Last Tuesday afternoon I went to the weekly meeting of my research group. (But this isn't a post about work.) The weekly meetings have a rotating series of themes: this week's was "Music Performance and Expression". Accordingly, the first part of this meeting was a bit of a concert. To open the subject, Elaine Chew… Continue reading Performance Practice as Unanticipated Pit
Conversing with the author of the Yeti programming language
I'm a great fan of the Yeti programming language, a JVM-based functional language which I think offers an irresistible combination of easy, fluent syntax with rigorous typechecking and good interoperability and performance. Yeti is written by one developer, Madis Janson. I dropped him a note with a few questions about the origin of and his… Continue reading Conversing with the author of the Yeti programming language
Looking at the Sonic Visualiser user survey (part 1)
Ever since Sonic Visualiser hit version 1.7 in mid-2009, it has included a survey feature to find out what its users think of it. It waits until you've used it a few times. Then it pops up a dialog, just once, asking if you'd like to fill in the survey. If you say yes, you… Continue reading Looking at the Sonic Visualiser user survey (part 1)
Yertle: an RDF/Turtle library in Yeti
I wrote a little while back about the Yeti programming language and the most pleasant time I was having with it, learning and re-learning some functional programming idioms. One of the first things I set about writing—because I could think of a use for it and it seemed like a nice thing to make—was a… Continue reading Yertle: an RDF/Turtle library in Yeti
What are, or were, Nintendo good at?
Marco Arment: At the high end, there’s room for a small number of huge-budget blockbuster titles that usually involve realistic sports simulations or killing people, none of which Nintendo does well. They compete by pushing the boundaries of cutting-edge graphics hardware, which Nintendo doesn’t produce anymore, and licensing real-life sports teams, which Nintendo doesn’t do.… Continue reading What are, or were, Nintendo good at?
Did you know? Some people like Helvetica
Helvetica is—as every font geek who enjoys a repulsive turn of phrase must agree—one of the most iconic fonts of our time. Which is a pretty strange thing. Designed in 1957 by two not very famous type designers as a neutral typeface for the Haas foundry in Switzerland, Helvetica might almost have been drawn to… Continue reading Did you know? Some people like Helvetica
The Breakfast Post 