ambulatorybird

Fluency with box and pointer diagrams and the environment model of computation (from chapters 2 & 3 of SICP) will allow you to understand the workings of any applicative order programming language.

Looks like the object-oriented version of what's possible in the lambda calculus:

  true = lambda(x,y) -> x
  false = lambda(x,y) -> y
  if = lambda(pred,then,else) -> pred(then,else)

I took some philosophy classes in college, where I learned about the concept. If you want to read more, the best place to start would be the references and external links provided in the Wikipedia articles. Also try googling for papers by Grice.

Other kinds of conversational rules, perhaps of more interest to linguists, programmers, philosophers, etc.:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implicature

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gricean_maxim

This makes me feel old -- when I was learning programming/CS, memory management and storage classes were part of basic training. Now we've got a generation of programmers who've never had to worry about these things.

Wallet, keys, a few kleenexes, and a wristwatch. Sometimes coins, if I expect to need them.

I'm pretty sure this is from The Great Gatsby -- I remember the dumbbell part. Am I right?

I got one and use it a lot for web surfing, reading ebooks and papers, and referencing things alongside my desktop computer and/or gaming console. I was skeptical at launch time, but I have to say that the iPad is really very nice. I also plan to develop for it, which was initially why I got it.

Berkeley.

I agree wiht a lot of his points. I think people do tend to be more superficial or picky when evaluating profiles, because the photos are really the only thing to go on -- you can't get a sense of a person's body language or speaking style online, and textual data only goes so far. And I found the actual "first dates" to be stressful because they're more like interviews for dates rather than real dates -- much of the spontaneity and chemistry of meeting a person for the first time is gone. Finally, as a non-white male, the odds online are somewhat stacked against me, which is discouraging.

I'm intrigued by the guy's idea about creating interactive virtual spaces for dating, rather than searching through textual profiles. I.e., put people together in a rich, dynamic environment, let them observe the complexity of each other's interactions, and they can gravitate toward one another on that basis. Heck, it doesn't even have to be virtual -- you could launch something like a matchmaking amusement park.

I've got a couple of non-techie friends who have pretty much stopped using their computers in favor of their iPhones. They'd cut the computer out entirely if they could.

As someone who grew up in a Chinese-speaking household, I've noticed the same thing. E.g., lobster is "dragon shrimp," computer is "electric brain," etc. I wonder if the reason European languages have so many apparently 'unique' words is their inclusion of other older European languages such as Greek and Latin. Chinese, by comparison, seems to have borrowed mainly from itself.

Cute, but it can easily be taken too far, as with that MS Office paper clip thing.

Sounds like something Paul Graham once wrote about using separate computers for work and leisure. You end up feeling uneasy spending too much time at the wrong machine because you're more aware of the difference in physical context.

If the methods by which they measure attractiveness overlap with the methods by which they measure racial bias (covered in one of their blog posts), then they could very well be implying (whether they mean to or not) that attractiveness is correlated with race.

I'd also suggest letting the user select from a list of pre-defined colors.

"Sorority Fighter" sounds like a winner.

I know very little about the topic, but I believe that various transformations and simplifications in lambda calculus are relevant when it comes to compiling functional programs.

Exactly! I find Wikipedia most useful for things that are obscure or trivial.

One or two commentators on Reddit suggested that regular exercise and a healthy diet could work as well. Can anyone confirm or refute this?

This reminds me of the following installment of a webcomic called "Partially Clips":

http://partiallyclips.com/2002/09/11/paradox-dragon/

The webcomic version is easily solvable with counterfactuals (I think -- I could be wrong).

I think most of these are sort of wrong, especially when taken unqualified. Sure, geeks aren't interested in the stereotypical alpha-male kind of status, but they can be quite obsessed with intellectual status. Sure, they may not have bad sexual habits, but they can have annoying social habits (e.g., frequently offering unwanted advice, nitpicking factual correctness, exhibiting clingy beta-male behavior, etc). Sure, they might be good at a variety of intellectual endeavors, but geekiness is also highly correlated with a lack of athletic aptitude. Etc.

I suppose my point it that being a bad lover (or, more generally, a jerk) is an equal-opportunity social role.

I think it would still be worthwhile to add a note in the game and on the game's website saying that it was made with Gambit Scheme. Somewhere in the credits, or copyright info, or a similar place.

"You young programmers have it so easy. Why, back in my day, we could only program in ones because zero hadn't been invented yet!"

Nope; although I'd find the form-factor convenient, I need something that isn't closed or sandboxed.

LÖVE (http://love2d.org/) -- a 2d game library for Lua. It's simple, easy to use, cross-platform, and allows for convenient distribution of finished products.

(It's not really popular or trendy, but I think it's cool and I like it a lot.)

Why can't you just label the switches, though? A couple strips of paper and tape are all you need. (Of course, the fact that such a fix is necessary does confirm that something is wrong with the design.)

Just chiming in as another Lua fan; I really like it because it's like the Scheme of imperative scripting languages. And while we're passing around links to papers, I've found the following the be good for additional insight:

Lua Performance Tips: (http://www.lua.org/gems/sample.pdf)

A No-Frills Introduction to Lua 5.1 VM Instructions: (http://luaforge.net/docman/view.php/83/98/ANoFrillsIntroToLu...)