Computer Language Trends in 2009

Six years ago, in The Art of Unix Programming, I observed some interesting trends in the deployment of programming languages. One Christer Nyfält mailed me this morning reporting that he had followed up by collecting the analogous statistics from SourceForge for present time. Here’s what he said (lightly copy-edited as his English is a bit… Continue reading Computer Language Trends in 2009

Published
Categorized as Software

Some Iron Laws of Political Economics

Mancur Olson, in his book The Logic Of Collective Action, highlighted the central problem of politics in a democracy. The benefits of political market-rigging can be concentrated to benefit particular special interest groups, while the costs (in higher taxes, slower economic growth, and many other second-order effects) are diffused through the entire population. The result… Continue reading Some Iron Laws of Political Economics

Published
Categorized as Politics

Objective Evidence

This weekend, at Balticon (the Baltimore Science Fiction Convention) I got to play a bit with an infrared-sensing webcam. These turn out not to be very difficult to construct, because CCDs are sensitive well into the IR range. The normal filter blocks IR but passes visible light; by replacing it with fully exposed film stock,… Continue reading Objective Evidence

Published
Categorized as General

News from the Linux-adoption front

Well, now. This is interesting: A study of corporate Linux adoption polling 1,275 IT professionals says: Linux desktop roll out is easier than expected for properly targeted end-user groups Those with experience are much more likely to regard non-technical users as primary targets for Linux. The message here is that in practice, Linux is easier… Continue reading News from the Linux-adoption front

Published
Categorized as Software

California Dreamin’

If it is impossible for something to continue indefinitely, it will eventually stop. The politics of the modern redistributionist state is founded on the assumption that politicians can buy votes by promising voters ever more munificent entitlements – from federal deposit insurance against bank failures to government-subsidized medical care – with the money for these… Continue reading California Dreamin’

Published
Categorized as Politics

Is Danish Dying?

Some years ago I did a speaking tour in Scandinavia that involved staying in Denmark for a couple of days. Denmark, like the other Scandinavian nations I’ve visited, is a tidy little country full of intelligent, civilized, and agreeable people. As long as you can get along with gray sub-arctic weather and gray, characterless food… Continue reading Is Danish Dying?

Published
Categorized as General

The Trek Movie: TOS rides again

I saw the new Star Trek movie last night, and it answers a question I wasn’t sure anyone would ever ask (or want to) – namely, could they find a young actor who could effectively clone William Shatner’s performance in TOS (The Original Series) as the alpha asshole of the future galaxy. The answer is… Continue reading The Trek Movie: TOS rides again

Published
Categorized as General

IntenseDebate is deactivated

I have deactivated IntenseDebate. Its maintainers tell me there is no way to disable pagination of comments, a feature several of my regulars justifiably complained about and I loathed. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

I may have to disable IntenseDebate

I may have to disable IntenseDebate. The interface for approving/deleting/spam-flagging posts seems broken since sometime yesterday; I suspect some sort of database problem at intensedebate.com, as my local Javascript hasn’t changed. If you have left a comment which has not appeared, have patience. I will try untangling the mess from my home machine Sunday night… Continue reading I may have to disable IntenseDebate