Lambda the Ultimate

Mark Pilgrim has written an excellent book on Python.
It is available on line and is in the book shops.

The section on introspection is likely to be of interest
to us.
http://diveintopython.org/power_of_introspection/index.html

In gbeta, object metamorphosis coexists with strict, static type-checking: It is possible to take an existing object and modify its structure until it is an instance of a given class, which is possibly only known or even constructed at run-time. Still, the static analysis ensures that message-not-understood errors can never occur at run-time.

It is possible to define relations between classes, e.g., to specify that the class MyPoint must be a subclass of YourPoint (without committing to exactly what classes they are). This makes it possible to define a kind of constraint graph of classes.

I follow this site for info on the U.S polls. I was rather amused, I must say, when I discovered who is behind the site...

I just returned from a nice relaxing weekend of no-computers and found, upon return, this nice article on dbc in c.

http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2004/10/28/design_by_contract_in_c.html

It's not too long, and i found it a good read, so i decided to share it.

I guess the keywords are: Ruby, C, DSL, Design By Contract

this challenge has already been mentioned on slashdot but i thought it was interesting to refer to it here in that one of the more elegant solutions was in J , which given the recent death of Dr. Kenneth Iverson made an example of his nice work (in language design) especially poignant
the challenge;
the
J solution;
the author of the j solution's live journal thread on the challenge.

I am pleased to announce that the Scheme Language Editors Committee
has produced its first progress report. This report details the
progress made from appointment of the committee in January, 2004,
through its meetings at ICFP in September, 2004.

The progress report can be found at

http://www.schemers.org/Documents/Standards/Charter/

The Steering Committee has also made some small amendments to the
Charter. The updated charter can be found at the same location.

The members of the Scheme Language Editors Committee are:
Marc Feeley, editor in chief (Universite de Montreal)
Will Clinger (Northeastern University)
Kent Dybvig (Indiana University)
Matthew Flatt (University of Utah)
Richard Kelsey (Ember Corporation)
Manuel Serrano (INRIA)
Michael Sperber (DeinProgramm)

The members of the Scheme Language Steering Committee are:
Alan Bawden (Brandeis University)
Guy L. Steele Jr. (Sun Microsystems)
Mitch Wand (Northeastern University)

For the Steering Committee,
--Mitch Wand

Well that time of my life has come and I am looking at grad schools. I am interested in PL and in particular the theory end of things (category theory - type theory - semantics). As I am an undergrad, it is really hard to get a good idea of where things are: e.g. I dont go to conferences, I don't have a strong grasp as where the field is heading, there is not much on the theory end of PL at my University.

Does anyone have any recommendations on universities?

Advice on how to evaluate universities?

Could someone give me a quick breakdown of the various departments and what they are strong at?

Icing : I would really like an English or partial English program in an non-English speaking country.

As many Lambda readers will be aware, there is a continuing controversy as to whether the human comprehension of mathematics is bounded by an application of Godel's incompleteness theorem. To help clarify this matter, I have started a journal Algorithmically Unbounded Journal of Mathematical Truths, and I am currently inviting submissions.

I am teaching a large first-year progamming course in Python, and I am curious to know if anyone has any suggestions for a good definition of "type" that would be appropriate for students who haven't yet finished their first programming course.

Online Bibliography of Partial Evaluation Research

The latest addition to Jim Bender's impressive family of online PL-related research libraries, including ReadScheme and its Haskell analog. These are fantastic resources if you haven't yet seen them.