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2019-05-04

Channels

#off-topic
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2019-05-04
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lread00:05:25

Daniel Compton’s The REPL is also great https://www.therepl.net/

lread01:05:54

not sure if they still do them but I enjoyed this too http://blog.cognitect.com/cognicast

lread00:05:28

And if you are up for video, Apropos Clojure is great fun https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1UxEQuBvfLJgWR5tk_XIXA

jaide00:05:05

Not opposed by any means but wanted something I could listen to while working

dpsutton00:05:58

a long time ago i remember on the cognicast someone mentioned that they worked for a whole summer and ultimately added a semicolon to a prolog program. anyone happen to remember that episode?

dpsutton00:05:46

ah! exclamation mark for cut, not semicolon > I did have an answer. Let me think. What did I say my most beautiful bit of code was? It was a single exclamation mark I added on my thesis. It was a massive Prolog program, and I spent probably about three months analyzing this AI planning system. My sole contribution to those three months was a single exclamation mark, which was just, in Prolog, cutting the back tracing. I was so satisfied that I had a big comment next to it for anyone who was reviewing the coding like, "This took three months. This is where I started. This was my contribution." The smallest and, I think, perhaps the most beautiful bit of code I've ever written.

❗ 8
jaide01:05:13

What’s like the context\purpose of this story?

dpsutton01:05:15

they were talking about beautiful code. i threw it up here because i forgot how to find it and was wondering if anyone knew. But then I found it and just thought it is an awesome story

jaide01:05:38

I guess I’m not following their perspective on it without having heard the interview. Like was the code so good that all they could contribute was an exclamation mark?

dpsutton02:05:13

Ahh. The exclamation is very important in prolog. It’s a logic language and will search through a bunch of possible solutions. This includes backtracking. The cut operator prevents backtracking across the point where it is added. So this was intense scrutiny that this was appropriate

seancorfield02:05:15

Prolog is a two year old child: you ask it a question and either it succeeds and gives you the answer, or it just says "No." You can spend a lot of time asking Prolog questions and just getting "No." back repeatedly 😐

seancorfield02:05:41

In Prolog, ! can be a massive optimization and it can also cause a lot of correct answers to be omitted if you put it in the wrong place.

seancorfield02:05:16

(I love Prolog, BTW, and worked at a company in the early 90's that did a lot of production Prolog work 🙂 )

Lennart Buit08:05:41

Prolog seemed so magical in the little exposure I had with it.

gklijs10:05:21

I only used prolog on the university and only to build a game. Maybe that's why I see it only as a academic/toy language. But it's used commercially as well?

seancorfield17:05:00

Yes. It's definitely a niche language but it's been in use commercially for decades.

Drew Verlee00:05:32

Someone mentioned RETE in the context of figuring out "what queries changed as a result of this new fact", could it mean something other then RETE Algorithm?

dpsutton01:05:46

sounds like RETE to me.

👍 8
borkdude09:05:38

@jayzawrotny Here is my list of podcasts in a screenshot from iTunes:

jaide16:05:14

Perfect, thanks!