Now I realize that I’m starting to look at C programmers the same way.  “Thank goodness you like that stuff.  Now I can concentrate on solving real problems with Python.”

I guess I’m just a “top of the stack” kind of guy.  Shoulders of giants and all that.

The most interesting thing I realized from watching it is that sorting algorithms haven’t changed at all since this movie was made. That is, quicksort is still the most widely used sorting algorithm (followed closely, I’m sure, by bubble sort — not because of it’s efficiency, but because it’s the way we humans sort physical things (i.e. playing cards), so naive programmers often “reinvent” this way of sorting in code, only to find out later just how slow O(n²) algorithms actually are). Most modern computer languages provide built in sorting routines these days, and those routines use quicksort.

So, even though our computers are getting faster and smaller at an exponential rate, the theory behind efficiently programming them was largely finished decades ago. Of course, this is all on the verge of disruption as we start dealing with multi-core parallel processing and quantum computers where algorithms like quicksort that we’ve grown to rely on no longer work very well and start to look like poor, old bubble sort.

That’s when I know it’ll be time to retire.

“Just keep kicking the grill until the hood lines up,” could easily have come out almost any of my boss’ mouths (if our project had a “grill” and “hood” that is ). “We’ll formalize the workaround into a documented procedure later.” In fact, I think a couple of them even had the same exquisite mullet as the worker in the video.

That’s one of the big reasons I’m out on my own now and why I refuse to call any software I write, “enterprise quality.” I’d much rather build Porches than Trabants.

However, this upgrade comes with a caveat. If you had a djedna account before, well, it’s gone. Sorry, progress requires sacrifice. The good news is that if you’d still like to enjoy the new-car-smell-alpha that is DJedna, just e-mail me (thomas, you know, at, like, gumption.com) and ask for an account.

All things djedna are coming along nicely. As you can see, Mike’s been cruising along while I’ve been dealing with code-block in trying to complete the pool/playlist/program (a.k.a. Flytrap) functionality, probably because I’ve been thinking about it for far too long (maybe 9 years or so). Now I’m presented with cool new ways to implement it, like using python’s simple generators. But I’ve at least got the blank-screen-blues out of the way now so hopefully it won’t be as hard as I’m making out to be in my head.

In the interest of perpetuating this meme, I have embedded the videos below.

Although the author has intended it to be a non-computer game (i.e. you print things on physical paper and play with those) it reminds me a lot of the classic computer “game/puzzle” life (no relation to the board game of the same name). I wonder how long before someone creates a computer simulation for it.

The thing I really like about this game is that it teaches some very advanced algorithms and logic patterns (all having to do with Untyped Lambda Calculus for those of you that are truly geeky) in a very approachable (and cute!) way. That’s no small task (lambda calculus is normally very dry, believe it or not ).

This also reminds me of Nell’s Primer in The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson. The Primer made use of similar games/puzzles to teach children programming concepts without them knowing that they were learning such things.

Even though it is unlikely that Untyped Lambda Calculus questions will appear on any No Child Left Behind standardized tests, I believe that these kind of puzzles inform our knowledge of the modern computer-driven world more than memorizing historical dates (not that I think that knowledge is unimportant, just not as likely to be useful).

I’d be interested in hearing from anyone that successfully plays this with their kids. Not that it’ll ever replace Candyland or Chutes And Ladders, but if your child enjoys this kind of game you may have a future computer scientist on your hands.

I actually enjoy this kind of archaeological coding. It’s very zen-like because the underlying logic of the code is done and working. All I have to do is put a fresh coat of “syntax-paint” on it. Some might find that kind of coding tedious because you aren’t actually creating anything new. I like it because it allows me to focus on some of the more esoteric aspects of programming (e.g. coding-style, unit-testing) which usually take a back seat to functionality. Another benefit to this kind of code-migration is that I am personally confronted with how much better a python programmer I am now than a year ago.

Now, if I could just apply the same zen-like strategy to other aspects of my life. “I’m going back and re-integrating some of my childhood belief patterns into my current life. Anyone know what I can do with this ‘trust authority’ pattern I’ve found?”

Other features that are on slate for being worked on this week include admin and user settings, “Fever” functionality (obviously, that’s the code name and I can’t go into any detail about it yet), arbitrary track pool/playlist creation, and RSS feeds.

For those of you that are interested, Curt (yes, Curt again, get used to hearing about him) just sent me a link to this cool video of a Google presentation, Advanced Python (or Understanding Python). Even if you’re an experienced snake charmer there’s probably something in there you didn’t know.

Oh, and this gives me a chance to try this “video embedding” that seems to be all the rage right now.