It can also remember things for you
Five fragments for the week of January 13, 2025
Hello to the second full week of 2025, a high-resolution time.
Here are five fragments that stuck with me last week…
When haters deny HTML’s status as a programming language, they’re showing they don’t understand what a language really is. Language is not instructing an interlocutor what to do in a way that leaves no room for other interpretations; it is better and richer than that. Like human language, HTML is conversational. It is remarkably adept at adapting to context.
– Tim Carmody, “HTML is actually a programming language. Fight me,” Wired, January 6, 2025. I’ve enjoyed reading Tim’s writing for going on two decades now and this was no exception. See also: a long-ago project I played a small part in, now revived.
Time has the last laugh, as your network performance is washed away by the same flood that produced it. Finished work remains, stubbornly, because it has edges to defend itself, & a solid, graspable premise with which to recruit its cult.
– Robin Sloan, “Finishing,” December 2024. Fascinating to pair this (as he does) with his 2010 post, “Stock and flow.” (Of note: Tim and Robin have collaborated a lot over time! Including on the project above.)
Another fun genius savant sherlock story
A slow burn spy romance thriller, with very little actual time travel
Short story about maybe an alien
– Snippets from Cal Henderson’s 2024 reading list, published January 6, 2025. His one-sentence summaries are strangely compelling.
bookmarking LLM prompts so I can use them on myself
– Carmen Gutierrez on X, January 13, 2025. Related: this line of inquiry from Andy Matuschak about tacit knowledge.
Like all computers, the Apple computer can do math. It can also remember things for you. It could remember all your grades. It could remember your friends’ telephone numbers. It could even play games with you. You can learn to make it do these things.
– Royal Van Horn, Computer Programming for Kids and Other Beginners, 1982, source of this edition’s illustration. From a charming section titled “Good News and Bad News.” (The bad news: “Spelling is important. You must be very careful.”)
Until next time,
Diana
https://dianaberlin.com