Monthly Archives: May 2004

Digital Research Inc (yes, the CP/M folks) had a debugger once. The author of the debugger was a linguist, and thus all of the identifier names were in Russian. There were new control structures invented out of macros (things like … Continue reading →

You’re buying a house, and there are two prospects that different builders have asked you to look at. You want to make sure that both houses are up to code, are livable, and that you’ll be able to make repairs … Continue reading →

I have a handful of favorite programming languages that I’ll never ship a product in. For one reason or another, perfectly good programming languages — or ones that are nearly perfect, except for a single tragically fatal flaw — will … Continue reading →

One of the things that seems to limit deployment of new technology is our ability to debug it during bringup. I’ve seen a number of projects fail because they didn’t plan for the inevitable “we’re fixing bugs” stage of development. … Continue reading →

A review of the Sony EBR-1000 Librie. It looks pretty grim. A primer on ice hockey (Kuro5hin). Okay, I think I finally understand icing and offsides. Court transcripts of the Lynne Stewart case. [I’m not making judgements either way, but … Continue reading →

From alt.folklore.computers, an OF’s description of a caching bug on S/370. Let we repeat history, etc. Things only get flakier, entropy never sleeps.

Future #1 “Oh my God, I just got some spam!” “Jeez, this has been a bad month. That’s like, four so far?” “Three.” “Still pretty bad.” “Let’s see if . . . yes, the Visa cops have already arrested him, … Continue reading →

More Charles Stross: His most recent The Atrocity Archives is a cross of H.P. Lovecraft and Neal Stephenson, reminiscent of the “magic is really technology” (or at least, rationally explainable) theme of Heinlein’s Magic, Inc. and Poul Anderson’s Operation Chaos. … Continue reading →

A pretty strong UPI article.

Some of the recent hugo-nominated fiction is online. (I saw the Kage Baker novella in a bookstore the other day for $30, eek).