Dynamic Language User Group Is Back!

The holidays are over and it's time to get back to programming in the languages we love. I'm happy to announce we have a new location this month courtesy of Matt Payne. It's located at UNO's Peter Kiewit Institute (PKI) building! So, why the change you dare ask? Here's the blurb:

Room PKI 269 is nice because it has about 25 machines, each connected to the Internet, and a large screen projector at the front of the room. A laptop may be connected to the projector or you can just use the PC at the front of the room. Almost every room in PKI has a large screen projector at the front of the room with a PC and a laptop connection. All of the rooms have white boards.

WOW! I would like to give extra special thanks to Heather Blockovich of Tek Systems for all of her help. So, when are we meeting at our bright new shiny place? February 6 is the date usual time of 7-9pm. Of course, I'm always up for a little chit chat before.

Now, for the most important announcement (drum roll please): the speaker! Ben Heath will be providing a special evening of discussion on Common Lisp and his Netflix project. Ben is a passionate programmer with years of experience and is a Lisp and dynamic language lover. It's going to be an exciting talk for sure! I can't wait.

And if that wasn't all, Tek Systems will be joining us with food, refreshments, and maybe a few suprises! Yes, we have sponsorship for this meeting. Now, I have to ask what better way to spend an evening with free food, great place, great people, and awesome Lisp coding?! It's just too good! I look forward to seeing everyone.

Topic	Lisp and Netflix
Speaker	Ben Heath
Time	February 6, 7-9pm
Location	UNO's Peter Kiewit Institute (PKI) building 1110 South 67th Street Omaha, NE

Java And Simplicity

I was reading 10 Reasons Why Java is Drifting Away because I'm always curious to what other people think of the changes in Java. And I came across this comment:

I believe, simplicity of language is VERY UNDERESTIMATED asset.

See, I worked for years with c++. I liked templates, they were
giving me a 'mental satisfaction'. I liked to check generated
assembler, emmited own instructions when not satisfied.

But that's not way how programs should be made.
Once switched to java, I apprecitated simplicity of java.
Java followed KISS principle, provided simple language,
simple tools (javac, javadoc, javah ... ).

Now, we are loosing this important asset.
Converted c++ programmers ask their templates and operators.
Converted c# programmers ask their properties and closures.
Coverted script programmers want their dose of language sugar.

Java creators made java simple - and not simpler then it should be.
We should apprecitate and preserve it (in rational way).

OK, I'm sure that some of the Smalltalkers and Lispers out there either have their jaws on the floor or hurt bellies from laughing so hard. I know I did at first and then it struck me. We have failed. We have failed to educate on what simple can truly be. When I think of simplicity in language design, I think of Self, Smalltalk, Forth, and Scheme. Java wouldn't even come close. But, there's an army of developers out there that haven't seen better and that is sad.

Sure, we could easily laugh at the uneducated, but it's our fault. Instead we should be sharing and telling. I spent time at RubyConf showing off Squeak and have been known to hang out at the local Java user's groups talking all things dynamic. I enjoy showing people the power that's out there and the great thoughts that have preceded us. It's exciting to see Java getting some of these capabilities and programmers demanding them! The future is bright, but there are still some we haven't reached.

Next time, you hear someone call Java simple, don't snicker. Show them something simple. Who knows maybe someday I'll be able to program in Self because it will be the defacto standard. A boy can dream can't he?

Don't You Want To Own a Lisp?

If you want to read something funny, go and read Volkswagen Lisp. I was laughing the entire post. I'm amazed at how many different uses and what people had turned their Bugs into! Cool post.

Amen

I missed another great quote from Arto's blog on Lisp:

I’ve also been reading a lot of the relevant academic literature published since the 1970s; for instance, the Lambda Papers and the myriad works of Henry Baker have been particularly inspiring. I continue to be struck by the harsh reality of the often-asserted, but seldom-accepted, truth that most of the great work in software was indeed done very early on, with virtually no further fundamental progress having been made during the past couple of decades.

I'm in the same boat. I'm just so much in awe of early computer science. I've been reading David Parnas's old papers and they are inspiring. It's amazing how much of the old papers we are reinventing. It's fun and mind blowing reading, but depressing that we haven't push the envelopes further. I think it's time to stop being sad and just do it.

Here's my call to arms. Let's take it further and stop whining! Who's with me?! CHARGE! The next generation of computer science starts NOW!

Superfluous Parentheses

A Lisper talks about The Road to Enlightenment is Littered with Irritating, Superfluous Parentheses or his road to Lisp. It's a great read. He put in several funny quotes like:

of course, I can’t help but admire what the Smalltalkers have built with Squeak. (I suppose once you’ve reached the Source, being a polyglot becomes second nature.)

and...

The Lisp machines seem to have been the apex of Lisp, a brilliant achievement still unequalled (except by the Smalltalkers, as always). These wonderous machines have been followed by two decades of standstill, or even retrograde, progress.

It's funny, but I chose Scheme as well for slightly different reasons. I like the simplicity and elegance of Scheme which barely edges out Common Lisp. And the debugger is really great. It's also weird when he mentioned Forth and Factor. I just downloaded the Factor implementation recently. Weird. Forth is something that I like the elegance and enjoyed Brodie's book immensely. But, haven't played around enough with stack-based languages yet to know whether I like them or not. So much cool stuff!

Anyway, it's a great read. One of these days, I need to do one of these for why I choose Smalltalk. I think the above article was frank about Lisp and we need to be the same about Smalltalk.

I noticed he had a few books that he was planning on reading and are still on my reading list. I wonder if a virtual book club might be in order?