2019
Algorithmique du texte (English version). See also Sequence comparison.
Ouch! An operating system written in Common Lisp. (via HN) #lisp
Interesting thread on Reddit: Optimising Common Lisp. #lisp
A really good read on Micro Frontends with a detailed application, available on Github. #js
So, Amazon now offers two (free) versions of legacy Java: Amazon Corretto. (via Daniel Lemire)
Presenting the Eshell. (via HN) #emacs
TIL about the ash function. So, (defun square (n) (ash 1 (1- n))) is way simpler compared to:
(defun power (n m)
(reduce #'* (loop for x below n collect m)))
(defun square (n)
(power (- n 1) 2))
(Me playing with the CL track at https://exercism.io). #lisp
Easier slideshows using Racket’s slideshow tool. #racket
TIL about chemacs, an Emacs profile manager/switcher (à la IPython/jupyter). #emacs
P-values are a practical success but a critical failure. Scientists the world over use them, but scarcely a statistician can be found to defend them. Bayesians in particular find them ridiculous, but even the modern frequentist has little time for them. – Stephen Senn, Two Cheers for P-values?
Python is not built with math and statistics in mind, and this doesn’t work without using a package.
If you’re looking to move from R to Python, here are two interesting posts: Python is Weird (an unabashedly biased intro to Python for R users); Programming with Data: Python and Pandas. The first one, from which the above quotation is extracted, provides a side-by-side comparison of some of the features of each language. You might like or not, since R is a DSL and Python is not a good PL to compare. The second one is a complete tutorial on Pandas (including linear regression) in IPython notebooks. Besides, Chris Albon’s Technical Notes On Using Data Science & Artificial Intelligence To Fight For Something That Matters are also worth a look. #python
If you are a professional writer – i.e., if someone else is getting paid to worry about how your words are formatted and printed – Emacs outshines all other editing software in approximately the same way that the noonday sun does the stars. It is not just bigger and brighter; it simply makes everything else vanish. – https://batsov.com/articles/2011/11/19/why-emacs/
Formatting floating point numbers. (via HN)
Currently reading a review on Molecular Population Genetics. I have no idea what movie I can watch to occupy the rest of my evening and I’ll probably end up drinking on my couch, which is also my bed. Bad news from the stars…
Cultures of programming: Understanding the history of programming through controversies and technical artifacts (PDF, 75 pp.). (via @Jose_A_Alonso)
Significant Pattern Mining for Time Series. I really like such dynamic illustrations.
Interactive Charts with D3.js. (via HN) #dataviz
Introduction to Algorithms, by Thomas H. Cormen, Charles E. Leiserson, and Ronald L. Rivest.
Always interesting to find some gems at QA websites:
Four years, 1400 views, and two dozen upvotes before a review on a site dedicated to code reviews points toward unreviewability as a prominent feature of the code. What hinders reviewability is, I think, the high level of cognitive load the code places on anyone reading it. – https://codereview.stackexchange.com/a/147918
Computational Drawing Book. I find myself more and more interested in generative art, so this is a nice find. (via @mattesl) #dataviz
One of the last person, with Dirk and Matt, I find interesting to follow given the recent evolution of the R language. I started with the R Inferno, by Patrick Burns, then discovered Norman’s books, in addition to the MASS book. That was all what I needed to get started. Now, this is illuminating:
R is rapidly devolving into two mutually unintelligible dialects, ordinary R and the Tidyverse. (…) It might be more acceptable if the Tidyverse were superior to ordinary R, but in my opinion it is not. It makes things more difficult for beginners. E.g. the Tidyverse has so many functions, some complex, that must be learned to do what are very simple operations in base R. Pipes, apparently meant to help beginners learn R, actually make it more difficult, I believe. And the Tidyverse is of questionable value for advanced users.
If you’re more versed into Julia these days, see also R vs. Julia. #rstats #python
It’s raining again, and I’m done with the 800th micro-post by now.
The Desktop Neo project looks super exciting. This is second time (see Introducing Mercury OS) I noticed some fresh new ideas re. OS core UIs.
Latest action movies watched: Siberia a few days ago (since everyone likes to talk about Keanu Reeves right now) – didn’t like it much; Agent 47, yesterday. Latest book read: Pactum Salis (Olivier Bourdeaut) – really great reading!
From design patterns to category theory (via HN).
Yet another zsh prompt minimalistic theme.
First Clojure Program, and it’s Tetris! #clojure
I just discovered the Powerlevel9k zsh theme, which looks really great. This is a bit too much to my taste but I’ll keep this on my totry list.
So we are definitely done with GoT. Sad news (warning, little spoil here): they killed all the pretty little girls all along but Tyrion stayed alive. Enjoy!
VS Code is really great for Python. I didn’t have a chance to try the MS C/C++ functionalities, but Calva is on my todo list anyway.
Mathematics for Computer Science, by Eric Lehman and Tom Leighton. A more recent version of the textbook than the one referenced by John D. Cook is available here.
At heart, a programming language embodies a bet, the bet that a given set of abstractions will increase developers’ ability to deliver software that meets its requirements. – On the Impact of Programming Languages on Code Quality (arXiv).
So I can’t connect to Bitbucket anymore, which heppened to many other users since the BitBucket/Atlassian fusion. That’s the beauty of Git. Let’s go relocate those old repos to GitHub!
You dig Scheme. The world is coded in C. You get both. #scheme
Late readings on #database: