Books from the library of Erik Naggum
in [Lisp]
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From: RG on 3 Jun 2010 10:23 In article <4c07a7dd$0$31378$4fafbaef(a)reader1.news.tin.it>, Giovanni Gigante <giov(a)cidoc.iuav.it> wrote: > joswig(a)corporate-world.lisp.de wrote: > > > Luckily a prominent Lisp expert explains the real background of Ada > > and its design: > > > > http://home.pipeline.com/~hbaker1/sigplannotices/gigo-1997-04.html > > > > Funny :) > Still, my heuristic was very simple: if the archlisper Erik Naggum was > (apparently) interested in Ada, perhaps I should, too? That's not a very good heuristic. He was interested in Ayn Rand too. ObAda: the AACS (attitude and articulation control system) on the Cassini spacecraft is programmed in Ada, and it actually has a lot of pretty sophisticated autonomy built in to handle hardware failures. It's actually some of the most advanced flight software ever on an unmanned spacecraft. Ironically, none of its advanced capabilities have ever been exercised (as far as I know) because, remarkably, none of the hardware on Cassini has ever failed. rg
From: Don Geddis on 3 Jun 2010 16:57 RG <rNOSPAMon(a)flownet.com> wrote on Thu, 03 Jun 2010: > In article <4c07a7dd$0$31378$4fafbaef(a)reader1.news.tin.it>, >> Still, my heuristic was very simple: if the archlisper Erik Naggum was >> (apparently) interested in Ada, perhaps I should, too? > > That's not a very good heuristic. He was interested in Ayn Rand too. Rand went too far, and was blind about her own failures, it's true. On the other hand, she had a lot of good, important, things to say, which were (and often still are) very unpopular. I think it would be an impoverished student who managed to get through college with no exposure to Ayn Rand. _______________________________________________________________________________ Don Geddis http://don.geddis.org/ don(a)geddis.org At a book burning, don't leave too soon, or you might miss the dictionaries. -- Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey [1999]
From: Evans Winner on 3 Jun 2010 17:51 RG <rNOSPAMon(a)flownet.com> writes: In article <4c07a7dd$0$31378$4fafbaef(a)reader1.news.tin.it>, Giovanni Gigante <giov(a)cidoc.iuav.it> wrote: Funny :) Still, my heuristic was very simple: if the archlisper Erik Naggum was (apparently) interested in Ada, perhaps I should, too? That's not a very good heuristic. He was interested in Ayn Rand too. Wow, an attempted cheap shot at three people at once, two of them dead. Impressive. In any case, A) owning the complete works of Plato doesn't make me a Platonist, B) the heuristic is perfectly reasonable as long as it remains merely a heuristic, and C) Naggum certainly was no Objectivist.
From: Espen Vestre on 4 Jun 2010 06:17 Evans Winner <thorne(a)unm.edu> writes: > C) Naggum certainly was no Objectivist. Certainly not in recent years, but at one point I think he was. Have you read this: http://open.salon.com/blog/kent_pitman/2010/01/08/erik_naggum_on_atlas_shrugged ? -- (espen)
From: Evans Winner on 4 Jun 2010 18:17
Espen Vestre <espen(a)vestre.net> writes: Evans Winner <thorne(a)unm.edu> writes: C) Naggum certainly was no Objectivist. Certainly not in recent years, but at one point I think he was. Have you read this: http://open.salon.com/blog/kent_pitman/2010/01/08/erik_naggum_on_atlas_shrugged ? I hadn't. There are some interesting bits. To launch into a discussion of how profoundly anti-Randian it is would be off topic and pointless. Suffice to say that most people who read Rand read her very casually and typically what they remember are some out-of-context bits about society, politics and capitalism; the crucial ideas they sort of gloss over and forget. It is clear that Naggum was never an Objectivist in a very meaningful sense of the term, but as I say he makes some interesting observations. |