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Language geek at the Maker Faire

Maker Faire was fun, but you can read all about it on numerous web sites and blogs. While I enjoyed the Coke + Mentos demonstration like everyone else, some things caught my eye in particular and may also amuse LtU readers.

Talking to the guys demoing the CNC machines I discovered G Code which turns out to be the main machine languages used to control the CNC machines. It was cool to meet people who actually wrote their own software to emit or/consume G codes (the styrofoam CNC machine was way cool).

I also enjoyed The Art of Motion Control sculpture, since the text said "Path designs using custom LISP routines running within AutoCAD." I think that was the only one explicitly mentioning Lisp. At least, that was the only one I saw...

Any cool language references I missed?

By Ehud Lamm at 2008-05-06 00:26 | Fun | other blogs | 8991 reads

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Re: Language geek at the Maker Faire

I also went, but completely missed any language references (including the ones that you mentioned).

By erich at Wed, 2008-05-07 15:58 | login or register to post comments

Also on the peninsula

I really like the free rack at the Menlo Park public library. The other day I found a copy (in mint condition) of Software Tools (Kernighan & Plauger, 1976). This is the original Ratfor incarnation of the book. I gladly added it to my collection.

Thanks "Phil", whoever you are...

[Edit: Fixed citation.]

By Ehud Lamm at Wed, 2008-05-07 17:16 | login or register to post comments

Attribution?

That's Kernighan and Plauger, right? In 1976, Rob was still a Physics undergraduate at U of Toronto.

By Tom Duff at Wed, 2008-05-07 17:33 | login or register to post comments

Yes, of course. Sorry for

Yes, of course. Sorry for the silly mistake.

By Ehud Lamm at Wed, 2008-05-07 17:49 | login or register to post comments

libraries are funny that way

My high school culled their collection and had a discard pile in the basement I was invited to pick over. My high school mind you.

That's how I came to have a vintage copy of Milne and Strachey's "A theory of programming language semantics" parts a and b. What in the world they were doing with it in the first place is a mystery for the ages.

-t

By Thomas Lord at Wed, 2008-05-07 21:54 | login or register to post comments

Yeah, that's way more

Yeah, that's way more impressive!

By Ehud Lamm at Wed, 2008-05-07 22:06 | login or register to post comments

:-)

I wasn't trying to one-up you there.

Hey, for the right offer I'd sell, maybe. I could use the cash! (Eh... not really. It could get a good sum as books go but not enough to really make a difference for us. :-)

-t

By Thomas Lord at Thu, 2008-05-08 06:29 | login or register to post comments