March 5th, 2008
I took, like, at least three linguistics classes in college in the 1990’s, so I’m a dangerous and ignorant, but curious, dilettante.
I remember learning something about people who are multi-lingual, that they store rules and vocabulary for each language in completely separate “pockets” of the brain. This keeps people from switching between languages mid-sentence–uncontrollably, at least, not the intentional English/Dutch back-and-forth DJs seem to do a lot–or lapsing into binary like that awesome SNL skit of Bill Gates that one time.
Which makes me think. Does learning a programming “language” follow neurologically in any of the same footsteps? Do we process statements in scripts like we read? I at least like to think so, as it would help explain why I like syntaxes (or syntices, if you like the archaic, thoughtful form of the word) like jQuery and hate to have to deal with perl.
I often have to deal with as many as half a dozen languages or contexts per day in my world of Web. Today I am jumping from python to JavaScript with punctuation moments of PHP, and irritants like dtml (don’t ask if you don’t know it) and CSS (CSS rocks, I just am not that polished at it these days), and of course HTML, etc.. I stumble with the occasional misplaced bracket or semicolon or dollar sign, but not nearly as often as you’d think. Are we pre-programmed to switch easily like this?
Tags: linguistics, programming, web
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February 15th, 2008
Quick, boring note. Exceedingly boring and useless for RSS subscribers.
I’ve been tinkering with the site over the past week or so. Comments are now visible (for the most recent posts) right on the landing page, so you don’t have to go digging for them. It’s my opinion that no blog software has ever quite figured out how to deal with comments. Not that my way of doing things is a silver bullet, either. But, hey, my commenting rate has gone up since this change, markedly.
Fun with the site’s banner image: after using some different schemes, I have decided to make it so all of my site’s banner images will be rotated throughout the day. Different days start on a different image, so you’ll see a different image even if you visit at the same time each day. There are more than 30 banners as of now, so visit often and look for cute ones! I keep adding more.
Other stuff I’ve changed is too minutiae to mention.
Tags: hax0r, lyza.com, site
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February 14th, 2008
Like Portland? Like mobile stuff? Like tech and Web stuff? Then get mobilated. Cell-webbed. Textoclicked.
Cloud Four (that’s my awesome company!) is helping to organize a new Mobile Portland group, where mobile people can get together and yak it up and make great leaps in ideas for mobility.
Keep an eye on Cloud Four’s blog for more information, or sign up at mobileportland.com.
See also coverage on Silicon Florist.
Tags: mobile, PDX, portland, technology, web
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March 10th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I was hoping I could compartmentalize the muscle memory for typing QWERTY from what I need to type Dvorak, but as I get proficient in Dvorak, there’s sometimes some crossover. If I start to concentrate on hitting keys, I’ll hit Dvorak letters, because that’s what I had been concentrating on learning. Sometimes I have to look at the letters on the keys when switching back to QWERTY.