Lambda the Ultimate

No obvious connection between these links, other than future(s). First up is The future will be about programming languages an MP3 recording of a talk from Ted Neward:

During this [hour long] Jazoon keynote Ted Neward talks about why the next five years in IT will be about languages. The programming language virtualization, tools, linguistic focus and expressiveness are different forces that are coming of age. Not to mention the impact of the over-used and over-hyped Domain-Specific languages.

Though I wanted to enjoy a talk that touches on the importance of PL diversity, (with mentions of FP, AOP, Lisp, Ruby, Groovy, Intercal, and Ook), I didn't really gather much new. The audience is Java programmers, so perhaps the ideas are a tad revolutionary for that crowd. Still, might be of interest to those who want to know how PL innovations might play out in Java land.

On a different note, one possible way to gather prognistications is to conduct a poll asking readers about the Top 10 programming languages of the future. But then you end up with answers that look disturbingly similar to what people are doing in the present. Hopefully Ehud's query will yield more intriguing results.

Finally, there are a couple of articles on futures as a PL feature for concurrent programming: Futures in Objective-C and Microsoft's planned library to Optimize Managed Code For Multi-Core Machines which has tasks and futures. Alice ML demonstrates that futures can be a powerful PL feature. But we do run square into the question of whether providing a feature as a library really gives the same level of expressiveness that one gains from integrating it into the core of a language. Still, it's nice to see futures starting to come into wider play.

Rich Jones writes: I wanted to understand how FORTH is implemented, so I implemented it and wrote a step-by-step tutorial on what every bit does.

The tutorial is inside a (literate) code file you can download and run.

I've been told recently by people I trust that it is about time I learned Forth. This may be just what I was waiting for...

Since it's still awfully quiet, I thought mentioning DivaScheme would be a good idea, seeing as IDEs always get the juices flowing...

When DivaScheme is on, the most important functions of DrScheme are available through unchorded keystrokes, and the motion commands operate on sexps by default. DivaScheme also takes cares of layout concerns. It automatically maintains the white spaces, the indentation, and the balance of the parentheses.

This description does not do it justice. You can read the docs or see the movie (links on the DivaScheme site).

Barker & Szabolcsi: New directions for proof theory in linguistics. ESSLLI 2007.

We sometimes mention that some of the theoretical tools used in PLT are aslo used in linguistics, and this is a great resource for those who want to catch up on recent developments, as well as for those who want to know what's all the fuss is about.

You'll find all the usual suspects: types, continuations, Curry-Howard etc.

Enjoy!

The first annual D Programming Language Conference is being held in Seattle this week.

You can get a taste by following the live blogging here.

Interesting report by Noel and his colleagues, that for some reason was announced on the PLT Scheme blog and not here...

Liskell is Haskell on the inside but looks like Lisp on the outside, as in its source code it uses the typical Lisp syntax forms, namely symbol expressions, that are distinguished by their fully parenthesized prefix notation form. Liskell captures the most Haskell syntax forms in this prefix notation form.

Liskell is descreibed in an ILC paper. It is implemented as an extension to GHC.

The date and venue for AngloHaskell 2007 have been finalised and announced:

We are pleased to announce AngloHaskell 2007

http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/AngloHaskell

Dates: 10th-11th of August (Friday-Saturday)
Location: Cambridge, with talks at Microsoft Research on Friday

All the details are on the wiki page, along with free registration.
Everyone is invited, we will have a day of talks at MSR, then a day of
other activities. There will be plenty of chance for general
discussions on anything.

If anyone in Cambridge is able to accommodate a few people for the
Friday or Saturday night, please add your name to the wiki, and accept
our thanks in advance. All that is needed is floor space.

Thanks

Neil and Philippa

LtUers are all welcome - especially anyone who wants to give a talk! As Neil put it in a previous mail:

This is NOT an academic conference. Everyone is welcome to attend, there is no fee. Everyone is invited to offer a talk.

Practical talks are particularly welcome. I'll be giving a talk on my experiences with Haskell as a person with Asperger's Syndrome.

The Artificial Intelligence Repository was established by Mark Kantrowitz in 1993 to collect files, programs and publications of interest to Artificial Intelligence researchers, educators, and students. It is an outgrowth of the Lisp Utilities Repository established by Mark in 1990 and his work on the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) postings for the AI, Lisp, Scheme, and Prolog newsgroups. The Lisp Utilities Repository has been merged into the AI Repository.

Leave a comment if you find anything particularly interesting in here :-)

Singularity: Rethinking the Software Stack.
Galen C. Hunt; James R. Larus. April 2007

...Singularity systems incorporate three key architectural features: software-isolated processes for protection of programs and system services, contract-based channels for communication, and manifest-based programs for verification of system properties. We describe this foundation in detail and sketch the ongoing research in experimental systems that build upon it.

Singularity comes up in discussion every now and then. This seems like a nice and recent overview.