Tim Disney
Took almost a year but now the stable version of node.js (0.8.0+) has
a recent enough version of V8 to run contracts.coffee! The much
needed proxy support is still behind a flag so you'll need to
supply --harmony_proxies and --harmony-collections as usual.
Also, the latest version of contracts.coffee (0.3.1) and is now up on npm and collects a few bugs fixes.
*JS is a really cool (if ungoogleable) project that attempts to be "the bastard child of JavaScript and C" by giving you the low level tools to build fast programs in a high level language.
After the recent excitement surrounding Bret Victor's amazing talk, Jonathan Edwards has a sobering essay about the limits of IDE innovation. Makes the point that languages must co-evolve to get real innovation.
Wired has a nice writeup on the current state of computer security (spoiler: it sucks) and The New Yorker has a great article on the recent geohot vs. Sony craziness.
Lots of discussion around classes and other changes being considered for the future of JavaScript. Interesting how difficult it has been for the standardization committee (or the JS community in general) to come to a consensus on what classes should look like (or if they should even exist).
In what is almost becoming a weekly story, emscripten has been used to impressive effect again. This time SpiderMonkey (the JS engine in Firefox) has been compiled to JavaScript.
Finally, an explanation of why Lisp’s syntax is so important and useful that finally clicked for me. The key: "it's possible to read it without parsing."
The greatest language in the world has been made. PL is done, we can all go home now.
Chrome can now run contracts.coffee! I've been waiting a while for the proxy support in Chrome to get far enough along but it's finally here.
Chrome hides experimental JavaScript features like proxies behind flags so you'll need to go to about:flags and enable the experimental JavaScript flag.
Try it out and if you run into any issues let me know on github.
A new version of contracts.coffee is up on npm. We're now synced with the latest release version of CoffeeScript (1.3.1) and have collected a few bug fixes. We also have experimental require.js/AMD support. Change log here.
Get it with npm install contracts.coffee.
Details surface about Google's project Glass. The future is now and all that. Rainbows End and Daemon/Freedom™ are now required reading.
I didn't realize when I first saw it but xkcd's April 1st comic was actually quite brilliant.
Some good advice on giving academic talks under the twin lenses of memory (your audience's resource — build context and be wary of details) and fear (your resource — desensitize and dissociate).
An interesting privacy hack for the web was announced and kickstarted. Amusingly enough they use Libya's ccTLD (.ir or .eg would also have been apropos). Hopefully they've thought about domain seizures.
And on a related note, here's a good read on the internet wars. In particular the forces of order (SOPA/PIPA, Iran, China, Egypt, etc.) vs. the forces of chaos (Anonymous, LulzSec, etc.).
Gizmodo has a surprisingly well-reasoned critique of Google. Far better than the usual knee-jerk Google bashing that too often passes for criticism online these days.
Kony 2012 has probably done more for raising the discourse on US "aid" than its stated goal (killing a guy... er, I mean "raising awareness"). Also, Žižek.
Looks like the web lost the video (H.264) battle. Lame.
A fantastic retrospective on BitC with some echoing comments from the Rust team.
Fear not! The proof is trivial.