I used to use a spiritual predecessor of IPython -- Lazy Python, and IPython does everything that Lazy Python did and more.

I just wish the color options worked with Win32. Maybe if someone tied it together with PyCrust...

10:44:37 AM    comments ()  trackback []  

I've looked at Ruby, and while the bits that look like Smalltalk are appealing, it's the bits that look like Perl that get to me. I've tried to like Perl, but I just can't seem to do it. The bits that look like line noise just turn me off, and when I start seeing the same things in other languages, I have to start resisting the tendency to judge those languages the same way.

Mats talks about Ruby following the "principle of least surprise." The problem is, I keep being surprised. It's as if the Principle is really about least surprise for those people who are used to programming in Perl.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm not here to shove Python down your throats. I admit to an obvious bias, and I don't try to hide it. Perl holds the internet together, and I've seen some amazing things done in Ruby (like the new Weblog system from Tucows). They just don't seem to work well in my head.

Oh, and Java? Java has paid my bills for a few years now. I'm familiar with it's shortcomings and it's power. I've solved a lot of problems with it.

Now if I could make Python sign my paycheck, I'd be happy. I'd be delirious if I could work in Python and be able to buy food and make my house payment.

9:41:36 AM    comments ()  trackback []  

The things that I don't like about my internet conncetion have nothing to do with Speakeasy. It has more to do that my house has old telephone wiring and that I'm at the edge of the practical limit for DSL service.

I've been on DSL since @Home went away, and in the meantime, I've had maybe three incidents where I've been without service for a fairly significant amount of time (I define "fairly significant" as being the amount of time it takes for my wife to get frustrated and call me at work to tell me that the internet is down). Yesterday was one of those times.

What made yesterday different was that this was the first time that the service rep that I talked to on the phone actually suggested moving the modem to a different phone jack for troubleshooting. (Why I didn't think of that, I don't know.) Sure enough, the modem synced up almost immediately. So all this time, the slowness and lack of sync was caused by the bad wire going to the phone jack in my office. All this time, all I had to do was move the modem downstairs, and things would be better.

So, after 15 minutes of drilling holes and running wire, I had a new, faster, solid internet connection. All because of a simple suggestion from the phone rep. A simple suggestion I could have come up with myself. I feel a little stupid.

9:22:14 AM    comments ()  trackback []