Most new programming languages start out with the zest and zeal that everyone feels for things that are “fresh and new”. Eventually, like in every relationship, the “infatuation phase” ends and “real love” must begin or the relationship will move on.
What prefaces the latter phase is a period of acceptance of all the flaws of that language. Actually, it is a fine thing, as long as you don’t dwell on them (you have your flaws, too). It is a sign of growth and maturity. That is why whenever you see it for a programming language, then you know that it is “the real deal”, that a lot of people love it, and that it is worth your time.
See: WhyDoesElispSuck
Author: grant
Finally a good programming interview question
Like all programming interview questions, this one is contrived… and it is also succinct, precise, pleasant, and delightful.
Rarely do you see all of those things in such questions!
Set your expectations for your org-mode system
This weekend I set up a Makefile for tangling and weaving one of my org documents. Wanting to automate it for the obvious reasons, I also wanted to have a “fresh” environment for the run. Actually, I was hoping that it would be faster, not just fresher.
Playing with the command line arguments for Emacs, I was stunned to get the tangling down to 30s. Could. Not. Believe. It. Down from 8 minutes! Then, I see the warning:
Insufficient requirements. Expected 8.2.6. Found 7.9.3
(From my memory, didn’t copy and paste it)
Uh oh. I screwed something up. Oops.
Glad I added a check!
All org users should have something like this in their code!
(when (not (version= (org-version) "8.2.6"))
(display-warning
'org-mode
(concat
"Insufficient requirements. Expected 8.2.6. Found " (org-version))
:emergency))
There may be more…
AddendunM 14-06-09
Thank you SHK and Alexander Baier for pointing out that I should be using version= instead of string-equal.
Lower casing your source block templates
org-mode has nice template expansion for its frequently used blocks via Easy Templates. I wanted them to be lower cased because my document won’t tangle with upper case block statements. Thorsten pointed out which variable needs to be configured. This approach is preferable because it it is temporary:
(mapc (lambda (asc)
(let ((org-sce-dc (downcase (nth 1 asc))))
(setf (nth 1 asc) org-sce-dc)))
org-structure-template-alist)
org-scraps
Every org-mode literate programmer must at least become aware of org-scraps.
Studying and mastering each of them brings you further down the path of org-mode literate programming mastery.
Addendum:
Here is perhaps a better link.
These examples to reveal the evaluation model, which is helpful for understanding what exactly is possible with babel. For example, I like the use of a var binding to force evaluation before a computation is performed, unnamed source blocks may still tangle code, the noweb ref expansion without a newline clearly shows successfully integration between the noweb feature and the shell language, noweb variable index syntax, single line data blocks, examples of argument variable binding, obtaining values in code that are defined as properties by SHA1 id which is kind of radical when you stare at it, unnamed variables in a call, inline function call, and there I must stop. The file is 5960 lines long. It will take some time to work through it. Perhaps a better approach would be to a need first, though.
Nice article on continuations
Here.
Scheme is, deceptively simple.
Emacs peer and consultant teaching
For the past week I’ve been day dreaming about a nice way where Emacs and org-mode users could collaborate in real time, share their configurations, learn from, and teach each other about their workflow. Sure the Internet is a great resource to pull from, it is also nice to interact with people, too!
Imaginations included weekly “Team Emacs” meetings where folks may present on interesting topics, live online. Code reviews may also be performed, even sharing how to implement a desired feature would be great. The real effort would be to organize “Team Emacs”, and do all of the logistical work. There is of course plenty of work to do for the presenters. What about the attendees? Surely, the work load may be distributed. That said, there is something in the collective consciousness right now. Sacha just posted on one step forward; Bastien!
Bastien is a delightful person online and an excellent leader. Starting an Emacs consultancy is a wonderful idea. The value of your time is priceless, so reflect that in your offering :).
Brutal honesty contains mostly brutality and little honesty
A popular American phrase is that someone is going to be “brutally honest” in their interaction with you. It is a code-word that means they are about to be cruel and hurtful, and mask it under the guise of doing so for you best interest. When you hear this phrases uttered, maybe just leave, and leave the brutality behind with its owner.
Distinguishing Models
It is important to distinguish between the mathematical numbers, the Scheme objects that attempt to model them, the machine representations used to implement the numbers, and notations used to write numbers.
– R6RS Chapter 3
First be, then do
Try first learning how to be happy, becoming happy, and then taking action towards a goal.
How you feel will remain consistent regardless of the outcome. It will change everything about how to pursue the goal; a “means justify the ends” sort of thing.
Freedom from the slavery of our own expectations is the ultimate freedom