I like DSLs. Here’s a paper about one, “Experience with a Language for Writing Coherence Protocols”

It’s slightly amazing to me that coherence protocols are a rich and complex enough subject to merit developing a DSL. Reading the article points out why such is true, though.

Ever tried to play an exciting video game, one that would normally make you tense and boost your adrenaline, while trying to remain as calm as possible (and trying not to mash your controller/keyboard)? Wonder what effects one might be able to get by practicing that… Seems like it could be another way to go at meditation, as well as a way to get better at the game…

I only wish the corporations had made the effort to improve _my_ education like this. These darn young’ns don’t know how good they’ve got it.

THE ABOVE IS A SATIRICAL COMMENT. Just so you know.

OnTheCommons.org | Advertising Invades Textbooks

Interesting idea over at CleverCS: Software Development as a Spectator Sport. I know that as a developer, I like to learn about how other developers work, or the decisions that led them to their implementations, etc. Making those sort of things accessible to a wider audience has some merit.

Of course, there are ‘popular’ books on topics in hardware and software development, and they do sometimes do a good job of making the content interesting to non-geeks.

I have also pondered the idea of ‘real-time development’, some sort of system that can let software development occur in a more continuous fashion than the typical edit-compile-debug cycle. That sort of system would possibly make for some interesting spectating too…

(I think there are a few projects out there in the world trying to create a real-time development system, but I haven’t researched them too much…)

Hey, remember that TV show where you watched people compete in arcade video games? I very vaguely do… And that vague memory is vaguely related to this post.

I love the weird situations that can come from bugs in simulations. I remember having a lot of fun playing with Transom Jack (which I guess is now Tecnomatix Jack) and purposely getting the parameters out of the healthy ranges… I think these sorts of behaviors can tell us something interesting about the subject of the simulation, too.

I was reminded of this while playing a game, as I watched the cracks in a windshield fall off the windshield and bounce around on the ground. How often do you see _that_ in real life?

Pretty cool talk by Will Wright.

Isn’t it weird when you’re coming home and find that your block has been blocked off and is now full of fire trucks, hazmat teams, cops… I think it is.

Glad the bizznizzle was across the street and turned out to be a false alarm anyway.

I’m thankful for… workflows. I don’t know why exactly, but I get a real feeling of satisfaction from putting together workflows that allow others to produce stuff by stringing through a chain of tools. It’s also nice to work to shorten those chains by melting links together.