http://www.neilmix.com Tue, 20 May 2008 05:06:35 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en When is it appropriate to implement a programming language to run in a web page? I've been contemplating this lately as the number of programming-language-in-web-page projects (henceforth referred to as PLIAWPs) has multiplied. I really enjoy language implementations, especially in a language like JavaScript where doing so can be exceedingly ... http://www.neilmix.com/2008/05/20/programming-language-in-a-web-page-the-conundrum/ If you ever take the time to read through grandmaster chess games, you'll find that once a player obtains a substantial material advantage (takes a rook, bishop, or knight, for example) the other player resigns immediately. While most inexperienced players in this position choose to fight it out, grandmasters ... http://www.neilmix.com/2008/03/09/chess-and-politics/ I haven't posted in a while. Rather than list off a litany of lame excuses (why should you care?), I'll just share one activity that's taking up some time for me these days: We've already set a new record for snowfall this year. And being of contrarian nature, ... http://www.neilmix.com/2008/02/26/winter-daze/ Buried in this Reuters article is a paragraph stunning in its implications for journalism, even if only by accident: Kerviel could not be reached for comment. A headshot of him cut from a trading Website showed an earnest-looking young man. At the start of the afternoon, when his identity was revealed, ... http://www.neilmix.com/2008/01/24/your-facebook-profile-doesnt-really-matter-does-it/ The title of this article is (of course) referring to the browser DOM. Don't get me wrong, the DOM abstraction was a great invention. IE4 was incredibly innovative, the progenitor of Ajax as we know it today. But as the Ajax evolution continues on, I keep waiting for a ... http://www.neilmix.com/2008/01/06/beyond-dom/ Dan discussed "flow" recently and made some observations that stunningly mirror my own life. Quoth Dan: I’d deliberately side-stepped IM and Twitter, but without consciously noticing it, I let my email and blogs reading habits — distractions on their own — to become interrupts...Previously, I’d get to the end of ... http://www.neilmix.com/2008/01/03/disphoria/ I've always thought that there's a convenient symmetry between generators and Erlang-style processes. So it's neat to see that Alex Graveley has been exploring Erlang-style "concurrency" in JavaScript by piggy-backing off my generator based "threading" library. I sometimes wonder what it would take to expand JavaScript generators to become truly ... http://www.neilmix.com/2007/12/21/generators-and-erlang-processes/ If it's a good idea, go ahead and do it. It is much easier to apologize than it is to get permission. - Admiral Grace Hopper Auto-updating software is neat. It saves the customer from painful manual updates, and it helps the vendor by keeping people up-to-date with their software. Unfortunately, the ... http://www.neilmix.com/2007/12/11/the-auto-update-problem/ Here's a little something I've seen around the web a few times: What does this mean to you? What pictures form in your head when you see this? Now before anyone accuses me of being naughty, I can assure you that this is a Safe-For-Work post. The story behind this ... http://www.neilmix.com/2007/12/08/you-want-me-to-do-what/ Brendan has written up an extensive, detailed post making his case for the need for ES4.  It's a good read.  I think he makes a strong case. I fear that it may be too nuanced to be consumed and condensed into "sound bytes" appropriate for the political firestorm that is underway. ... http://www.neilmix.com/2007/11/29/the-case-for-es4/