Notes: Tiger Parenting
First, notes from an article, Why Chinese Mothers are Superior: Short and to the point, Mother gets to say what the child can and cannot do. With ruthless efficiency, the child’s life is managed so that they can get top…
Booze poetry
Last night, Ben and I conversed about mixing drinks. He pointed me to a drink containing Chartreuse VEP by the Cocktail Whisperer. Inspired by the opulent verbiage, I wrote the following: Not satisfied with an insubstantial vodka, I prowl around…
Student’s Sharing Projects
There was once a legal case where a student, proud of their work in the programming course, posted their solution online. The university (San Jose State) eventually had to give in. Which seems right to me. Especially given the real…
Notes: Recovering from Religion
Darrel Ray, author of “The God Virus: How Religion Infects Our Lives and Culture” also runs a foundation of support groups for those leaving their faith, called Recovering from Religion. This can be a traumatic time for such individuals, because…
Cognition and Linguistics
I see the study and development of computer languages as two sides of the same coin. A computer language should enable the programmer to express, clearly and concisely, an algorithmic intent. It should not burden the programmer with a particular…
Nanopass Compiler
Through a friend, I got hold of a provocative paper A Nanopass Framework for Compiler Education, by Sarkar, Waddell, and Dybvig. They describe a compiler written in scheme that makes 50ish passes. Each pass is described as a language transform,…
Lessons learned while teaching.
I may have only done three classes, but already I’ve rediscovered that there is one principal to working efficiently: automate and systematize whatever you can. Practicing this mantra allows a course to run much smoother, reducing headaches and prepratory time. I’ve compiled…
Embedded Languages
I don’t like them. I’ve ranted before about how the Web is a festering polyglot made horrific by Postel’s Law. Many, including Tim Bray, advocate more knowledge at the client end, when an error occurs in parsing the steaming pile…
Scaling Automated CS Education
The success of Salman Kahn’s Academy and other instances of disruptive education, have started me thinking about how computer science education might scale. Let’s first analyze how Kahn is organizing the learning experience. First: Have a huge collection of videos….
Keyboard Kraziness
Again, I spent far too much time looking at different keyboards. This time around, however, I can see that some people are progressing toward my latest ideal: The multi-touch surface with re-configurable keys. Mostly, I want to record all the…