“It is a sad fact that most schools don’t require you to take compilers in order to graduate with a Computer Science degree.

“The bayonet stems directly from the various forms of polearm. It was obviously inappropriate to have a firearm-bearing soldier encumbered by a pike, yet there was need for a polearm to stand off cavalry.. The original “bayonnette” - the name came from the town of its supposed origin, Bayonne in France - was introduced into the French Army in 1647.

“Darcs is dead to me. The software itself is broken: you can’t have common operations on large datasets requiring exponential or even polynomial time. Its development process is broken: there is no planning, a constant stream of pet features added, no focus on fixing the real issues. The source code is an unreadable, undocumented mess (and not because it’s in Haskell).

“One misses nothing that one has never possessed.

“Don’t focus on getting acquired. That’s like being a single woman who desperately wants to get married.

“..the interviews are very well-done: they let the programmer speak, yet the interviewer keeps them on track.

“It is ok to not write code for a while, if that works for you. But inactivity can easily breed paralysis, a form of fear of the blank page.

Vision is important, yes. Necessary, definitely. But there are subtle feedback loops between vision and action. Just standing in one place is often not the best way to exploit vision. Moving a few steps here and there aids depth perception, and helps vision work better.

“Apparently Indonesia is the biggest market for Nokia.

“Release as early as you can get away with and attract users.

As more and more people release software, it becomes harder and harder to attract users. The bar on the first release is going up.

“The barbarian is typically in the thrall of shibboleths ancient as the hills and seeks only to bring his interlocutor into the same bondage. Barbarians are machine guns of propaganda. They are not gentle. They know not conversation. They are, sad to say, taking over the world.