Erudite Relics of Loc Huu Ho

Found this Sunday Computer Humour on my INFP mailing list:

The Lord is my Server; I shall not crash. God makes me to reboot
in clear transmissions. God leads me to abundant bytes. God restores
my programs. God leads me in the world wide web towards righteousness.
Yea, though I walk through an internet of malware I will fear no virus,
for You are with me. Your antivirus and Your firewall, they comfort me.
You prepare a place before me in the presence of hackers. You anoint my
uploads with oil; my cup is filled to overflowing with positive downloads.
Surely, windows and macintosh shall allow me good days of life, and I will
dwell in the computer of the Lord forever, Amen.

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By Daphne Gray-Grant

A former daily newspaper editor, Daphne Gray-Grant is a writing and editing coach and the author of the popular book 8½ Steps to Writing Faster, Better. She offers a brief and free weekly newsletter on her website. Subscribe by going to the Publication Coach.

After graduating from high school I went directly to university. My best friend, however, went to live in Greece for a year. She settled on a small island, met a boyfriend and, for a while, it looked as though she was going to marry him.

On her return, she regaled us with stories of his good looks, his broken English and his preternatural command of idiom.  I never met the man but I imagine he had an excellent memory and a very old English book. His favorite expression? Procrastination is the thief of time. (Trust me, this was screamingly hilarious to 18 year olds in the early 1980s.)

What sounded funny to me 30 years ago, however, seems eerily apt today. I know so many people who aspire to write, yet who never manage it. Procrastination is often indeed the thief of their time. If this descriptor fits you, read on for five helpful suggestions: Read the rest of this entry »

In the world of enterprise programming, the mainstream is broad and deep. Code is written predominantly in one of a few major languages. For some shops, this means Java; for others, it’s C# or PHP. Sometimes, enterprise coders will dabble in C++ or another common language used for high-performance tasks such as game programming, all of which turn around and speak SQL to the database.

Programmers looking for work in enterprise shops would be foolish not to learn the languages that underlie this paradigm, yet a surprising number of niche languages are fast beginning to thrive in the enterprise. Look beyond the mainstays, and you’ll find several languages that are beginning to provide solutions to increasingly common problems, as well as old-guard niche languages that continue to occupy redoubts. All offer capabilities compelling enough to justify learning a new way to juggle brackets, braces, and other punctuation marks.

While the following seven niche languages offer features that can’t be found in the dominant languages, many rely on the dominant languages to exist. Some run on top of the Java Virtual Machine, essentially taking advantage of the Java team’s engineering. And when Microsoft built C#, it explicitly aimed to make the virtual machine open to other languages. That detail may help make deployment easier, but it doesn’t matter much to the programmer at creation time.

Either way, these seven languages are quickly gaining converts in the enterprise. Perhaps it’s time to start investigating their merits.

2:21 PM Tuesday August 24, 2010
by Tony Schwartz

I’ve been playing tennis for nearly five decades. I love the game and I hit the ball well, but I’m far from the player I wish I were.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot the past couple of weeks, because I’ve taken the opportunity, for the first time in many years, to play tennis nearly every day. My game has gotten progressively stronger. I’ve had a number of rapturous moments during which I’ve played like the player I long to be.

And almost certainly could be, even though I’m 58 years old. Until recently, I never believed that was possible. For most of my adult life, I’ve accepted the incredibly durable myth that some people are born with special talents and gifts, and that the potential to truly excel in any given pursuit is largely determined by our genetic inheritance.

During the past year, I’ve read no fewer than five books

Article by Christoph Koutschan
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