Bits, Bytes and More Ambiguous Syntax

Recently, I added a first-class byte type to Whiley. Unlike Java, this is not interpreted as some kind of signed or unsigned int. That’s because I find that very confusing since a byte is really just a sequence of bits without any interpretation.

On the Duality of Types: the Ideals versus the Reals

I’ve been working hard over the last few weeks on the next release of Whiley, which should be out soon. However, I’ve got myself into a little bit of a pickle over the type system (again).

Language Complexity?

Some languages are complex, others are simple … right? C++ versus just about anything else is a good example here. But, it begs the question: what makes a language complex?

JavaScript Playground

I’ve been doing a bit of JavaScript programming recently, and I came up with the “Creature Playground” (which is primarily aimed at teaching). Here’s a little taster (click on “Create” a few times):

Got Any Quotes from Coders At Work?

Recently, I finished reading Coders at Work by Peter Seibel. The book consists of a series of interviews with the following (impressive) list of programmers and computer scientists: Jamie Zawinski, Brad Fitzpatrick, Douglas Crockford, Brendan Eich, Josh Bloch, Joe Armstrong, Simon Peyton-Jones, Peter Norvig, Guy Steele, Dan Ingalls, Peter Deutsch, Ken Thompson, Fran Allen, Bernie Cosell and Don Knuth.