Posts by AmenZwa@mathstodon.xyz
 (DIR) Post #Az75G0zRvWBLNyip3w by AmenZwa@mathstodon.xyz
       2025-07-19T22:13:06Z
       
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       In one human lifespan, our beloved field has gone from MIS label to #IT label, from slide rule to digital computer, from mainframe to wearable, from terminal to AR, from Perceptron to LLM, from algorithmic proofs to AI code generators.Progress? Hm.... 🤔
       
 (DIR) Post #Az8qhQqcmpKAP885YG by AmenZwa@mathstodon.xyz
       2025-10-12T14:40:47Z
       
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       On the #SocialMedia platforms I had been on—Facebook (left), Twitter (left), Google+ (dead)—the young #techie set usually never posts anything substantive and original but they, with relish and alacrity, make snappy or sarcastic remarks, and perhaps even fling caustic or crude ad hominem attacks, when diving midway into others' discussion threads, which they had not taken the time to scan. And they always assume that the discussion participants know nothing about the topic, but they know everything thereof.This behaviour is also not uncommon even on #Mastodon.social. But I have never seen that behaviour on #MathsTodon.xyz, where attacks, if any, are against assertions and arguments, but not against the person.Although I have never met these keyboards warriors in person, I dare say they would not conduct themselves in that way at an academic conference or in a jovial pub; they would be just as civil as anyone else, when they join in others' "live, in-person conversations". But once they have that "anonymous megaphone" over their mouths, their personality undergoes a polarity flip.Somehow, social media brings forth the antisocial conduct in this lot.
       
 (DIR) Post #AzjUDYInau13p8KHjM by AmenZwa@mathstodon.xyz
       2025-10-30T10:22:20Z
       
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       #ComputabilityTheory is the normative ethics, #TypeTheory is the applied ethics, and #CategoryTheory is the meta ethics of #programming languages.
       
 (DIR) Post #Azo5PQT31UEHw6U6xk by AmenZwa@mathstodon.xyz
       2025-11-01T14:24:25Z
       
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       The gradual, systematic dismantling of #IT #software development began way back in the DotCom Era, the height of the field’s prominence, in the hands of the MBA-shod #managers who could not read an equation, supported by their devoted aides, the database-equipped #recruiters who could not read a technical resume. The sudden takeover by the code-generating #AI is but the coup de grâce for the slowly dying #programmer caste.
       
 (DIR) Post #B0BHdxOJR4Qbw9cY4W by AmenZwa@mathstodon.xyz
       2025-11-12T19:30:43Z
       
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       @vnikolov 🤣 👍 @richcarl @screwlisp
       
 (DIR) Post #B0FDrwMOED3bINGv2m by AmenZwa@mathstodon.xyz
       2025-11-14T15:02:47Z
       
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       "#Functional #Programming in #Lean" (Christiansen, 2022) is the latest, and in my view the most accessible, introduction to academic #FP.Teaching #CS undergraduates how to wield their first functional language and their first theorem prover, simultaneously, is a monumental task. It is not something to trifle with, lest it sours the kids' taste for both. But Christiansen wrote this new, free textbook with that very purpose: to teach Lean as both the first FP and the first TP to FP novices. And it is undeniable that he succeeded in that goal.@d_christiansen co-authored (with Friedman) "The Little Typer", another eminently readable primer on an intricate subject: dependent type theory. And he was also an active contributor to Idris. He is presently at Lean FRO.https://lean-lang.org/functional_programming_in_lean/
       
 (DIR) Post #B0XkNWuvhBUIG3fm3U by AmenZwa@mathstodon.xyz
       2025-11-23T16:44:37Z
       
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       Even the most junior of #IT #programmers know how to write a correct programme in a Turing-complete language. I am, of course, speaking of small programmes that one person can examine its logic in full on paper, not those billions-line-long systems that permeate the industry today.By Curry-Howard, types are propositions, and programmes returning typed values are proofs of those propositions. Therefore, risking over simplification and over claiming, I would posit that every competent programmer is a profferer of proofs.I wonder, then, why every IT coder I have worked with over the past couple of decades—unlike their predecessors—can no longer read #CS undergrad-level mathematical proofs.
       
 (DIR) Post #B0XrYezQinKu9w23dI by AmenZwa@mathstodon.xyz
       2025-11-23T17:52:02Z
       
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       @iron_bug I've always tried to explain to IT practitioners that software development is an art form, not an engineering discipline. This is articulated in my article on CS curriculum. But so far, no biters on my line.https://amenzwa.github.io/stem/CS/Curriculum/@vikingkong
       
 (DIR) Post #B0XrrS1V9gDRRixf6W by AmenZwa@mathstodon.xyz
       2025-11-23T18:21:14Z
       
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       @vikingkong In my experience, we lost “programmers” in IT, somewhere in the 1990s. Since the 2000s, most software practitioners left in IT are “coders”.@iron_bug
       
 (DIR) Post #B0XtZZ4qOF141G7jCy by AmenZwa@mathstodon.xyz
       2025-11-23T18:37:41Z
       
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       @iron_bug 👍 I, too, started in the 1980s—I began EE undergraduate studies in 1982, because I was obsessed with electronic and computing. I can attest, from my academic training and industrial experiences that today’s IT practices had declined in quality, no matter the myriad metrics employed.@vikingkong
       
 (DIR) Post #B0mZmXAL0qUmEcsQm8 by AmenZwa@mathstodon.xyz
       2025-11-30T19:05:38Z
       
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       There are a couple of interview questions that I save only for the serious contenders of technical leadership level #IT positions. For the practice-minded candidates, I ask them to explain in detail how a "computer" boots up from cold-and-dark and goes on to perform computations. For those with a theoretical bent, I ask them to articulate their philosophical views on the meaning of the word "computing".The canonical answers to these questions are all there in the #CS undergraduate textbooks. Yet, these questions afford the candidates the freedom to delve into the topics, as deeply as they choose. In other words, these are not the kind of questions designed to elicit rote answers from the candidates, but to assess their perspectives.
       
 (DIR) Post #B0rWvjUpD35d0kxCts by AmenZwa@mathstodon.xyz
       2025-12-02T03:54:14Z
       
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       Fabrice #Bellard is the French code monster who created QEMU, FFmpeg, Tiny C, and tonnes of other highly influential, highly efficient programmes.But his 2002 IOCCC-winning Obfuscated Tiny C Compiler—a 2048-byte-long, self-hosting C #compiler—is special, even in the company of his other inventions.https://bellard.org/otcc/
       
 (DIR) Post #B15J69yExEVws3EHyq by AmenZwa@mathstodon.xyz
       2025-12-09T20:49:38Z
       
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       The objection I have against overtly complicated #programming languages, libraries, and frameworks is that they, jointly and severally, rob the #programmer of the ability to enter into that all-essential "flow state", while working.The same objection applies equally well against overly complex application designs, cloud environments, and operating systems.From the #engineering perspective, simplicity is never acquired by simple means; it is always something earned through tenacious exertion. Designers of #software technologies should, therefore, aspire to strive for #simplicity—and by extension, compactness—and offload the necessary #complexity to the libraries. Also they should excise expedient complexity entirely from their designs.
       
 (DIR) Post #B15KFhHkYoJskrSzce by AmenZwa@mathstodon.xyz
       2025-12-09T21:44:46Z
       
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       The #arithmetic of a mathematician is the infinite set ℕ, but that of a businessman is the infinite pile $$.
       
 (DIR) Post #B1nUqgw6dXZtLrc64m by AmenZwa@mathstodon.xyz
       2025-12-31T03:32:54Z
       
       2 likes, 1 repeats
       
       "Write Yourself a Scheme in 48 Hours: An Introduction to Haskell through Example", Tang (2007)https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Write_Yourself_a_Scheme_in_48_Hours.pdfI'm well and truly miffed—until this moment, I'd never come across this little jewel of a free ebook.🤦‍♂️ This book teaches practical #Haskell #programming (like monadic parsing) through an implementation of a large subset of R5RS #Scheme interpreter, all in just 138 pp. An experienced FP #programmer, even one who is unfamiliar with Haskell and Scheme (although I’ve not met such a person), can plough through this text, in one sitting.It's brilliant!
       
 (DIR) Post #B1r5EFDnVhZIAcIZWa by AmenZwa@mathstodon.xyz
       2026-01-01T21:53:37Z
       
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       A rebellious (and perhaps foolish) talk: when #programming these days, I write wide, short code, breaching the 79-column barrier with glee.We are no longer bound by the VT100's 80x24 or even 132x24; we now have wide, short, curved monitors, and no one prints code on paper any longer. So, why not!
       
 (DIR) Post #B1v5RWzFY0qVfJfY80 by AmenZwa@mathstodon.xyz
       2026-01-03T20:47:55Z
       
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       My ideal system #programming language (for implementing utilities and compilers, not for implementing OS and drivers) would have C-style semantics with the following caveats and glosses:• No pointers and no manual memory management, only automatic garbage collection😱• No jumps and loops, only recursion with inner functions and tail-call optimisation🤮• No statements, only expressions• Haskell-style ADT syntax for product and sum types• TypeScript-style ∩ intersection syntax for composing product types• TypeScript-style syntax for modules with export-by-default and selective hiding• Hindley-Milner-style, strong, static, polymorphic, inferencing type system• Unicode identifiers, like π, 𝜎, →, ⇒, and so onThere are tonnes of internal tensions and conflicts, even within this short "wish list" of one bloke. This is what makes programming language design "interesting".
       
 (DIR) Post #B2IgNNVvfZAh7VERc0 by AmenZwa@mathstodon.xyz
       2026-01-14T02:52:27Z
       
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       Many intellectuals write thousand-page tomes on deep, philosophical subjects. A far greater number of dilettantes publish ten-page pamphlets on those same subjects.But I admire the learned who can write hundred-page #textbooks on such difficult subjects in a clarifying but non-condescending way.
       
 (DIR) Post #B2yvV1q3EwxVDTAAmO by AmenZwa@mathstodon.xyz
       2026-02-04T14:24:48Z
       
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       The #Governatorhttps://youtube.com/shorts/zsGwdhTFaJI?si=BtOeueEwbv0mtwbz
       
 (DIR) Post #B39iLwxupMpmpZk1wG by AmenZwa@mathstodon.xyz
       2026-02-09T19:16:19Z
       
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       Doctors do not use the stethoscope and the scalpel everywhere, but they employ countless diagnostic tools and intervention techniques to perform their duties. Lawyers have many substantive and procedural tools, reserving law suits as the last-resort option. Engineers, EEs for instance, use many tools and techniques besides the multimeter and the FFT. In all these regulated, licensed professions, the professionals use both their skills and their knowledge.In #IT however, #managers are indentured servants of LLM and #programmers are but afternoon snacks for Python.🤷‍♂️