisp's 'apply' using Common Lisp macros and the 'funcall' function. If you resort to also using the 'eval' function then it is possible to define 'apply'. Of course having to resort to calling 'eval' is a terrible price to pay. This is why Lisp defines 'apply' as a primative. (it is trivial to define 'funcall' in terms of 'apply' -- you don't even need to use macros much less 'eval'. To wit: "(defun funcall (fn &rest arg) (apply fn rest))").

BTW, for you folks who don't know Lisp, Lisp macros are very powerful. The macro system provided by the C language preprocessor is nothing compared to lisp macros. Lisp macros are more powerful than C++ templates. If you haven't studied Lisp it is hard to conceive what Lisp macros are capable of.

little red book

little red book
Originally uploaded by davebarber.

Hey everybody, I just discovered this wonderful book of wisdom!

I highly recommend you (and all your friends) request this book via interlibrary loan.

NEW BEDFORD -- A senior at UMass Dartmouth was visited by federal agents two months ago, after he requested a copy of Mao Tse-Tung's tome on Communism called "The Little Red Book."
[...]
The student, who was completing a research paper on Communism for Professor Pontbriand's class on fascism and totalitarianism, filled out a form for the request, leaving his name, address, phone number and Social Security number. He was later visited at his parents' home in New Bedford by two agents of the Department of Homeland Security, the professors said.
The professors said the student was told by the agents that the book is on a "watch list," and that his background, which included significant time abroad, triggered them to investigate the student further.
(read the rest of the story at SouthCoastToday)

I gotta run now, I'm off to the library to request a copy of Mao's most excellent little red book.

2005 Dec 24 Update:
Apparently this story is a hoax. damn, I requested my little red book for nothing.

Hey Dubya, nice job keeping an eye on those "terrorists"

I feel much safer knowing that those radical militant quakers and dangerous anti-nuke activists are being spied on.

Earlier this week NBC News exposed the existence of a secret Pentagon database to track intelligence gathered inside the United States. The database including information on dozens of anti-war protests and rallies particularly actions targeting military recruiting.

The list included: counter-military recruiting meetings held at a Quaker Meeting House in Lake Forth, Florida. Anti-nuclear protests staged in Nebraska on the 50th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki. An anti-war protest organized by military families outside Fort Bragg in North Carolina. And a rally in San Diego to support war resister Pablo Parades. The Pentagon database described all of these events as threats. (continue the article at Democracy Now)

Good thing we're going to renew Patriot Act. I feel safer knowing that, when some crazed anti-war protester plans to set off a dirty bomb in Chicago, the military will be there to nip it in the bud. Yes, we should definitely take the advice of Georgy, Rummy and Dick and trust our government. Yep, those old post-Nixon restrictions on domestic surveillance are definitely antiquated.

What with all the dangerous war protestors, Quakers, anti-nuclear loonies and radical militant librarians we should probably just cut to the chase and bypass the Patriot Act by delcaring martial law until the War on Terrorism has been completely won (tm). The only way to protect our freedom is to destroy it.

Hopefully this seditious blog entry will be redacted by party censors soon seeing as how I'm probably blabbing state secrets by restating publicly accessible information.

Seen on Usenet

Remember usenet? That was the internet when I was a wee laddy. Here is an interesting quote I read in a usenet newsgroup today:

On the other hand: Lisp looks like a theoretical
optimum. It has a minimalistic way of structuring
hierarchical data, it has a minimalistic way of
expressing program structure as hierarchical data,
it has a minimalistic way of automatizing
writing program snippets. In this light it is
very well possible that a sufficiently advanced
civilization has Lisp, just as it is entirely possible
that it has a Go-like game. It would be a next
to impossible incident if this civilization had
a Chess-like game or Java because both are much
more arbitrary than Lisp or Go. Who knows how
well those extra-terristial Lispniks do in convincing
their compatriats adopting the language? Maybe
the first signal from space-alien will be a
flame-war between Lispniks and members of the
extra-terrestial equivalent of the ruling Java-mainstream.
(Tin Gherdanarra ...@gmail.com>)

Waiting for the bus

Waiting for the bus
Originally uploaded by funkyj.

I experimented with taking the 'highway 17 express' bus and the lightrail to get to work.

It was an interesting experiment. If I take the bus that arrrives at just the right time to immediately catch the light rail then I can get to work in about 1 hour 45 minutes (not including the trip between home and the bus stop). The commute by car takes 50 minutes. Uh yeah.

Cafe Baklava

Cafe Baklava
Originally uploaded by funkyj.

I asked this friendly waiter if I could take his picture and he kindly obliged me.

A few seconds after this picture he got suspicious of my motives and began asking me "WHY DO YOU WANT TO TAKE MY PICTURE?" over and over.

I may be wrong but this place has the feel of a family owned restaurant -- people who have a vested interest and care about the business are working here.

Oh, the food was very good and reasonably priced. A good place for an afforable lunch.

Gmail is on the fritz.

Apparently some (much?) of the email I've sent from gmail the past two days has been diverted to /dev/null. It appears that I'm receiving email at gmail just fine but sending is a problem.

It would be much nicer if gmail would at least let me know when I can't send email as opposed to silently failing (as it currently is). Oh well, here is a black eye for google.

Yum

IMG_2135
Originally uploaded by funkyj.

what a tasty looking slug

movie: Off the Map. This one gets 5 stars and enters Jonathan's hall of fame (where it joins The Triplets of Belleville). If you are used to movies travelling along at the speed of Babette's Feast you may feel that this movie moves a tad too quickly, nonetheless, you will probably enjoy it.

movie: Limbo. 4.5 stars. I love movies with such well developed plot resolution. This one joins Lost in Translation and Broken Flowers at the top of the class in the category of excellent plot development! I love a movie in which nothing (or very little) happens.

Phobos-viking1

Phobos-viking1
Originally uploaded by funkyj.

I saw this on wikipedia today. I love pictures of asteroids and small moons. There is something religious or mystical about seeing a real photo of something millions of miles away in the cold vacuum of space. 243 Ida is another favorite.

Queen Mary

IMG_8997
Originally uploaded by funkyj.

Amelia and I stayed a night on the Queen Mary ship/hotel in Long Beach while visiting family in Orange County.

Our rude idiot neighbors in the next room started watching TV at 3:30 in the morning. After about a hour of unsuccessfully trying to get back to sleep (there is not much sound insulation between rooms) I went out and explored the ship.

I also left a note for the hotel staff to "please spit on any food that is delivered to room M138". Hopefully they will get their just desserts.

The Diagnosis

The Diagnosis
Originally uploaded by funkyj.

... Maranti is terminally ill.

This picture was taken at the meeting in which we were informed that the board of directors was pulling the plug on our company, Maranti (Google cached).

raven portrait

raven portrait
Originally uploaded by flappingwings.

Someone else on flickr took this excellent picture. I love ravens and crows...

Waiting for the Half Blood Prince

IMG_8860
Originally uploaded by funkyj.

Harry Potter

IMG_8882
Originally uploaded by funkyj.

and the Half Blood Prince went on sale today. This picture is of the release party at Bookshop Santa Cruz.

The Court of Mysteries

IMG_8739
Originally uploaded by funkyj.

When I win the lottery I will buy the Court of Mysteries.

Until then I'll have to content myself with a few pictures. I have more pictures of this eccentric decaying homage to the brick layer's art. I'll be adding pictures taken in a morning light sometime later.

Farewell Mike

IMG_4249
Originally uploaded by funkyj.

Mike Berg, a good friend of mine, died last year. Recently I uploaded some pictures to flickr that I took at a party celebrating Mike's life. The two pictures shown here are pictures of Mike before we met.

you can see larger versions of this picture by clicking the picture (this takes you to flickr) and then clicking the all sizes button above the picture.

You may recognise Mike's name as the one you see if you follow the blog sensei link on the left side of my blog page.

Cafe Brazil

Cafe Brazil
Originally uploaded by funkyj.

My mother in law is visiting this weekend so we went to Cafe Brazil for brunch. Normally we wouldn't bother going out to brunch at such a late hour (10h30) on a holiday weekend but with company visiting you have to do crazy things. The food was good (as usual), after the interminable wait.

There are more of my photos of Cafe Brazil on flickr.

Loulou au frais

Loulou au frais
Originally uploaded by pascale une autre.

cruzing other folks photos on flickr is fun! This is a recent favorite of mine.

Le Boeuf Quintet

Le Boeuf Quintet
Originally uploaded by funkyj.

There was a swinging groove goin on last night at the Kuumbwa as the Le Boeuf Quintet played their first show to a enthusiastic home town crowd.

Check out the Le Boeuf brother's official website and buy a CD!