51–60 of 94 posts
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> ideas are worth nothing unless executed. Maybe if you only have a business focus. He was apparently not interested in fundamental research.
Even in research you have to "do" something with an idea, at least hang your hat on a specific prediction, or carry out the experiment.
We stand on the shoulders of giants
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Being very much a kid (at heart at least), I'll wager the question: what's the case against declaring variables as you need them? Also, at the top of which scope are you supposed to declare variables, function scope, class scope, ... somewhere else?
> Being very much a kid (at heart at least), I'll wager the question: what's the case against declaring variables as you need them? There's not really one, it's just a joke about how some languages used to work. > Also, at the top of which scope are you supposed to declare variables, function scope, class scope, ... somewhere else? In C, you used to have to declare all local variables at the top of the function rathe…
I was listening to a podcast a few years back, I think it was fortran related, and in any case, the guys talking were having fun putting their "old farts complaining about kids and their scateboards" hat on. At some point the conversation went a bit like this: - Do you know what else kids these days don't do? - What? - They don't declare all their variables at the top. - What? - Yep - They don't? - Nope - W ... where…
Being very much a kid (at heart at least), I'll wager the question: what's the case against declaring variables as you need them? Also, at the top of which scope are you supposed to declare variables, function scope, class scope, ... somewhere else?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fun fact: The Intel 8008 was intended to be a single-chip CPU for the Datapoint 2200 terminal. It was delayed so ultimately wasn't used in the Datapoint 2200, but Intel had an agreement in place to sell the chip to other buyers. So that means every x86-64 PC sold has an ISA with a compatibility lineage that goes straight back to Datapoint.
More fun facts from "Programming the 80386", Crawford and Gelsinger (chief architect and designer of the 386 respectively), 1987, pp. 1-2 "The 4004 was quickly enhanced to the 8008. These devices, very trivial by today's standards, were novel but hardly taken seriously as computers of any worth...In 1978 the third generation was introduced--the 8086. This marked the beginning of microprocessors as 'real' computers...…
I was listening to a podcast a few years back, I think it was fortran related, and in any case, the guys talking were having fun putting their "old farts complaining about kids and their scateboards" hat on. At some point the conversation went a bit like this: - Do you know what else kids these days don't do? - What? - They don't declare all their variables at the top. - What? - Yep - They don't? - Nope - W ... where…
Being very much a kid (at heart at least), I'll wager the question: what's the case against declaring variables as you need them? Also, at the top of which scope are you supposed to declare variables, function scope, class scope, ... somewhere else?
I’m sad that we no longer have any Ted Nelson’s in the world of tech. There’s simply too much money now for smart people to waste their time on “interesting” things.
If I may nominate myself, take a look at my work, why not?
I'm no genius for sure, but even when I do sometimes find myself ahead of the curve, I fall into Hamlet's dilemma:
"...Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, and thus the native hue of resolution is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of Thought, and enterprises of great pith and moment with this regard their currents turn awry and lose the name of action." Wm. Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act III, Scene I
I wish I could explain why the best people and ideas are ignored, or bullied away, but I am at a loss. Best wishes.
If this interests you I recommend "What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry" by John Markoff and "All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace" by the BBC and Adam Curtis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_the_Dormouse_Said https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Watched_Over_by_Machines_o...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Being very much a kid (at heart at least), I'll wager the question: what's the case against declaring variables as you need them? Also, at the top of which scope are you supposed to declare variables, function scope, class scope, ... somewhere else?
> Being very much a kid (at heart at least), I'll wager the question: what's the case against declaring variables as you need them? There's not really one, it's just a joke about how some languages used to work. > Also, at the top of which scope are you supposed to declare variables, function scope, class scope, ... somewhere else? In C, you used to have to declare all local variables at the top of the function rathe…
This is true, but support for block-scoped (as opposed to function-scoped) variable declarations was added to C a long time ago. Every version of ANSI C supports them, and this stack exchange answer, https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/a/300274/19196, suggests that support was added to K&R C since at least 1978.
Instead of Ted Nelson telling the world what everyone can learn from him, I would like to hear him talk about what he learned from the real world. Xanadu is probably the biggest vaporware in the history of computing. Maybe some lessons learned about how he had all these “brilliant” ideas but never actually made something that actual people actually use. But that would require humility, introspection, and self-awarene…
1. Xanadu being vaporware 2. His ego
What I really don't get is what Ted Nelson does to trigger this anger in people.
E.g., his book computer lib/dream machines inspired so many, and I find him super self-aware. His appearance in Werner Herzog’s movie about the internet was (IMHO) so refreshing.
I love Ted's work, and it's a huge inspiration to me in my daily work. This video just adds to that.
If this interests you I recommend "What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry" by John Markoff and "All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace" by the BBC and Adam Curtis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_the_Dormouse_Said https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Watched_Over_by_Machines_o...
.. and how it didn't. Confessing I haven't actually read the book, but I've certainly read reviews & other articles about it.
Hippies did not build the Internet. Or the personal computer industry. They were around and some jumped on it early, but it's clickbait to say they built it. The TV series "Halt and Catch Fire" is actually a better picture of that era (Season One, at least).