Are you kidding? We forumistas talk about that axe -- sometimes it's a chainsaw!
Oh, oh, Perry. You just had to mention Lizzy Borden, didn't you? I did that once in this context to my everlasting regret. I think Carrie Nation is off the table, too.
I must admit, I had not heard of Ms. Borden prior to posting my avatars. And I can assure you Ms. Nation and I have virtually nothing in common. I borrow my avatars from the works of Kelly Reemsten, a Los Angeles painter, whose work I find rather delightful.
I knew I'd seen someone link the artist Jen gets her avatars from before!
Ms. Reemsten has a rather depressing view of romance, her heroines either falling (presumably in love), holding implements of domestic labor, or holding tools that can be used as murder weapons.
Oddly, it's always the murder weapons people seem to link.
And who the heck hasn't heard of Lizzie Borden? Have you heard of Mother Goose? Jack the Ripper? Hansel and Gretel? I mean really, Lizzie is the reason I had a race of alien robots in a story I once wrote who had annihilated their creators call themselves the Borden. (Then again, maybe this explains why so many people wondered why I named my alien robots after a brand of milk.)
And who the heck hasn't heard of Lizzie Borden? Have you heard of Mother Goose? Jack the Ripper? Hansel and Gretel? I mean really, Lizzie is the reason I had a race of alien robots in a story I once wrote who had annihilated their creators call themselves the Borden. (Then again, maybe this explains why so many people wondered why I named my alien robots after a brand of milk.)
I have heard of the rest, yes. Not sure why I missed Lizzie, but then I don't seek out tales of horror, I much prefer SciFi. Wouldn't mind reading about your Borden.
I have heard of the rest, yes. Not sure why I missed Lizzie, but then I don't seek out tales of horror, I much prefer SciFi. Wouldn't mind reading about your Borden.
I find it a bit odd that you hadn't heard of her either. It's not so much a horror thing as just one of those cultural reference kinds of things. I guess cultural references die out and are replaced with others. Don't ask me why I remember that Elizabeth Montgomery played Lizzie Borden in a movie (I have no idea why I remember).
Generation gap? I only ever saw Elizabeth Montgomery in reruns of Bewitched on Nickelodeon.
You can call me Lizzie if you want, but I'd much prefer you call me Jen.
Generation gap? I only ever saw Elizabeth Montgomery in reruns of Bewitched on Nickelodeon.
You can call me Lizzie if you want, but I'd much prefer you call me Jen.
I also know her from reruns of Bewitched, just reruns from before there was a Nickelodeon (and before, I guess, cable).
To me, Spin and PASM are an almost ideal combination for rapid application development. I mean, you can just sit down and start coding and still end up with a well-structured, useful program. The lack of block group indicators (e.g. braces) is an advantage, IMO, not a disadvantage, since it frees up vertical space on the screen for actual code, instead of mere punctuation.
I could not agree more. Programming the prop the first time proved to be so simple. I am still struggling to program an ATTiny (84 & 85) - and I should say that a simple LED flash program failed because the timer module supplied by the C librabry is faulty! I had to resort to a simple asm loop to get it to work! Of course, I blamed my programmer (I wrote the code for the prop to program it).
Granted, the Propeller Tool has issues. It's okay as far as it goes; it just doesn't go far enough, and significant further development of it stopped way too soon. There are even some still-unresolved bugs in the editor. But, even with its warts and incompleteness, it makes development of Spin/PASM code easy and provides a quick code-and-test cycle for a bottom-up small-piece-at-a-time coding style.
Hindsight is wonderful. But it makes learning the prop simple.
Moreover, work is underway on a new Spin/PASM compiler that will -- hopefully -- grease the skids for more advanced features.
Definately overdue. Cannot wait till it catches up with bst and homespun, let alone passes it. At least it will be open, so it will get improvements quickly.
I'm actually happy that I was never bitten by the C bug. Had I discovered the Propeller with a strong C background, I might have decried the lack of C tools for it, wanting the Prop to look like a nail, so I could use my hammer on it and not have to learn something new. That landscape is changing, though, and even the hammer-wielders are getting a new nail to pound on. But they'll be missing a lot if they avoid learning to Spin some power tools.
-Phil
I could not have said it any better than this
I, like so many other prop converts, found this chip by accident. (this is why I say that the prop would have done better in a company with a large budget to expose it more) I had in fact ordered some PIC gear which now has never seen the light of day. I had been out of design for a few years, so I ws looking for what was new and exciting. The prop sounded quite interesting. But, as I said, above, the best part was I didn't have to read reems of paper to find out how to start the prop and get a LED to flash.
The more advanced users are pushing this chip way beyond Chip's intentions, basically because it can do so so easily. We have found ways of using external memory, using multile props, running OSes, etc, etc. This is not what most volume users will do with this chip, but it does show what can be done with it.
The best advantage of the prop, IMHO, is that the peripherals are done by software, and no pins are dedicated (well virtually they aren't). Only 1 chip is required to be stocked and learnt.
Granted, a little time is required to use and debug objects from the OBEX. There are a great many objects available. And this forum is a great way to ask what you want because most likely it has been done before - you just have to ask specifcally with an example of what you require. And if it has't been done, there are plenty who will gladly help.
I really do love the propeller chip, so please don't take the comments otherwise...
I think the logo doesn't help the Propeller to be taken seriously. I would recommend changing it to just the propeller (minus the beanie).
It is inexcusible that the official propeller IDE does not have ANY debugging support. Heck even the SX IDE had breakpoints, single-stepping and watches. Ditto for macros and conditional compiling. In the initial release it's okay, but I thought by now we would have these features.
At one time there was talk of supporting custom compilers (like PropBASIC) but this never happened. That would have been really cool. Basically the IDE would just save the editor file and call an EXE file. (Okay there is bit more to it, but even that would have been nice to have). Without a means of support by the Propeller IDE, PropBASIC (or other custom compiler) have no chance of acceptance by the masses.
The real big problem is the lack of an integrated debugger in Spin-Tool (or rather SimpleIDE).
I did not quite get your aside in brackets there, The Spin-Tool is not SimpleIDE, one is for Spin the other is for C/C++.
I have not really felt the need for a debugger in Spin. Spin programs are not so big and there are plenty of other ways of verifying your code is correct. In my career I have often found that those hard to find bugs that you want a debugger for are exactly the ones were a debugger does not help or even hinders. Think weird timing issues. In a past life I spend some years testing avionics software, like the Boeing 777 primary flight computers. Never did see anyone on the test teams using a debugger.
SimpleIDE is designed to be what it says, simple, it is aiming at the ease of use of the Arduino IDE which also has no debugger if I remember correctly.
Things are looking up for those who crave C/C++ on the Prop and a debugger. Eventually the propgcc project will support GDB. I believe it is mostly already working.
Re: The propeller name and the logo/beanie. I have never seen the problem with this. We are living in a world of stupidly named products, "Apple", "facebook", "youtube", "android", "meego", "ubuntu", "iceweasle" etc etc. The propeller and the beanie do at least carry some meaning and humour and I like them.
There are one or two common Propellor gotcha's that are very frustrating for newcomers. Having the IDE flag these up would ease the learning curve. I hate to think how hard anyone with no embedded experience whatever finds these things. I have some previous experience with various PICs but still find SPIN hard (no C experience here at all). The strongest feature of Propellor development is this group where some real experts lurk (in the nicest possible way!).
I believe that even with the "childish logo"(which I proudly sport on all of my projects) the Propellers real selling point at least to me is a language with no curly brackets which have taken up hundreds of lines in some of my C/Objective-C projects and the 8 cogs(which has completely spoiled me I can't go back to Basic Stamp now ). So with the right marketing I think Propeller or maybe propeller 2 can get up there with Ardunio.
Again, I can't see the problem with the "childish" logo. One of the most successful products in the world is the Linux kernel with it's Tux penguin logo.
So with the right marketing I think Propeller or maybe propeller 2 can get up there with Ardunio.
IMHO the Arduino took hold for two reasons: 1) It is programmed in an easy variant of C and, 2) The IDE works on all major OSes. SimpleIDE addresses these issues. The key for the GCC team is building a really rich, well-documented library for those that cannot be bothered to write their own code. Human nature is, essentially, all about conserving energy. This is why the most frequent post in the forums is, "Where can I find an object for X?" instead of, "Hey, gang, check out the cool object I wrote for X!"
IMHO the Arduino took hold for two reasons: 1) It is programmed in an easy variant of C and, 2) The IDE works on all major OSes. SimpleIDE addresses these issues. The key for the GCC team is building a really rich, well-documented library for those that cannot be bothered to write their own code. Human nature is, essentially, all about conserving energy. This is why the most frequent post in the forums is, "Where can I find an object for X?" instead of, "Hey, gang, check out the cool object I wrote for X!"
Our GCC beta starts soon (Monday, if all goes according to plan). As part of that release:
- Windows, Mac and Linux support from both IDE and and C compiler
- Multi-lingual support
- Open-source
What else could one ask for?
Spin/ASM integration in SIDE? That's next! We might have the most open chip system in the world very soon.
This is all wrong. The Propeller is a chip. The Arduino is a board level product and dev system that uses an AVR micro.
In the AVR kind of world those few chips they sell that end up in Arduinos is probably a drop in the ocean compared to their total chip sales.
Sorry should have been more specific I meant the boards themselves as a package not just the chips alone. It seems the circulation of "propeller based" boards rather than chips is most important to the growth of the community. Although I don't have any evidence to back this up just my thought.
I did not quite get your aside in brackets there, The Spin-Tool is not SimpleIDE, one is for Spin the other is for C/C++.
Sorry! My english is not really good enough to discuss such things. I know that SimpleIDE is for C. I only wanted to say, that no tool for the propeller has an easy to use built-in debugger. And that is a sign of incapacity.
I have not really felt the need for a debugger in Spin. Spin programs are not so big and there are plenty of other ways of verifying your code is correct. In my career I have often found that those hard to find bugs that you want a debugger for are exactly the ones were a debugger does not help or even hinders. Think weird timing issues. In a past life I spend some years testing avionics software, like the Boeing 777 primary flight computers. Never did see anyone on the test teams using a debugger.
Maybe I am to stupid for this world. I can not live without a debugger. Single-stepping is the simplest way to understand code that do not, what you think it should do, or to understand code written from others. Timing issues you can not solve with a debugger. That is true.
SimpleIDE is designed to be what it says, simple, it is aiming at the ease of use of the Arduino IDE which also has no debugger if I remember correctly.
Simple for me means ready to use with all settings made. A debugger can also be simple. Mark a variable name, drag and drop in watch window. Doubleclick a line of code to set a breakpoint. Press Start.
XMM and external RAM are not simple but also on the top list of SimpleIDE.
Things are looking up for those who crave C/C++ on the Prop and a debugger. Eventually the propgcc project will support GDB. I believe it is mostly already working.
"Eventually" and "maybe in future" are also very common terms here in propeller world. Also bigger problems than the name or the logo.
I have some question about the intention and the missing bracets.
Spin-Tool can mark intentions with some (line)characters. You can switch that on and off.
Thinking about that for a while (using VS for work since Version 3 first VB later C#) I am very used to them bracets but do not REALLY miss them in spin. Just sometimes. Like those (line)characters tending to mess up the readability off full line comments in the code.
And YES they take up vertical space.
Especially since I use them like this (8 lines)
if (a==b)
{
doSomething;
}
else
{
doSomethingElse;
}
and not like this (5 lines)
if (a==b) {
doSomething;
} else {
doSomethinElse;
}
in SPIN it is a 4 liner
if (a==b)
doSomeThing
else
doSomethingElse
BUT can't we do that switchable like those (line)characters ? The code might be not much different from marking the intention with those (line)characters.
and I miss the ability to move intended code around without loosing structure. Autointension like in VS. Also Tab and Shift-Tab are working different and more consistent in VS as in Spin-Tool.
The Beanie-Logo? Puh. I do not really understand why @BEAN dont like them.Especially him...
The Beanie-Logo? Puh. I do not really understand why @BEAN dont like them.Especially him...
Mike
Mike, I do love the logo. I know that you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but many people do. And image DOES matter.
What if you went to get brain surgery and the surgeon was wearing cut-off jeans, a tie-dyed t-shirt and flip-flops. Would you let him perform brain surgery on you or your family ?
Mike, I do love the logo. I know that you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but many people do. And image DOES matter.
What if you went to get brain surgery and the surgeon was wearing cut-off jeans, a tie-dyed t-shirt and flip-flops. Would you let him perform brain surgery on you or your family ?
Bean
Yes, if he has the right credentials! How many luxury car salesman lost the sale because the buyer didn't look like they could afford the car. Our opposition leader (Australia) is often caught in "budgie smugglers" - a brief pair of male speedo swimming costumes. There are a lot of comments here about this being inappropriate but any publicity is good publicity.
Back to reality... Bean is correct in the fact that we could not get to fix problems until "real soon now" with PropTool. Basic is begging to be done correctly on the prop IMHO. Currenlty its just an addon.
I would think that the braces could be simply turned on and off in the editor. You could input with/without them and save with/without them. (i.e. the editor could in fact add them in for you because it already knows where they are by indentation).
Jen, you can read my tale of the Borden at http://localroger.com. It's the final multi-part installment of the Passages series, and the Lizzie Borden verse appears in Revelation One: The Borden Homeworld.
The Passages stories all stand pretty much on their own, but all have major spoilers for the previous chapters, so if you like hard SF (not to brag, but pretty often compared to Asimov) you might want to start with Passages in the Void. In toto it's the story of how humans go extinct, but the AI machines we create re-create us and seed us across this and even other galaxies, without benefit of faster than light travel. I wrote the first installment after reading a review of the book Rare Earth, which posits that worlds like the Earth are really very rare in the cosmos, which declared that if it was right it meant "the end of science fiction." Passages is set in a Rare Earth universe where the Earth is the only planet anywhere which ever evolved complex multicellular life forms. I think it qualifies as science fiction.
I wrote the rest of the installments for the audience at kuro5hin.org, which used to be a pretty great place to hang out before Rusty Foster's social experiment ran to completion and it got overrun by trolls and auto-moderation system gamers. I really miss K5. I used to write an article or story every couple of months, and in the last few years I hardly write at all.
Nota bene: There is another story at localroger.com called The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect. It is an extremely depraved and corrupt vision of a future Singularity (although I didn't know that word for it in 1994 when my mid-life crisis puked itself into Bank Street Writer) in which forced immortality is gradually driving everyone mad. The web stats report about half the people who start it never come back, which is understandable since it starts off with a series of vignettes which make the SAW movies look like Mr. localroger's neighborhood, but almost all the rest read all 8 chapters. It is most definitely Not Safe For Work, or many people would say Life, although quite a few people think it's good enough that they've sent me several thousand dollars in tips over the years. So reader beware and all that.
Passages is by comparison pretty pure hard SF. There's a couple of sexual references here and there but nothing so deliberately freakish. The Mortal Passage installment of Passages even got republished in a real magazine, startup Bull Spec issue #5. (The publisher used to read K5.)
probably yes. If I tell some bartenders or other people that I am a grown up COBOL programmer now using C# I often got asked "Ah. Programmer. Why don't you wear a tie?"
Luckily for me (an those companys I worked for) not everyboy thinks so. Because It is important what I DO not If I look like I could do it.
And I also think that nobody would have ANY problem with the next Intel-Chip beeing called Zebra and having white stripes.
The really important thing is to get the job DONE. And the propeller is pretty good there. I think it all has to do with the Peter-Prinzip.
In a lot of companys people get promoted until they are not able to handle their job. And there they stay then. So despite having people in the company knowing what they are doing - decisions are often made by people not at all beeing able to handle this.
There is the problem. And all those con-men claiming to be programmer/system administrator/security expert/techican/etc.with good social skills and no clue about what they are talking ...
The friendly logo caused me to buy my first Propeller kit. A look at some SPIN + PASM code reinforced that decision. It looked easy, and it was, and IS easy.
For the bigger stuff people are doing now, the C efforts are excellent. That said, nothing beats SPIN + PASM for a very lean programming experience.
Right now, I'm mentoring somebody into the scene. What I find notable about SPIN + PASM is the number of things one doesn't have to know.
I too find Spin and PASM my favorite.
Only use C for big programs that need external memory.
But, once Prop 2 comes, I'm sure I'll be using C and maybe only C on it...
This thead has kinda run amok though... Hope I wasn't who started that...
The Propeller has another advantage that most don't, the name is unique. It's dead simple to know/find it when it's called something unique. Other chips have such bland and tedious names.
@Rayman: Yep. At that scale, I think C makes perfect sense. It doesn't always make sense on P1.
Chip was going to extend SPIN for P2. SPIN and PASM embody some of his favored programming ideals. Will be really interesting to see what he does with SPIN V2. Could kick a lot of Smile!!
I honeslty hope it does, because the combination is just great. I enjoy working with both of them very much.
Comments
I must admit, I had not heard of Ms. Borden prior to posting my avatars. And I can assure you Ms. Nation and I have virtually nothing in common. I borrow my avatars from the works of Kelly Reemsten, a Los Angeles painter, whose work I find rather delightful.
Cheers, Jen J.
"Speak softly, and carry a big stick."
Ms. Reemsten has a rather depressing view of romance, her heroines either falling (presumably in love), holding implements of domestic labor, or holding tools that can be used as murder weapons.
Oddly, it's always the murder weapons people seem to link.
And who the heck hasn't heard of Lizzie Borden? Have you heard of Mother Goose? Jack the Ripper? Hansel and Gretel? I mean really, Lizzie is the reason I had a race of alien robots in a story I once wrote who had annihilated their creators call themselves the Borden. (Then again, maybe this explains why so many people wondered why I named my alien robots after a brand of milk.)
I have heard of the rest, yes. Not sure why I missed Lizzie, but then I don't seek out tales of horror, I much prefer SciFi. Wouldn't mind reading about your Borden.
I find it a bit odd that you hadn't heard of her either. It's not so much a horror thing as just one of those cultural reference kinds of things. I guess cultural references die out and are replaced with others. Don't ask me why I remember that Elizabeth Montgomery played Lizzie Borden in a movie (I have no idea why I remember).
You can call me Lizzie if you want, but I'd much prefer you call me Jen.
I also know her from reruns of Bewitched, just reruns from before there was a Nickelodeon (and before, I guess, cable).
[shudder]
It's 5:00 -- time for a G&T! Take that, Carrie!
-Phil
I, like so many other prop converts, found this chip by accident. (this is why I say that the prop would have done better in a company with a large budget to expose it more) I had in fact ordered some PIC gear which now has never seen the light of day. I had been out of design for a few years, so I ws looking for what was new and exciting. The prop sounded quite interesting. But, as I said, above, the best part was I didn't have to read reems of paper to find out how to start the prop and get a LED to flash.
The more advanced users are pushing this chip way beyond Chip's intentions, basically because it can do so so easily. We have found ways of using external memory, using multile props, running OSes, etc, etc. This is not what most volume users will do with this chip, but it does show what can be done with it.
The best advantage of the prop, IMHO, is that the peripherals are done by software, and no pins are dedicated (well virtually they aren't). Only 1 chip is required to be stocked and learnt.
Granted, a little time is required to use and debug objects from the OBEX. There are a great many objects available. And this forum is a great way to ask what you want because most likely it has been done before - you just have to ask specifcally with an example of what you require. And if it has't been done, there are plenty who will gladly help.
I think the logo doesn't help the Propeller to be taken seriously. I would recommend changing it to just the propeller (minus the beanie).
It is inexcusible that the official propeller IDE does not have ANY debugging support. Heck even the SX IDE had breakpoints, single-stepping and watches. Ditto for macros and conditional compiling. In the initial release it's okay, but I thought by now we would have these features.
At one time there was talk of supporting custom compilers (like PropBASIC) but this never happened. That would have been really cool. Basically the IDE would just save the editor file and call an EXE file. (Okay there is bit more to it, but even that would have been nice to have). Without a means of support by the Propeller IDE, PropBASIC (or other custom compiler) have no chance of acceptance by the masses.
Bean
I did not quite get your aside in brackets there, The Spin-Tool is not SimpleIDE, one is for Spin the other is for C/C++.
I have not really felt the need for a debugger in Spin. Spin programs are not so big and there are plenty of other ways of verifying your code is correct. In my career I have often found that those hard to find bugs that you want a debugger for are exactly the ones were a debugger does not help or even hinders. Think weird timing issues. In a past life I spend some years testing avionics software, like the Boeing 777 primary flight computers. Never did see anyone on the test teams using a debugger.
SimpleIDE is designed to be what it says, simple, it is aiming at the ease of use of the Arduino IDE which also has no debugger if I remember correctly.
Things are looking up for those who crave C/C++ on the Prop and a debugger. Eventually the propgcc project will support GDB. I believe it is mostly already working.
Re: The propeller name and the logo/beanie. I have never seen the problem with this. We are living in a world of stupidly named products, "Apple", "facebook", "youtube", "android", "meego", "ubuntu", "iceweasle" etc etc. The propeller and the beanie do at least carry some meaning and humour and I like them.
There are one or two common Propellor gotcha's that are very frustrating for newcomers. Having the IDE flag these up would ease the learning curve. I hate to think how hard anyone with no embedded experience whatever finds these things. I have some previous experience with various PICs but still find SPIN hard (no C experience here at all). The strongest feature of Propellor development is this group where some real experts lurk (in the nicest possible way!).
Cheers
Richard
IMHO the Arduino took hold for two reasons: 1) It is programmed in an easy variant of C and, 2) The IDE works on all major OSes. SimpleIDE addresses these issues. The key for the GCC team is building a really rich, well-documented library for those that cannot be bothered to write their own code. Human nature is, essentially, all about conserving energy. This is why the most frequent post in the forums is, "Where can I find an object for X?" instead of, "Hey, gang, check out the cool object I wrote for X!"
In the AVR kind of world those few chips they sell that end up in Arduinos is probably a drop in the ocean compared to their total chip sales.
Our GCC beta starts soon (Monday, if all goes according to plan). As part of that release:
- Windows, Mac and Linux support from both IDE and and C compiler
- Multi-lingual support
- Open-source
What else could one ask for?
Spin/ASM integration in SIDE? That's next! We might have the most open chip system in the world very soon.
Ken Gracey
Yeah!
Sorry should have been more specific I meant the boards themselves as a package not just the chips alone. It seems the circulation of "propeller based" boards rather than chips is most important to the growth of the community. Although I don't have any evidence to back this up just my thought.
Maybe I am to stupid for this world. I can not live without a debugger. Single-stepping is the simplest way to understand code that do not, what you think it should do, or to understand code written from others. Timing issues you can not solve with a debugger. That is true.
Simple for me means ready to use with all settings made. A debugger can also be simple. Mark a variable name, drag and drop in watch window. Doubleclick a line of code to set a breakpoint. Press Start.
XMM and external RAM are not simple but also on the top list of SimpleIDE.
"Eventually" and "maybe in future" are also very common terms here in propeller world. Also bigger problems than the name or the logo.
Spin-Tool can mark intentions with some (line)characters. You can switch that on and off.
Thinking about that for a while (using VS for work since Version 3 first VB later C#) I am very used to them bracets but do not REALLY miss them in spin. Just sometimes. Like those (line)characters tending to mess up the readability off full line comments in the code.
And YES they take up vertical space.
Especially since I use them like this (8 lines) if (a==b) { doSomething; } else { doSomethingElse; } and not like this (5 lines) if (a==b) { doSomething; } else { doSomethinElse; } in SPIN it is a 4 liner if (a==b) doSomeThing else doSomethingElseBUT can't we do that switchable like those (line)characters ? The code might be not much different from marking the intention with those (line)characters.
and I miss the ability to move intended code around without loosing structure. Autointension like in VS. Also Tab and Shift-Tab are working different and more consistent in VS as in Spin-Tool.
The Beanie-Logo? Puh. I do not really understand why @BEAN dont like them.Especially him...
Enjoy!
Mike
Mike, I do love the logo. I know that you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but many people do. And image DOES matter.
What if you went to get brain surgery and the surgeon was wearing cut-off jeans, a tie-dyed t-shirt and flip-flops. Would you let him perform brain surgery on you or your family ?
Bean
Back to reality... Bean is correct in the fact that we could not get to fix problems until "real soon now" with PropTool. Basic is begging to be done correctly on the prop IMHO. Currenlty its just an addon.
I would think that the braces could be simply turned on and off in the editor. You could input with/without them and save with/without them. (i.e. the editor could in fact add them in for you because it already knows where they are by indentation).
The Passages stories all stand pretty much on their own, but all have major spoilers for the previous chapters, so if you like hard SF (not to brag, but pretty often compared to Asimov) you might want to start with Passages in the Void. In toto it's the story of how humans go extinct, but the AI machines we create re-create us and seed us across this and even other galaxies, without benefit of faster than light travel. I wrote the first installment after reading a review of the book Rare Earth, which posits that worlds like the Earth are really very rare in the cosmos, which declared that if it was right it meant "the end of science fiction." Passages is set in a Rare Earth universe where the Earth is the only planet anywhere which ever evolved complex multicellular life forms. I think it qualifies as science fiction.
I wrote the rest of the installments for the audience at kuro5hin.org, which used to be a pretty great place to hang out before Rusty Foster's social experiment ran to completion and it got overrun by trolls and auto-moderation system gamers. I really miss K5. I used to write an article or story every couple of months, and in the last few years I hardly write at all.
Nota bene: There is another story at localroger.com called The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect. It is an extremely depraved and corrupt vision of a future Singularity (although I didn't know that word for it in 1994 when my mid-life crisis puked itself into Bank Street Writer) in which forced immortality is gradually driving everyone mad. The web stats report about half the people who start it never come back, which is understandable since it starts off with a series of vignettes which make the SAW movies look like Mr. localroger's neighborhood, but almost all the rest read all 8 chapters. It is most definitely Not Safe For Work, or many people would say Life, although quite a few people think it's good enough that they've sent me several thousand dollars in tips over the years. So reader beware and all that.
Passages is by comparison pretty pure hard SF. There's a couple of sexual references here and there but nothing so deliberately freakish. The Mortal Passage installment of Passages even got republished in a real magazine, startup Bull Spec issue #5. (The publisher used to read K5.)
probably yes. If I tell some bartenders or other people that I am a grown up COBOL programmer now using C# I often got asked "Ah. Programmer. Why don't you wear a tie?"
Luckily for me (an those companys I worked for) not everyboy thinks so. Because It is important what I DO not If I look like I could do it.
And I also think that nobody would have ANY problem with the next Intel-Chip beeing called Zebra and having white stripes.
The really important thing is to get the job DONE. And the propeller is pretty good there. I think it all has to do with the Peter-Prinzip.
In a lot of companys people get promoted until they are not able to handle their job. And there they stay then. So despite having people in the company knowing what they are doing - decisions are often made by people not at all beeing able to handle this.
There is the problem. And all those con-men claiming to be programmer/system administrator/security expert/techican/etc.with good social skills and no clue about what they are talking ...
Enjoy!
Mike
eeeeeexactly. happend to me more than once.
Enjoy!
Mike
For the bigger stuff people are doing now, the C efforts are excellent. That said, nothing beats SPIN + PASM for a very lean programming experience.
Right now, I'm mentoring somebody into the scene. What I find notable about SPIN + PASM is the number of things one doesn't have to know.
Only use C for big programs that need external memory.
But, once Prop 2 comes, I'm sure I'll be using C and maybe only C on it...
This thead has kinda run amok though... Hope I wasn't who started that...
@Rayman: Yep. At that scale, I think C makes perfect sense. It doesn't always make sense on P1.
Chip was going to extend SPIN for P2. SPIN and PASM embody some of his favored programming ideals. Will be really interesting to see what he does with SPIN V2. Could kick a lot of Smile!!
I honeslty hope it does, because the combination is just great. I enjoy working with both of them very much.