Morbid.com

Does Visual Studio Rot the Mind? Well, quite apart from that, Charles Petzold has this astute observation:

I often wish that email had never been invented, but there's just no way I can get rid of it. So, day after day, several times a day, I dutifully delete 99% of the emails I receive, and when I'm not able to get at my email for a few days, I'll leave the machine at home running to pick it up every 10 minutes so I don't overflow some capacity somewhere, and just the other day I caught myself wondering who will clean out my Inbox after I'm dead.

This is a real problem. OK, it'll take a little while for Gmail to fill up, but on machines around the world accounts sit waiting for the dead, messages sit, and, in some cases, the occasional “anyone seen $nick recently?” is heard on an IRC channel. Our digital lives carry on without us ….

Posted at 2005-10-31 07:19:32 by Richard • Link to Morbid.com
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Lessons from PAIP

I just re-read Norvig's retrospective on Paradigms of AI Programming, and would like to share a few gems.

• Use the most natural notation available to solve a problem.
• Whenever you develop a complex data structure, develop a corresponding consistency checker.
• To solve a problem, describe it, specify it in algorithmic terms, implement it, test it, debug and analyze it. Expect this to be an iterative process.
• There are four general techniques for speeding up an algorithm: caching, compiling, delaying computation, and indexing.
• The first Lisp interpreter was a result of a programmer ignoring his boss's advice.

The rest of the retrospective is very worthwhile, too.

Posted at 2005-10-31 06:55:49 by Richard • Link to Lessons from PAIP
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