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This is Not Rebol specific.
Spatial indexing using voronoi tesselations. Sensing an interest by some of the list members in this subject matter as well as its' possible trancendence into a Rebol application... If you are interested in the practical and theoretical aspects of spatial indexing and related geometry then go visit: http://voronoi.com/ The subject matter applies to many disciplines that have a significant spatial aspect such as chemistry, medicine, imaging, and geography to name but a few. It makes for a much more stimulating intellectual fare than Bill Gates latest bid for world domination or why Rebol has not been ported to my lavatory appliances. Enjoy... ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2000 9:15 AM Subject: [REBOL] Re: Philosophical (was "UnRebolish") commentary > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > ... Do not > > attempt to do anything more serious than a napkin sketch of this > > method without the supervision of an adult or perhaps an attending > > physician unless you wish to go numerically mad with something akin to > > a division by zero. > > > > ROTFL! > > > > > Thanks for the feedback, ... > > > > Thanks for the question! > > > > > it was most enlightening and informative. > > > > .. and fun! AFAIAC, it provided a welcome break from a very > frustrating network infrastructure problem. Also, by concidence, > it arrived the same day I found the following link: > > http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ > > to a page bearing the title > > In Pursuit of Simplicity > the manuscripts of > Edsger W. Dijkstra > > [If you don't want to bother with reading the remainder of this > note, please feel free to skip it. But PLEASE don't skip the > opportunity to look through the collection of papers under the > above page!] > > > For those who've had the pleasure of reading his EWD series, this > site is a MAJOR treat. Dijkstra is a world-class thinker and > writer in computing science whose entire career is been marked > by the pursuit of simplicity and elegance in the description and > design of algorithms and proofs. > > Although his writings are off the beaten track, and though he > uses his own notation for some things, and though he can be very > intellectually demanding (all of which remind me of REBOL), > almost everything he has written has hidden rewards to the reader > who is patient enough to work through it. > > > His contributions to programming include such crown jewels as: > > * invention of the "semaphore", now widely used as a means of > synchronizing concurrent threads/processes, > > * the eponymous algorithm for finding the shortest path > between two points in a graph, > > * the first clear description of using a stack to support > procedure scoping/entry/exit (created during early > implementation efforts for Algol 60!), > > * a lovely, minimalist, nondeterministic programming notation > used for the design and proof of programs (a small part of > which I implemented in REBOL a few months back with great > assistance from the members of this list -- the EWD/if and > EWD/do selection and iteration structures). > > He is probably best known to the larger programming community > as the author of the letter published under the title, > "go to Considered Harmful" in the Communications of the ACM, > which (for good or ill) is usually credited as the spark that > ignited the "structured programming" movement (although he should > not be blamed for all of the things that have been done under the > cover of that banner!) > > > His career-long pursuit of beauty as a prime criterion of quality > in programming strikes me as wholly aligned with what I perceive > as "the spirit of REBOL" (and I'm not saying that just to > achieve ob-REBOL-relevance ;-) In particular, let me recommend > that you give a close (and patient! ;-) reading to > > http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/MCReps/MR34.PDF > > which -- although written in 1961 (!) -- states forcefully that > it is the responsibility of a programming language to assist > the programmer in clearly stating reliable algorithms, and that > this responsibility is more fundamental than simply minimizing > CPU cycles or memory bytes. [Over-simplified araphrase, and any > errors therein, are my fault.] > > Dijkstra's forceful, uncomprimising, artistic personality and > attitude appear almost quixotic (in the fullest sense! ;-), > especially when he tackles none-too-subtly the behavior of > IBM (the Microsoft of the 60s and 70s). His article entitled, > "How do we tell truths that might hurt?", available at > > http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd04xx/EWD498.PDF > > (from 1975) is a collection of pointed sayings including: > > "The problems of business administration in general > and data base management in particular are much too > difficult for people that think in IBMerese, com- > pounded with sloppy English." > > "Many companies that have made themselves dependent > on IBM-equipment (and in doing so have sold their > soul to the devil) will collapse under the sheer > weight of the unmastered complexity of their data > processing systems." > > and (the last quotation -- I promise!) one that deserves to > be tatooed on the forehead of every programmer (and inside > the eyelids of every programming language designer!) > > "The tools we use have a profound (and devious!) > influence on our thinking habits, and, therefore, > on our thinking abilities." > > The experience of over 25 years' of exposure to Dijkstra's ideas > is one of the most fundamental reasons why I appreciate REBOL as > much as I do -- and probably also why I sometimes come off as > such a curmudgeon! I'd be flattered if either caused someone > to think of Edsger! > > -jn- > > |
