thelazydogsback

What I was trying to focus on was "getting the job done". If I want to program for pure enjoyment, I can certainly still do that. Although some people may play chess for a living, most that play chess don't.

Like many here, I've always been a language buff -- programming in assmebly, C(++), Java, various Lisps, Prolog, O'Caml/F#/Hask, etc. - and a fan of Smalltalk. (Used Tektronix ST and Smalltalk-V, but never Pharo.)

One thing that AI programming has done is made me care much less what programming language is being used. This is slightly regrettable, but for the most part very freeing, as I don't need to worry about what language is easier for me (as a human) to use for a particular problem, or make me inclined to use one of my "pet" programming languages over one that may be a better fit for more pedestrian reasons.

Sounds like QNX -- I remember running this from floppies as the first protected-mode OS that could run on my 386

I think it was from the movie industry - just something in the background shot with lots of blinking lights and occasional beeps was known as an EBG, or "electronic bullshit grinder". They do tend to impress investors as well as audiences.

e.e. cummings was such as asshole :)

A shrub made with Pellegrino + syrupy Balsamic, or apple cider vinegar with a drop of two of stevia - herbs optional - delicious. (and butyrate producing to boot...)

> I put 5% on an AI winter happening by 2030

lol. 5%? - that's really laying it on the line

Plug-board wiring!

> ... There are certainly shades of gray in this concept.

Not quite dark - wouldn't there be a red room then?

I remember walking into the Computer Factory in Grand Central station in NYC and playing with the Lisa. (Later I did some Smalltalk on the Lisa and the Techtronix.)

I still remember the layout ca. 1979-83 like it was yesterday - on the right side when you walked in was a separate room with some kind of P-Code machine which was the "business mini". The Lisa and later the Mac were set up on a table on the right, and the Apple][ in the back. In the center were the Kaypro, and some other CP/M machines, and the Commodore Pets (the OG chicket keyboard version and the green-screen one w/the real keyboard) (incl. some IEE-488? accessories), the Sol II, and then the gfx show-offs (making my TRS-80 jealous), the CompuColor II and Exidy Sorcerer. The other wall had the printers - the Anderson-Jacobson daisywheel printer, an adapter w/solenoids to turn your Selectric typewriter into a printer, a few 9-pin matrix printes like the IDS Paper Tiger (right before the Epson MX-80 took over)

Good times. Sigh...

> Of the two billion-plus exits

That's a lot of exits :)

> Of the two billion-plus exits That's a lot of exits :)

Some of this reminds of me a combination Icon and Mozart. (And happened to just come across my old Icon book a few days ago.)

Maybe the backtracking concepts are "too built in?" - e.g., (1|2) is not a first-class/reified "amb" object, right? - so if I want to introduce a different search than depth-first backtracking (breadth, dependency-directed), etc., I couldn't directly.

Seems like there could be some confusion between multiple, backtracked values and actual sequences -- this often leads to sub-optimal/confusing Prolog code as well, deciding when you have an explicit control structure vs. backtrack, when to "harden" results using setOf/bagOf/findAll, etc.