Wanted: A copy of Gerald Wienberg’s “The Psychology of Computer Programming” - originally released in the early 1970’s (’71 I think) it was re-released in late 1990’s (’98?). If anyone wants to point me towards a copy I would be seriously grateful. Of course, I wouldnt say no if someone wanted to simply send me a copy either!
This is one of my personal annoyances and if you’re not a programming geek, please ignore this post. Suppose there’s some simple code:
int x = 3; int y = 10;
then, the expression x + y is obviously an integer expression. Extending that same principle, the expression x || y is a boolean expression if you define
boolean x = true; boolean y = false;
Similarly, (somevariable != null) is a boolean expression. Java (and for that matter, C and C++) defines the if syntax as being
if ( boolean-expression )
{
// handle true / success case
}
else
{
// handle false / failure case here
}
The boolean expression can be virtually anything - return value from a method, testing condifitions, variables, you name it. You never write
if ( (myVariable != 10) == true )
{
// handle true / success case
}
So, why the heck do some people see fit to write the similarly nonsensical
if ( myBooleanVariable == true )
{
// handle true / success case
}
Checkboxes on HTML forms either send their associated value to the CGI/Servlet, or they dont depending on whether they were checked or not. What set me off was seeing someone setting a boolean property on an object based on the ckeckbox value
String var = request.getParameter("myCheckName");
if ( (var != null) == true )
{
myObject.setBooleanProperty( true );
}
else
{
myObject.setBooleanProperty( false );
}
If its a stinking boolean property, and you’re testing a boolean expression, why not set the flippin’ thing in one step, idiot!
myObject.setBooleanProperty(
request.getParameter("myCheckName") != null );
People find faith in so many different ways. I think that’s what marvels me these days. I love hearing about the journey of faith, where people have been, and the milestones along the way. It’s even more of a privilage to be a part of their walk. I didnt always think like this: I used to see the “haves” and the “have-nots”, and my ‘god given task’ was to argue the ‘have-nots’ around into being ‘haves’. I was obnoxious. One of the critical things that changed my mind was reading about the process of faith - that in general people dont make huge leaps. They progress along a conceptual scale, through shades of grey. I recently came across an interview with Dr. James Engel:
What’s Gone Wrong with the Harvest?Dr. James F. Engel has served for over three decades as an innovator in strategic thinking for world mission. He has authored over 30 books, and is known world-wide for the “Engel scale,” a tool which helps people understand evangelism as a process.
Fascinating reading. More thoughts later.
Weird Al’s song “Amish Paradise” was running through my brain as I drove to work today. There was a particular piece that said
We ain’t really quaint,
So please don’t point and stare,
We’re just technologically impaired
Life would be so much simpler if I was a subsistence farmer, wouldn’t it? I mean, no NullPointerExceptions from code written by co-workers, no Internet (no Spam!), and definitely no cable-TV. A simpler, quieter existence. Why do I yearn for it, and why do I feel that it would remove distractions from the pursuit of passionate spirituality?
Reality arrived, along with a busy 4-way stop-sign. As I made the left turn the thoughts of being a farmer carried straight on towards the highway. I realized that I’d only be swapping one set of distractions for another: email filters to sort my incoming messages, for worry about whether the chickens are well and why didn’t ‘Ethel’ lay as many eggs this week? I can remove all the external distractions one by one but each would be replaced by something different. I was looking in the wrong place for something or someone to blame.
God meets us right where we are, right in the middle of our stuff. I need to find Him here rather than putting it off for “later” - later never comes - I can’t hide behind my distractions and make excuses. So, no escape from NullPointerExceptions either, but at least I know that I’m not walking this path alone. At least I know that the God who promised “Never will I leave you or forsake you” is right here in the midst of things, metaphorically with sleeves rolled up and hands dirty.
PromoGuy’s Monday Mission 2.29
1. Do you remember your first encounter with computers? Tell me about that.
My brother and I built a ZX-81 from a kit he mail-ordered. It was magic - 1024 bytes of memory, total! I’ve been hooked on computers ever since. The biggest milestone machines: ZX-81, ZX-Spectrum (with the rubber keyboard), BBC Micro. After that, all th PCs were just plain beige boxen that got faster over time. The next huge milestone experience was a Unix machine, and the Internet. Nothing’s ever been the same since!
2. How late can you stay up and still be functional the next day? Do you do that very often?
Define functional! I can pull an all-nighter and still get work done, I’m just grouchy as you’ll ever find. Brown bears from the woods have nothing on me at that point in time!
3. When was the last really good hug you got from another adult? Who was it and what was the situation?
My wife gives awesome hugs. There’s nothing to beat the safety and security of a long-term relationship added to a good hug. It was the feeling of a hug that orginally caused me to say, “yes, this is what a wife should feel like”.
4. Do you still like to draw?
I doodle, does that count? I love to create graphics on the computer and remarked to the wife that Paintshop Pro is like having “electronic wax crayons”.
5. Have you ever overslept on a day you had something important going on? What’s the story there?
I woke from another realllly disconcerting dream: I was married to an ex-girlfriend, who I was investigating to see if she was cheating on me … pretty wierd stuff. That was 4:23am. With the broken night I simply slapped the “off” button on the alarm and dozed an extra 1/2 hour. *sigh*
6. Ever go shopping for something you know you can’t afford? What was the last thing you almost bought, but thought better of it?
Oh yes, absolutely. We go out playing “bait the salesman” occasionally - looking at things we plainly canot afford, then “decide” not to get them (say, a BMW Z3, Lexus RX300, or anything from Cartier Jewelers). In terms of almost buying, there was a rather nice deal on a hard-drive this weekend…
BONUS: Can’t you see, you belong to me?
Mmmm, one of my all-time favourite songs:
Every Breath You Take
Sting / The PoliceEvery breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I’ll be watching youEvery single day
Every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you say
I’ll be watching youO can’t you see
You belong to me
How my poor heart aches
With every step you takeEvery move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
I’ll be watching youSince you’ve gone I been lost without a trace
I dream at night I can only see your face
I look around but it’s you I can’t replace
I feel so cold and I long for your embrace
I keep crying baby, baby, pleaseO can’t you see
You belong to me
How my poor heart aches
With every breath you takeEvery move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
Every move you make
Every step you take
I’ll be watching you
Some describe this as “the stalker’s anthem”. I think the best version that I’ve heard was played by a busker in Bournemouth, on a Chapman Stick - an instrument uniquely suited to playing the delightful arpeggios in Every Breath You Take.
Etymology: Dating from the 14th century, Middle English despoylen, from Middle French despoillier, from Latin despoliare, from ‘de’ + ’spoliare’ to strip, rob
Etymology: French, from Middle French, from ravir to ravish
Etymology: Middle English ravisshen, from Middle French raviss-, stem of ravir, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin rapire, alteration of Latin rapere to seize, rob
Etymology: Middle English depriven, from Medieval Latin deprivare, from Latin ‘de’ + ‘privare’ to deprive
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French defrauder, from Latin defraudare, from ‘de’ + ‘fraudare’ to cheat, from fraud-, fraus fraud
Etymology: earlier cheat forfeited property, from Middle English chet, escheat, short for eschete
Cheery list, huh?
This week’s Friday Five :
1. Where were you born?
Cardiff, Wales.
2. If you still live there, where would you rather move to? If you don’t live there, do you want to move back? Why or why not?
I’ve lived all over the south of England, with a brief stint in The North. No, that’s not a typo - you will see road signs just outside London directing you to “The North”. I dont plan on moving back to England in the near future though. 28 years of my life were enough there, now I want to explore the USA.
3. Where in the world do you feel the safest?
A few years ago we took a holiday on a narrowboat (60 feet long, 6 feet wide and moves at a top speed of 4 miles/hour). Nowehere have I experienced the feeling of rest and safety like it! We moved at walking speed for an entire week. We explored places along the British canal network that you can only reach from the water. We escaped modern society, the constant buzz of telephones / pagers / computers and stepped back in time to an earlier, safer, more restful moment.
4. Do you feel you are well-traveled?
I think so, yes. I’ve visited three out of five continents, for example. Netherlands, Belgium (briefly on a bus), England, Wales, Malta, France, Tunisia, USA, with the possibility of going to Iceland in the next few years too!
5. Where is the most interesting place you’ve been?
When we were in Tunisia, we spent time in Carthage. In around AD 350, the council of Carthage convened to decide the official canon of the Bible. Some would argue it was an early version of “Survivor” where certain manuscripts were ‘voted off the island’. The sense of history in the place was immense.
Followup to last night’s blog meetup
Blog meetup - 18 July, 2002
It had to be done: I jokingly suggested to Bumr that “the race to post photos from tonight’s meetup”. Let’s see when he gets his online! Click for the full-size version of each image.
Our chosen venue.
Oops - someone needed to check ahead …
… seems that the meet was meant to start at 7:00, and guess when they shut …
… never fear, an alternative venue was at hand.
Two of the bloggers - Roger and Angeline
Our host, Bumr
And, those who made it all the way to the end (Roger, Bumr, Tempe, Leesa, Melf and, me hiding behind the camera)
I started researching a bible study and got a real surprise. I was thinking about who owns our bodies, sparked off by a comment from a radio preacher concerning marriage. There’s huge benefit to using tools like Strong’s exhaustive concordance, and a good Greek lexicon. Not only does it throw light on the pasage in question (oh boy does it!) but it helps to show where else in the bible a particular word or phrase gets used, allowing a sense of what it means in general parlance.
OK, so I was reading 1 Corinthians 6:19-7:5 in my ESV:
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self- control.
The Greek word used for “deprive” is apostereo. It’s a compound word made up from “apo” (usually denotes separation, departure, cessation, completion, reversal) and “stereo” (defraud, deprive, despoil). Looking at where else apostereo is used, wee see:
- Mark 10:19
- You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ “
- 1 Cor. 6:7-8
- To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud?even your own brothers!
- 1 Tim. 6:3-5
- If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.
- James 5:4
- Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
In every case there are lies, deceit and someone being cheated. Honesty is swept aside under the onslought of selfishness.
So, it’s not an issue of being deprived (that is, a selfish, “I want it, and I’m not getting it”) but an issue of deception and selfishness that the bible is speaking to when it talks about not depriving one another. This verse has been used as a classic manipulation to get one’s own selfish desire satisfied: “you know it says not to deprive one another…” But in my mind that’s doing a severe injustice to the true meaning.
The verse, when you take the meaning of “deprive” (apostereo) into its wider context, really says, “dont lie to your partner and hold things back from them deceptively”. Fraud - for personal gain - applied in this context would imply someone may be getting their pleasure elsewhere, and covering it up. They may simply being deceptive and manipulative. Or, just plain mean. Either way around, it’s wrong, and the answer is to be honest and truthful. Honesty in the sexual relationship is the key factor that unlocks so much.