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  Java vs F#

Dr Cliff Click of Azul Systems, specialists in manycore JVM systems, recently published a blog post about the performance of Java compared primarily to C and C++ but also discussing C# and .NET. Three of Cliff's comments are of particular interest:Under the heading "Places where C/C++ beats Java for obvious reasons":"Value Types, such as a 'Complex' type require a full object in Java." - Dr Cliff ClickWhat Cliff forgot to mention is that .NET also provides value types and a far more compell...

   Java,F#,Performance,JVM     2012-03-07 05:07:31

  Python internals: adding a new statement to Python

This article is an attempt to better understand how the front-end of Python works. Just reading documentation and source code may be a bit boring, so I’m taking a hands-on approach here: I’m going to add an until statement to Python. All the coding for this article was done against the cutting-edge Py3k branch in the Python Mercurial repository mirror. The until statement Some languages, like Ruby, have an until statement, which is the complement to while (until num == 0 is equi...

   Python,New statement,Research,Addition     2012-03-12 07:32:24

  When and How to Use the Go Channel

Go’s concise structure and powerful native library enable us to hit the ground running easily. It is more efficient than Java or Python when implementing the same functions, especially its concurrent programming, which is very handy and widely admired due to its goroutine and channel. goroutine and channel has much to dig into, and let’s start with channel, which I used to consider narrowly as a message queue to transfer data between gorouti...

   GOLANG,CONTEXT,CHANNEL     2022-09-17 23:06:36

  AI solves complex biology problem from scratch

An interdisciplinary, interuniversity group of scientists from Vanderbilt, Cornell, and CFD Research Corporation have created an artificial intelligence capable of solving complex scientific problems from scratch. The AI, called ABE (Automated Biology Explorer), “discovered” how glycolysis produces energy in a living cell by looking at a set of data and then squeezing it into a mathematical formula, just like a human biology researcher.ABE is powered by the freeware Eureqa softw...

   AI,Artificial intelligence,Biology,ABE     2011-10-17 11:08:58

  Open Source (Almost) Everything

When Chris and I first started working on GitHub in late 2007, we split the work into two parts. Chris worked on the Rails app and I worked on Grit, the first ever Git bindings for Ruby. After six months of development, Grit had become complete enough to power GitHub during our public launch of the site and we were faced with an interesting question:Should we open source Grit or keep it proprietary?Keeping it private would provide a higher hurdle for competing Ruby-based Git hosting sites, givin...

   Open source,Benefits,Popularity,Advertisement,Advantage     2011-11-23 07:58:15

  Erlang Style Concurrency

Introduction On an evolutionary scale of innovation from one to ten (one being Bloomberg and Citi Group, eight being Google and Cirque Du Soleil, and ten being the company you couldn't imagine in your wildest dreams), the company I work for is about a three1. Being employed by this bastion of ingenuity affords me certain opportunities I can't get elsewhere. For example, every developer gets to interview potential...

   Erlang,Concurrency,Lock,Message,Innovation     2012-01-03 10:44:44

  Should All Web Traffic Be Encrypted?

The prevalence of free, open WiFi has made it rather easy for a WiFi eavesdropper to steal your identity cookie for the websites you visit while you're connected to that WiFi access point. This is something I talked about in Breaking the Web's Cookie Jar. It's difficult to fix without making major changes to the web's infrastructure. In the year since I wrote that, a number of major websites have "solved" the WiFi eavesdropping problem by either making encrypted HTTPS web traffic an accou...

   Web traffic,Security,HTTPS.Encryption,Wifi     2012-02-24 05:02:58

  What programming languages should I learn?

Since I started this blog, I have gotten quite a few emails asking me “What programming languages do you recommend for X?” I often finding myself writing something along the lines ofI would honestly recommend python. Something about me being biased because I know and love it.  Usually say something about the competing technology with a back handed insult. Also if they are starting out I would recommend a language that enforces better OO (Object Orientated) practic...

   programming language,Popularity,Java,Tre     2011-09-23 13:11:57

  Reducing Code Nesting

"This guy’s code sucks!" It’s something we’ve all said or thought when we run into code we don’t like. Sometimes it’s because it’s buggy, sometimes it’s because it conforms to a style we don’t like, and sometimes it’s because it just feels wrong. Recently I found myself thinking this, and automatically jumping to the conclusion that the developer who wrote it was a novice. The code had a distinct property that I dislike: lots of ...

   Code nesting,Readability,Maintainability,Reduction     2012-01-02 08:13:46

  bakercom1 5 Ways to Make Your IT Staff Unpoachable

When it comes to hiring practices, the tables have turned – capsized, actually. After a global recession saw thousands of jobs lost in IT departments everywhere, now the race is on to hire swarms of top talent. The trouble is: There isn’t enough talent to go around, and the threat of losing key staff to “poachers” is growing daily. “In the current war for talent in Silicon Valley, a lot of leaders believe that it is not possible to compete with the Google an...

   IT,Experts,Keep,Unpoachable     2011-07-25 08:35:49

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