part-cw/lambdanative. Interesting - a cross-platform programming environment targeting Android, iOS, OSX, Linux, Windows, and BSD. Based on Gambit-C, a pretty good (and already quite long available, so also "mature") Scheme compiler.
Archive August 2013
"3 windows builds have been performed on win95. There is an as yet unidentified runtime error running the 2.6.9 images on win7. More information here will be forthcoming shortly." - [[Gcl-devel]] GCL 2.6.8 and 2.6.9 are released. Apart from the fact that I thought it was already long dead (a "few" years have passed since the release), it's funny that someone still makes builds for Windows under Windows 95 today ...
Anaconda. Hmm, had I already? No idea. It is a Python installation that comes with a stack of scientific modules (NumPy, Matplotlib, PyLab and the like) and also delivers a number of useful modules. Plus IPython with the usual tools - so notebooks and QTConsole - and a command line tool for package management. The nice thing: the installation goes into its own path, so it does not necessarily affect another Python installation.
Meet RegExpBuilder: Verbal Expressions rich, older cousin - The Changelog. I'm an old Snobol and Icon fan - and one of the features of both languages was the quite readable sublanguage for text patterns. What is usually done today with then rather compact to cryptic regular expressions. So I'm happy to come across a project that compiles the much more readable expression forms as usual in Icon into regular expressions. Ok, the goal-oriented execution in Snobol and Icon and the inherent backtracking is of course missing, so it's only syntactic. Still nice.
Trusted Computing: Federal government warns against Windows 8. As long as Microsoft does not also remove the article from the network, like the same article in the Zeit. TLDR: TCP offers more and more control over computers to people who are not the owners - and increasingly restricts the rights of the owner to protect themselves from it. Which is why the BSI warns the government (the title is somewhat misleading) against using systems that use TCP in newer versions. Whereas the NSA is very enthusiastic about the new possibilities. Which gives the whole thing even more background in the current Prism discussion.
Here's what I've found worth reading this week, collected and uncommented:
PyPy.js Update: A Proof-of-Concept JIT. Braintwister. Python using PyPy on JavaScript via asm.js. With active JIT.
How To Create Your Own Chrome Extensions. I should read this more closely. I would already like to add one thing or another to Chrome.
Here's what I found worth reading this week, collected and uncommented:
Because it's always claimed that it's not as bad as all that, how about a comment from a real expert on the topic? "This is really bad. The surveillance state is closer than most of us think." via Schneier on Security: NSA Surveillance and Mission Creep.
What I considered worth reading during the week and did not want to link separately, collected here and uncommented.
Forge - Slightly Magic. Really practical software for Magic beginners like me. You can assemble decks, use ready-made decks, get randomized decks - and then play them against an AI. The AI isn't the strongest, but hey, I'm far from that too. It's all in Java and actually runs on Windows, OSX, and Linux alike. Nice to give your own deck a test run, especially if you don't have Magic players nearby (or they don't feel like testing your crazy creation). Oh, and it's open source too.