If you think you like programming languages but you don't like trans people,
stay the fuck away from Scotland.

Come to think of it...

If you think you like programming languages but you don't like trans people,
stay the fuck away from programming languages.

I have given @haskell_foundation
a 72 hour deadline not to take action, but simply to open communications with me about what it was they thought they were doing when they invited into their Board a person who openly and publicly rejoiced at the inevitability of my burning forever in Hell.

I think many of you would also have questions of your colleagues, if they did that to you.

I am glad I learned how to program. My native languages are essentially English and BBC BASIC. I make my own little gadgets to make my own life easier all the time. It's some kind of Pound Show Superpower. But my goodness, I would not have spent so much of my life doing techy stuff if I'd known where it was going and the kind of people who'd end up in leadership roles.

"Oh, no, we can't have politics here! It's all about the technology!" NOPE. If you exist in a society, you have to deal with politics. Grow up.

Sometimes (often) I regret not paying more attention while I'm getting carried away with my hacking. And I definitely need time to digest...

BUT. I will have nothing to do with any community that is happy to have a transphobe in any kind of leadership role. Neither should you, and I will judge you for it, and so will history.

Well, the @haskell_foundation has elected an outspoken transphobic, homophobic accelerationist to its board. That's a good thing that they avoid 'touchy topics' though.
https://discourse.haskell.org/t/controversy-surrounding-anduril-industries/10253/65

*edit* it seems the haskell foundation board wasn't aware of this person's hate posting, and are now taking steps, hopefully to eject them.

So far on this trip $(nameless experimental thing) has type checked its first program. We're not at FOUR yet, but it's still some kind of milestone.

I'm off to visit my mum. I'm doing the last bit by train rather than by bus like I usually do, because the railway station has finally reopened for the first time since the 1960s.

I am unreasonably excited by this. I might be a nerd. Who knew?

Don't answer that.

(Because of where the station is, it's much less convenient than the bus. Don't care.)

US readers:
1) Please vote, if you haven't already
2) Resume grousing on social media
Thanks!

Anyway. Possibly more related than I'm willing to admit in some ways, but Idris n+1 is moving on steadily. I keep looking at Idris 2 and wondering why I did it like that. In hindsight, I understand why I was in a hurry. But now, it's got to be "Move slowly and understand what you're doing".

I will be exclaiming "FOUR" at some point in the not too distant future. About three people will know what I mean, but that is always a good moment.

Before they clearly stopped wanting to talk to me, they said that I must think I was so much better than them. I really just want people to remember how to think and if I'm having to say this to ACTUAL ACADEMICS then I am in fact terrified.

Also if you are going to defer your thinking to a planet burning plagiarisms machine, well, I have to be honest. Maybe that is what I think.

You have brains, everyone. They're amazing. Use them.

So, as I often do on a Wednesday evening, I went out and did some musical nonsense in a pub. That bit's always fun.

Apparently something about me screams "computer scientist" though. I mean really? How could this be? Etc etc.

Anyway. I ended up talking to an academic in Modern Languages who informed me about the great things AI can do now, because he's read an article that said how amazing it was and, what did I think?

What I think is that you have to tell me what you understand of the article so I have some idea why you believe AI can do the unreasonable things you claim. The answer turned out to be "I'm not technical but I'm sure you'll understand it".

Not good enough.

You've got to know how your tools work. Always understand the next level of abstraction down. If you write C, know a bit of assembly. If you write Java, know a bit of C. If you write Idris, know a bit of type theory. If you insist on using generative AI, know a bit of literally anything at all.

I am too young to be this grumpy. I'm going to go home and play my ukulele now until I fall asleep. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

I spotted this creature while I was out to dinner tonight. I'm sure they're winking at me. The wood is haunted.

Or maybe I need more sleep.

@X31Andy I used to carry a piece of paper in my wallet which had writted on it "8 o'clock" it was writted.

One day someone asked me the time and because I'd just glanced at my watch I happened to know it was 8 o'clock, so I got the paper out and showed it to them.

Anyway, I enjoyed that.

Anyone got the time? I have a train to catch.

In today's news:

(a) I did a lot of boring plumbing that got Idris (n+something) into a state where FOUR cannot be far away
(b) I got blocked by a specialist ukulele shop on Instagram, that I've spent a lot of money with, because I dared to criticise them for using AI for a thing that really didn't need it.

Not sure if I'm prouder of (a) or (b) but I'm going to keep doing (b).

Also in the last half hour I've written a song about (b) because that's what I do now. Honestly it's so much healthier (and exactly as effective) as yelling at clouds.

Also (on last boost) why would I need AI to solve the simple problems anyway? One of the great things about learning to solve hard problems is that you can do the simple things without having to dig out the plagiarising planet burning machine. Just like in the before times when we learned to not have to look up every single thing in a reference book.

I'm not sure why I keep saying these things, because you'll either agree with me or think I'm a Luddite. If it's the latter, please read about the Luddites and learn what they *actually* stood for, though.

"AI will solve the simple problems so humans can focus on the hard ones" is such a ridiculous fail at understanding anything about how humans acquire skills and knowledge.

Humans HAVE TO solve simple problems and then advanced problems in order to learn how to solve the really hard ones. This is not optional.

Good luck solving any difficult problems in the future with a generation of people who spent their entire education typing every problem into a chatbot's prompt box.

A simple post for this week's #throwbackthursday - the custom paint job I gave to the neck of my Guitar Hero controller!

#retrogames #pacman

Thinking remains an option. Controversial... but it might even be a superpower by now.

RE: https://mastodon.social/@DamnInteresting/117390632033247253

I don't know about anyone else but I don't think I care what AI can or can't prove in most cases. What I care about is what humans understand in the process.

Nothing in my daily life changes if the Collatz conjecture is proved or disproved by machine, for example. Many things - I can't possibly know what - could be changed by the human understanding that arises in the process.

Believe in yourselves people, for goodness sake. Humans are amazing. It's time you understood that.

(There's plenty of nuance to this as always but this is the internet so I assume people I don't know will assume the worst. You can all go away. Life's too short.)