dr g

serious about software, dabbles with drumming.

@mccaskill.bsky.social

[dr g @mccaskill]

I would say:

#fsharp is the best general purpose programming language.

Microsoft tragically uses it only as a lipstick source for its Java clone.

Developers should never have to look at XML, far less program in it.

WPF's primary API should have been a regular dotnet DLL.

[dr g @mccaskill]

@KentBeck I was tickled by your daughter's joke. We were both born in 1961, but I regret I never had a chance to try XP ideas like pair (or mob) programming. Pairing seems like such a good idea w.r.t. combining mentoring/skill pooling and live code review - we need non AI juniors.

[dr g @mccaskill]

@praeclarum @OpenAI @huggingface It is not just you. I listen to you and James every week on your podcast, but I also listen to @edzitron's analysis of the financial side of things, which is very scary.

[dr g @mccaskill]

@satnam6502 I like predictable point free, like F# pipelines, where it is one level deep processing of an initial value. I notice now that APL was similar to F#, in that it is point free over values which are mostly arrays. The GoL example is well beyond my skills, but a human did write it.

[dr g @mccaskill]

Do you have an intuition for what the constant e is for - the maker of this video is one of the best maths teachers I have ever learned from in my 64 years - despite passing its 2nd year level Uni exam, I really struggled with complex analysis: https://t.co/R5xZF9ecpG

[dr g @mccaskill]

@allthecitizens @franklandymore I am still baffled why people use meta products - they have revealed who they really are for decades now.

You may ask why I am on Twitter - well, at least I know I am a hypocrite for staying here, but I do have to hold my nose. And use my own curated lists.

[The Citizens @allthecitizens]

“Surely we are going to get in trouble for this?”

Meta pays contractors to pose as teenagers and bombard competitors’ AI systems with disturbing content.

From @franklandymore 👇

https://t.co/GYh7AYs1lK

[dr g @mccaskill]

@BrodieOnLinux Speaking as someone born in 1961, I am seeing encouraging signs of a backlash building against the measured impact LLMs have on learning and critical thinking, not to mention its true costs, lack of ROI, and its ecological and ethical problems. Fingers crossed we change course.

[Richard Feldman @rtfeldman]

Since the @bunjavascript folks recently wrote about their experience moving from Zig to Rust, it seemed like a good time to write about our experience rewriting @roc_lang from Rust to Zig!

https://t.co/JkPboqnGTn

[dr g @mccaskill]

I like the way Matt bases his analysis of politicians by examining their Westminster voting record and quotes which are verifiable from published media. Count Binface uses the same technique - he only says things which are demonstrably true.

[Palestine Deep Dive @PDeepDive]

“Andy Burnham Isn't the Change You Think He Is”

@kennardmatt | @AlnaouqA

[dr g @mccaskill]

@LewisCTech shows a good way to use Rust. Terms like OO or Functional are rarely helpful - they are now too vague. I use F# my own way; I embrace mutation in global state, and in small pure functions. DUs/enums remove most explicit inheritance use cases. Pragmatism for the win.

[Lewis Campbell @LewisCTech]

If quacks like a duck, and implements the Duck trait...

[dr g @mccaskill]

@ploeh XML started with a plan (inspired by SGML) that didn't survive contact with developers, who forgot that it was an exchange format for machines - not meant to be written or read by humans. Today I can use Avalonia because XAML can be completely avoided by just using its DLLs.

[dr g @mccaskill]

@opdroid1234 @steveruizok and Windows and MacOS would be locked down if Microsoft or Apple felt they could get away with it. They keep trying moves in that direction.

[dr g @mccaskill]

@opdroid1234 @steveruizok Agreed. Apple hardware is amazing, but IOS deliberately restricts what 3rd party software can do, so users lose the ability to enjoy its full potential. They're supercomputers compared to computers from the 90s, yet deliberately crippled compared to macOS, Windows and Unix.

[dr g @mccaskill]

@rtfeldman Yes and double yes with knobs on. If your talk is any good, people will google who you are - which is certainly true of me after watching one of your Roc videos years ago. Your Software Unscripted podcast is a joy to me - never a duff episode.

[dr g @mccaskill]

@EdzardErnst that's a kind of weird headline to me. Surely the next Labour leader will be another Blair/Mandelson New Labour neoliberal doing the same stuff? A coup requires a motivating ideology, and I think there is only one allowed - so they are just re-arranging the deck-chairs?

[dr g @mccaskill]

@Savlambda @ryanlpeterman I like to use local mutation in F# functions which have a pure signature, because I find loops easier to grok than folds. Is that sinful?

[dr g @mccaskill]

Great interview with national treasure Simon. When can I program in Verse - have I missed the memo?

[Ryan Peterman @ryanlpeterman]

Simon Peyton Jones is the co-creator of Haskell (pure functional programming language) and I interviewed him about functional programming, why it matters, and his thoughts on other programming languages.

In this episode:

• Useful and useless programming languages
• Rust vs C
• Haskell vs OCaml
• Why functional programming matters
• Static languages and their value for LLMs
• Why Excel is his 2nd favorite programming language

Where to watch:

• YouTube - https://t.co/72aR1f1a9D
• Spotify - https://t.co/ltqlAmVjYQ
• Apple Podcasts - https://t.co/jOYDGtGVnt
• Transcript - https://t.co/bRFoE5uyhD

Thank you to the sponsor of this episode for supporting my work:

• WorkOS: makes your app Enterprise Ready with easy to use APIs to add SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more in just a few lines of code, check them out at https://t.co/y8noBzFEem

Chapters:

00:00 - Intro
00:39 - What functional programming is
09:18 - Downsides of functional programming
10:53 - Specialized hardware for functional programming
21:47 - Haskell is useless
25:59 - Rust vs C
28:26 - Haskell vs OCaml
35:26 - Side effects in Haskell
44:26 - Type systems
57:30 - How the Haskell compiler works
01:04:35 - Why Haskell is talked about more than used
01:09:07 - Avoiding success at all costs
01:11:12 - LLMs and programming languages
01:13:57 - New programming language design
01:15:59 - Should students continue to learn programming
01:22:33 - Why Excel is is 2nd favorite programming language
01:25:04 - Advice for his younger self

[dr g @mccaskill]

@angel_d_munoz Hexagon grid games evoke strong memories of my teenage years, when I would spend hours playing board games like the attached (Battle of Lützen (1632) anyone?). I've often wondered about re-imagining that game play on a PC.

[dr g @mccaskill]

@headinthebox That was a top tip - I had no idea that album existed, but loved their single "Sound of the Suburbs" as featured on John Peel's Radio1 show lots. By 1980, being a CS student, I was more likely to be hacking, in the pub or at a gig than listening to JP's evening show.

[Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla]

So you know what @bbcquestiontime did with Farage? They’re now doing it with AI.

This ‘expert’ panel on AI is a disgrace: not one critical voice.

Gilbert works for Tony Blair to promote AI. Jones is govt chief AI booster (& Blair flunky). Riparbelli is industry. Gawdat is ex industry. And for ‘balance’? A Tory MP.
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