Chasing Elegance

Why Aren’t Computer Programming Languages Designed Better?

Wed, 30 May 2012 16:20:34 -0400

Why Aren’t Computer Programming Languages Designed Better?:

A great question. Love the study and it’s results.

قلب: لغة برمجة

Mon, 28 May 2012 00:41:40 -0400

The name I’ve chosen for my Arabic programming language is قلب. It is pronounced Qlb (or ‘Alb in the Levantine Arabic I speak) and it is a recursive acronym standing for قلب: لغة برمجة, pronounced Qlb: Lughat Barmajeh. The full title translates to “Heart: A Programming Language” in English (although this ruins the acronym and is no fun).

Acronyms in Arabic are notoriously difficult to do. قلب is great because it doen’t ignore any word prefixes and is the only recursive Arabic acronym I am aware of.

Who said everything’s been invented?

I started work on the interpreter for my Arabic language....

Mon, 28 May 2012 00:18:00 -0400

I started work on the interpreter for my Arabic language. Dealing with character encodings is an absolute nightmare, and iTerm does a great job of mangling a lot of the output, but it’s working! So far, I have number and string literals where I want them and preliminary versions of operators/function calls.

This is the first language I’m building from scratch (Zajal mostly comes into play after Ruby has done the heavy lifting) and I’m having a blast!

I’m using Parslet and Rubinius, and using the Capuchin Parser as a reference when I get stuck.

Part of my fellowship at Eyebeam exploring Code as a Self Expression.

Photo

Sun, 27 May 2012 12:22:58 -0400

So, this is totally happening. I’m working on a robot...

Mon, 21 May 2012 13:52:00 -0400

So, this is totally happening.

I’m working on a robot bartender that uses Genetic Algorithms to generate and optimize drinks. I expect it to be the best user testing of my career.

Check out the project’s dev blog if you’re at all interested in robots or alcohol.

This is, like all the cool things I make, part of my fellowship at Eyebeam.

Classical sort algorithms, implemented using traditional...

Thu, 17 May 2012 18:42:00 -0400

Classical sort algorithms, implemented using traditional Hungarian dance choreography.

Via Heather Dewey-Hagborg.

More experiments with Bit Goggles. This time done manually in...

Mon, 14 May 2012 00:49:00 -0400

More experiments with Bit Goggles. This time done manually in photoshop with reference photos found online.

beirut and her bizarre surprises: a middle-aged man...

Sun, 13 May 2012 18:35:00 -0400

beirut and her bizarre surprises: a middle-aged man delivering 99 red balloons to someone, somewhere

taken from my car on ein l mraisi

Via this crazy talented artist/my little sister.

My father pointed out the spelling mistake in my bubble sort prototype (لائحة instead of لأحة). Stay...

Thu, 10 May 2012 22:56:00 -0400

My father pointed out the spelling mistake in my bubble sort prototype (لائحة instead of لأحة). Stay tuned for a higher level of literacy in the future!

Process of designing the bubble sort piece, from Ruby code to...

Thu, 10 May 2012 09:38:00 -0400

Process of designing the bubble sort piece, from Ruby code to Arabic code to Square Kufic prototypes in Photoshop.

Part of my fellowship at Eyebeam exploring Code as Self Expression.

A more organized version of the bubble sort algorithm in Square...

Thu, 10 May 2012 09:26:00 -0400

A more organized version of the bubble sort algorithm in Square Kufic. I’m not sure which one I like more.

My first attempt at code calligraphy. Part of my fellowship at Eyebeam exploring Code as Self Expression.

My first attempt at code calligraphy. This bubble sort rendered...

Thu, 10 May 2012 02:02:00 -0400

My first attempt at code calligraphy. This bubble sort rendered in the Square Kufic style. Letters in red are language keywords. It is laid out in a spiral, starting at the lower right and circling clockwise towards the center.

Part of my fellowship at Eyebeam exploring Code as Self Expression.

Prototype of the editor I am writing for my Arabic programming...

Wed, 09 May 2012 23:20:00 -0400

Prototype of the editor I am writing for my Arabic programming language. It is a WebKit WebView with a customized CodeMirror instance. The code listed is an implementation of bubble sort. The equivalent Ruby code would be:

for n in 0..list.length
    for m in 0..(list.length - n - 2)
        if list[m + 1] > list[m] then
            swap list[m], list[m + 1]
        end
    end
end

Part of my fellowship at Eyebeam exploring Code as Self Expression.

002 - David on Flickr.Via Flickr: I was visiting a potential new...

Sun, 06 May 2012 10:17:33 -0400

002 - David on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
I was visiting a potential new apartment in Crown Heights and I had my camera with me to take pictures of the place. While waiting at the corner for the broker to show up, David stepped out of a convenience store and asked, pointing at my camera, “film or digital?” He told me he had a Hasselblad at home, and that he used to be a photographer, typesetter, and printer. We talked about photography, and the closing film factories for a while.

The crazy moment happened when I mentioned I was Lebanese, and he told me he was in Beirut in the early 80s, serving with the French army. He is from Martinique in the Caribbean, a French territory, and must have joined up and shipped out during the Lebanese civil war. We had a whole conversation in French and mused about how much we love croissants as a result of French involvement in our countries.

How small is this world?

This picture is #2 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at www.100Strangers.com.

001 - James on Flickr.

Sat, 05 May 2012 16:16:49 -0400

001 - James on Flickr.

Photo

Thu, 03 May 2012 22:43:36 -0400

Video

Thu, 03 May 2012 01:12:21 -0400

Video

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:40:22 -0400

Nap in a Hammock on Flickr. Via Flickr: Adorable little girl...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 01:10:00 -0400

Nap in a Hammock on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Adorable little girl dozes off in a hammock while her mother and sisters tend to the restaurant. Road out of Iquitos, Peru.

Laura Laughing on Flickr. Via Flickr: My canoe guide Laura...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 01:10:00 -0400

Laura Laughing on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
My canoe guide Laura laughing, probably at something stupid one of us was doing. Amazon tributary river, near Iquitos Peru.