Thursday, April 17, 2003

Trip down memory lane: Connection Machine and *Lisp I enjoy reading the LemonOdor.com web blog - it is all about the Lisp programming language (I wrote 2 Lisp books for Springer-Verlag a long time ago). There is a blog entry for the Connection Machine. I was able to write some code for one of the early Connection Machines (16,384 SIMD processors). I used the *Lisp simulator runing on my Mac to write the basic code, then flew to where the CM was, and got my stuff working. One of the incredible things about the CM was its incredible I/O bandwidth. A PDF file for CM Lisp is linked from the LemonOdor.com posting, if you are interested. Also, a shameless plug: you can download my free Common Lisp tutorial web book from my main web site :-) 1:41:41 PM

Microsoft service pack problems: activation bug The linked article + discussion thread is on Slashdot. I am lucky on this one: I just own one Windows 2000/Office license and that PC sits in my study closet - waiting patiently for Windows oriented consulting jobs - then it bravely springs into action :-) SOOOoooo, I had not run the service pack yet. It amazes me how much trouble one small glitch in a service pack can cause such problems. I wrote my last two books using OpenOffice and used my licensed copy of Word 2000 at the last minute before sending files off to my publishers (just to make sure formatting macros, etc. were OK, Word-wise). 12:15:40 PM

A good article for people who don't believe that freedom of speech is being suppressed If you have two free minutes, please read the linked article. Note: if you are not a Salon subscriber, then you need to view an advertisement to read the entire article (the second half of the article is the best part, BTW). 11:49:28 AM

© Copyright 2003 Mark Watson. Last update: 9/16/03; 7:36:14 AM.