MetaFilter posts tagged with programming

Python + C = Go. Google's Programming Language

FusiveResonance — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:06:37 -0800

Say hello to googles new concurrent programming language Compiles faster than c/c++ and runs just as fast. Garbage collection + concurrency included

Dodongo dislikes wasted blocks

BlackLeotardFront — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:04:27 -0800

In a revelation that, to some, is on the order of realizing there is (or isn't) a god, it turns out that all the dungeons in The Legend of Zelda were part of the same enormous map. This seems to have some sort of transcendental importance that I can't quite put my finger on. Actually, they are part of two non-overlapping maps, each measuring 16x8 rooms, as described in this breakdown of the storage method. No map has been made of the second quest, but you can see how they fit together from the maps on this page (i.e. the yin and yang of levels 7 and 8). Interestingly, Half-Life fits together remarkably well in this manner. It is whispered that A Link To The Past does this with its dungeons as well but as they are divided into floors it is more difficult to check. Smaller backup image in case MIT goes down. Content and extra links via Reddit.

How To Program

grumblebee — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 08:37:36 -0800

A free computer-programming course on reddit. Click "prev" for more lessons. 113 lessons so far.

A puzzle game without a single Sokoban level

you — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:10:47 -0800

Friday non-Flash Fun: Robozzle is a surprisingly deep puzzle game. If you don't want to install Silverlight, there's a Javascript version. Mge almost posted it six months ago.

I'm addicted... to HOARDERS!

basilwhite — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:31:15 -0800

"Hoarders is a fascinating look inside the lives of two hoarders per episode. Tivoids set your season pass here, or watch complete episodes online. Kind of a mix between the documentary "Possessed" (previously) and A&E's Intervention. Discussion board includes some drama between the hoarders on the show and the production staff.

SELECT specific_problem FROM problems WHERE specific_problem != 'A Bitch' ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 99;

melorama — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:12:11 -0800

Songs in (computer) code (you can also see the Twheat seperated from the Tw-chaff over at Favrd)

// TODO: fix after I quit

mattoxic — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:39:40 -0800

How depressing is your sourcecode?

flixel

archagon — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:01:04 -0800

flixel is an ActionScript 3 framework abstracted from Adam Atomic's raster-based games, including FATHOM (previously) and Gravity Hook. Because raster-based games are precise to the pixel level, they feel very different from most Flash games, which are usually vector based, run at a low framerate, and use Flash's imprecise libraries and tools. This is a pure ActionScript framework, so it can be compiled using free tools.

1965 - Kemeny and Kurtz go to 1964

Artw — Fri, 08 May 2009 15:21:53 -0800

A Brief, Incomplete, and Mostly Wrong History of Programming Languages

LOLMulticore

Monday, stony Monday — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:30:42 -0800

OMG, Multi-Threading is Easier Than Networking [pdf, white paper about the multi-core future from Intel(R)]

Feel your inadequacy

Monday, stony Monday — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 21:32:54 -0800

If you're like me, you are not a top computer science researcher, and you haven't written a classic book about programming and made it available online for free. Let's review who we're not. We're neither Abelson nor Sussman, and we haven't written Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (previous proof). We're not part of TeachScheme and we had no hand in the writing of How to Design Programs (not even the second edition, natch). Shriram Krishnamurthi didn't need our help to write Programming Languages: Application and Interpretation. We wish we were Simon Peyton-Jones and had a hand in The Implementation of Functional Programming Languages. And since we're in a depressing mood, let's say Van Roy and Haridi are not us, and we have nothing to do with Concepts, Techniques, and Models of Computer Programming. (not really online...)

Flickr [hearts] Panda

lipsum — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 16:46:58 -0800

This post will walk you through the weirdest thing: Flickr's mysterious obsession with Pandas (previously on MeFi: Link).

Sparkline Information Graphics

netbros — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 20:25:24 -0800

Speaking of Edward Tufte (see below), sparklines are a type of information graphics characterized by their small size and data density named by Tufte. Sparklines were used by sites reporting the 2008 election and were first introduced on MeFi in 2005. There are now several ways to put sparklines on your own web site including: a simple jQuery plugin, a downloadable PHP library, a dynamic generator using a Python CGI program, and even a library for Ruby on Rails.

Mitch Haile's Office

odinsdream — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 05:37:11 -0800

Mitch Haile's office requires some explanation.

Yo dawg, we herd you like webapps...

Mr. Anthropomorphism — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:19:28 -0800

Software startup 280 North today announced Atlas: a rich, web-based environment for developing Mac-like web applications. The company garnered praise last year when they released web-based slideshow app 280 Slides, which offers powerful features in an oddly familiar motif. The similarities are more than skin deep, for 280 Slides, though a polished and capable product in its own right, is also a showpiece for even more ambitious projects: a programming language and open-source framework that allow developers to write cross-platform applications for the web (nearly) the same way they would for the Mac. Atlas, then, is a place to put it all together—an online Xcode for Mac-style web development.

Yugos used Commodore Basic

mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:11:20 -0800

"The avionics system in the F-22 Raptor, the current U.S. Air Force frontline jet fighter, consists of about 1.7 million lines of software code. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter...about 5.7 million lines of code...Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner...about 6.5 million lines of software code. These are impressive amounts of software, yet if you bought a premium-class automobile recently, it probably contains close to 100 million lines of software code."

Q. Would you like tea OR coffee? A: Yes.

grumblebee — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 06:47:24 -0800

What real-life bad habits has programming given you? "This has actually really happened to me. I was trying to hang a glass picture frame on the wall and accidentally dropped it. And in the shock of the moment, I loudly yelled 'Control Z!' Then the glass hit the floor and smashed."

due to export regulations cycles greater than 1024 should not be used

31d1 — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 02:18:39 -0800

A small collection of special programs for system administration, written at a level suitable for senior admins. Useful standouts include but are not limited to maybe, bottom, lsss, ged, pam happy hour, and jecho.

3d context free

signal — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 12:57:58 -0800

Structure Synth is an application for creating 3D structures from a set of user specified rules. It is an attempt to make a 3D version of Context Free.

Hard Work and Practice

needled — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 14:57:47 -0800

Tech publisher O'Reilly editors discuss the role of hard work and practice in programming and learning in general. "One aspect of learning programming that often eludes both students and teachers alike is the importance of practice, of actually working through all of these formal structures we teach. Most of our books, in a way, offer a promise of learning that avoids the slow repetition of practice."

Animata

Blazecock Pileon — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:46:02 -0800

Animata is an open source real-time animation software, designed to create animations, interactive background projections for concerts, theatre and dance performances.

"...truly general principals are hard to come by, and ultimately every case is a different case."

orthogonality — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 21:19:33 -0800

Tom ("Duff's Device") Duff examines improving computer source code to make it more concisely communicate it author's intent, in Reading from Top to Bottom. Of particular interest, Duff suggests historical reasons many coders don't write code that can be read from top to bottom, taking a first cut at an intellectual history of influences on the styles and convention of coding practice. While aimed at an audience that codes, this essay can be read and appreciated by a motivated non-coder.

Designer, Engineer, Geek

netbros — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:22:40 -0800

Acko.net is the web home of Steven Wittens, designer of AVS presets for WinAmp, as well as the current Bluebeach theme at Drupal.org. Steven also dabbles in programming; for instance his Farbtastic jquery color picker. Be sure to watch his blog for development jewels like Projective Texturing with Canvas.

Is Haskell Failing?

Monday, stony Monday — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 11:38:42 -0800

Haskell has a sort of unofficial slogan: avoid success at all costs says one of its inventors, Simon Peyton-Jones. But will the advanced purely functional programming language[, a]n open source product of more than twenty years of cutting edge research remain true to its roots? Things look rather bleak for the obscurity of Haskell. In the wake of Peyton-Jones's own A taste of Haskell, and with the imminent publication of Real World Haskell by O'Reilly and the emergence of the Haskell Platform, comes BONUS's fun, colorfully illustrated Learn You a Haskell for Great Good!. (Somewhat reminiscent of why's (poignant) guide to Ruby [previously], but a little less, er, exhuberant.) If you read Proggit and LtU, you've already seen all this. Also, sorry inverted-pyramid lovers.

What is the largest prime factor of the sum of the favorited comments from all fibonacci-numbered MeFites?

mystyk — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 03:34:40 -0800

"Project Euler is a series of challenging mathematical/computer programming problems that will require more than just mathematical insights to solve. Although mathematics will help you arrive at elegant and efficient methods, the use of a computer and programming skills will be required to solve most problems."

Started in 2001 as a sub-section of Maths Challenge, it has since grown large enough to become its own entity. It now boasts over 200 problems, many of them insanely difficult. "Each problem has been designed according to a "one-minute rule", which means that although it may take several hours to design a successful algorithm with more difficult problems, an efficient implementation will allow a solution to be obtained on a modestly powered computer in less than one minute."

Previously (Aug 2005)