brainstorms

Wednesday December 21, 2005

recently noted quotes

good enough isn't good enough, because now everything is good enough. -- seth godin ( the big moo)

just bring the cool bits closer together. -- luke auden (quoted by adam gopnik, the king in the window)

public: volatile friend boyd; -- rob [*]

The old New Orleans is effectively gone. If the new New Orleans is to be more than a few port facilities and a sad little "sin and decadence" theme park for liquored-up conventioneers, you need the people to come back. -- eugene robinson (washington post)

a golden hammer attracts a java programmer like a box of Krispy Kremes and a bottle of jolt. -- bruce a. tate ( better, faster, lighter java)

why do animated cartoonists use animals? for the same reason that aesop, la fontaine, kipling, beatrix potter and kenneth grahame did: it is easier and more believable to humanize animals than it is to humanize humans. -- chuck jones (chuck amuck)

belief is no substitute for arithmetic. - Henry Spencer

many lines of thought can be started from this book. but none ends in it. -- julian baggini (the pig that wants to be eaten)

I have the greatest difficulty in understanding what is meant by the words ''spiritual'', or ''spirituality'' -- philip pullman (University of East Anglia lecture)

when in doubt, add something heavy. -- mythbusters motto

[* boyd roberts died in paris early july this year]

grammar rules in perl six

larry wall says:

In Perl 6 we actually give the programmer control over the individual grammar rules and even sub-rules, so that you can replace little bits and pieces of the grammar.

oh neat, still write-only, but more so.

[right, a cheap shot. i think this special perl6 innovation makes pereira and warren's relatively sane prolog definite clause grammars (DCG) about 25 years ahead of its time. see eg. covington, natural language processing for prolog programmers.]