Robert A. Uhl

Does Visual Studio rot the mind?

Just came across Does Visual Studio Rot the Mind?, a presentation by Charles Petzold on the process of programming. Very good points about the rhythm of coding and how we can come to over-rely on tools — as well as how that over-reliance can translate into much more complex (and hence brittle) systems. Anyone with an interest in human-computer interactions should take a look. Read more →

Froogle

I’ve recently been using Froogle; it’s a Google service which enables one to search through a huge number of online stores and find the best price on items. Very, very cool — and it’s saved me quite a bit of cash. Read more →

Froogle

I’ve recently been using Froogle; it’s a Google service which enables one to search through a huge number of online stores and find the best price on items. Very, very cool — and it’s saved me quite a bit of cash. Read more →

Artificial ignorance

Back in 1997 Marcus Ranum came up with the concept of Artificial Ignorance. Rather than rely on an intelligent system to report interesting data, he used a stupid system to ignore boring data. By definition, anything left over has to be interesting. A nice way of approaching a difficult problem — in this case, log file analysis. Read more →

Artificial ignorance

Back in 1997 Marcus Ranum came up with the concept of Artificial Ignorance. Rather than rely on an intelligent system to report interesting data, he used a stupid system to ignore boring data. By definition, anything left over has to be interesting. A nice way of approaching a difficult problem — in this case, log file analysis. Read more →

The Greatest Thing Ever™

I found this site today: a PVC flamethrower. This is truly the most wonderful device ever invented, no? 06 February 2018: updated URL Read more →

The Greatest Thing Ever™

I found this site today: a PVC flamethrower. This is truly the most wonderful device ever invented, no? 06 February 2018: updated URL Read more →

Google Talk

Well, Google finally released their Jabber-based chat service. It looks like it could be a beautiful thing. Read more →

Google Talk

Well, Google finally released their Jabber-based chat service. It looks like it could be a beautiful thing. Read more →

Therion

Therion is a really cool bit of free software for making maps of caves. I almost wish that I were a spelunker. Read more →

Therion

Therion is a really cool bit of free software for making maps of caves. I almost wish that I were a spelunker. Read more →

Practical Common Lisp

Practical Common Lisp is an excellent introduction to and tutorial for ANSI Common Lisp. The author guides one through the creation of an MP3-streaming server, all the while introducing one to the amazing features of this most powerful of computer languages. Read more →