Lambda the Ultimate

WikiTalk is the new FlexWiki behavior language. WikiTalk is a simple object-oriented language that advanced users can use to add dynamic behavior to their FlexWiki topics. Additionally, administrators can use WikiTalk to customize the web user-interface for FlexWiki.

A Wiki DSL for FlexWiki (now shared source). What a lovely idea...

But see here for comments from people who are not in love with DSLs as I am...

In "No Silver Bullet --Essence and Accidents of Software Engineering", author Fred Brooks argues about the inherent unreliability in software, and that there is perhaps no 'silver bullet' that will ever be found to correct the situation.

Louis Savain has something to say about that.

In "The Silver Bullet" he counters by saying:

There Is a Silver Bullet After All The brains of humans and animals are the existence proof that there is a silver bullet. Robustness and reliability are measured in terms of defects vs. complexity. Because of its sheer astronomical complexity, the brain is the most reliable complex system in the world. In fact, the more complex the brain gets (as it learns), the more reliable it becomes. By contrast, the reliability of software gets worse as its complexity increases. Any handcrafted software with the complexity of the brain would be so riddled with bugs as to be unusable. Conversely, given their low relative complexity, any handcrafted software with the reliability of the brain would almost never fail.

This all leads into the description of Louis' brain child: Project COSA. Project COSA is a revolutionary take on software development. It removes the notion of a system of heterogeneous executable binaries, and instead presents a model consisting of a single execution kernel which passes over an entire network of 'cells' taking signals from output plugs and moving them to input sockets on other cells.

Perhaps it could be thought of as programming using software integrated circuits, but in an abstract sense.

If anything, it is certainly a departure from the normal syntax driven, algorithm based languages used now.

While still a work in progress, it is something that all LtUers would be interesting in checking out.