> I'm not certain exactly what turned you off to this particular essay,
there are a number of things. one, I couldn't tell if he was trying to
make a point or a joke. the layout of the "paper" (or whatever it was)
was formal, but the style of writing was informal. his language was
very loose... I dunno.
He has published a book of essays (I haven't read it, I'm not one of his
social disciples ;) but I have read some of his technical stuff on lisp and
functional programming style, which was excellent), this site is his blog,
though; it's not a formal essay.
What I would have liked to see in the paper was a succinct as possible
;) definition of terms. to state that succinctness = power is
meaningless without a very clear definition of each term.
I think there was an attempt, in the section labeled "metrics"... It is more
of a discussion than a definition?
a brilliant and funny programmer I know likes to say "perl
is a write only language" because you can write with it, but you sure as
hell can't read what you've written. :) He and I love perl, but it's
pretty damned easy to make unmaintainable code with it.
Is this an endorsement? ;)
good algorithm things:
- succinctness
- clarity of the algorithm, understandability
- meaningful organization
- simple inclusion and use of hidden, well maintained, library code
- ... long list ...
I agree with you!
it
has an agenda, which is to say it's trying to accomplish something other
than honestly seeking a real answer. This agenda is seen by the
un-asked questions
Brian wrote:
He's a big proponent of using the most powerful tools available, even if
they're not the most popular tools available in industry. I found quite a
bit of usefulness in that attitude.
I think maybe the point of the "essay" might have been to get the reader to
consciously think about quantifying and ranking programming languages.
If such is the case (which of course it very well may not be) then of course
he has to pussyfoot around the subject (insert reference to programming
language / distribution / emacs vs vi war here).
;)
Nick
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