Rewriting legacy code is only faster than fixing it when you can afford to break compatibility. Otherwise, you're going to spend as much time tracking down and replicating corner cases and other assorted odd behaviors as you would fixing up the old code in the first place.

Some days I feel like 90% of language design is just asking the question "how do I get this name to bind to the thing I want it to bind to?" over and over and over.

This looks way better than the completely-and-utterly-missed-the-f'ing-point film adaptation. But Watchmen is such an utterly densely written and plotted story, I'm not sure what the point is. What does it have to add? youtube.com/watch?v=fhsNE8…

I also have to say that watching the Watchmen animated trailer give me a reverse-radio effect. Having read the comics way back in 1986 before the raspy Batman voice even existed, I absolutely did not imagine Rorschach speaking that way.

I've been really missing Weird Al... youtube.com/watch?v=y0ZoX4…

I've never liked or been particularly good at math. My worst CS class in college was the one where you do all the complexity analysis; hated all the math. I'm much, much better at logic, and I find that to be the dominant skill. I can look up whatever math equations I need.

(I also find that if you're going to work in the programming language niche, the better your command of human language is, the easier you're going to find it. YMMV)

I dunno, man. If someone tells me and my friends to go f**k themselves if we don't like it, and then we follow their sage advice, is that a boycott?

To be honest, this advice has been good since at least Windows 95. Maybe even longer than that...

Apropos of nothing, if anyone is looking for a job working with languages/compilers and you have some experience, let me know, I might have something coming...

My first forays into the online world were on a Durham BBS run by Paul Vick, back in 1986 or '87. RIP to Ward Christensen, who coded and co-founded the earliest known BBS a little less than a decade before that. arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/1…

I must confess I found a copy of The Late Great Planet Earth among my father’s books as a teenager and read it several times. I was fascinated by the bonkers end times-ism. I’ve still got that copy sitting on my bookshelf!

As an actual engineer, same. AI is incredibly useful in getting me started in areas where I'd have to spend time coming up to speed with some unfamiliar language/framework/concept, but almost immediately I have to step back and grok what it did because it's made basic errors.

It’s interesting to think about how things might have been different if we’d had AI when doing the VB6-to-.NET migration… 🤔 geekwire.com/2024/an-easy-b…

Hi language/compiler folks! My team at Splunk is hiring! We're looking for a senior dev to work on the query language/compiler and would love to find someone who has some experience in the general area. Feel free to DM me for more information! jobs.jobvite.com/careers/splunk…

“Alma, tell us… all modern women are jealous. You didn’t even use Ponds, and you got Gustav and Mahler and Franz!”