This quote came out on the “Thought For the Day” list a while ago and I’ve kept it in my inbox. I’m cleaning out my inbox, but I wanted to save this quote for posterity. As both a computer programmer and a big advocate of progressive education, I love this quote.
“It is against the grain of modern education to teach children to program. What fun is there in making plans, acquiring discipline in organizing thoughts, devoting attention to detail, and learning to be self-critical?”
– Alan Perlis
I don’t know who Alan Perlis is– a research project for later.
(The thought for the day list is the internet mailing list I’ve received for the longest time– since 1991 when I got my first email address. Although sometimes corny and sometimes political in ways I disagree with, the thoughts still make me smile more often than not. I’d link to the list, but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t have a web page. You subscribe the old-fashioned way: by sending email to listserv@listserv.tamu.edu with the text “sub tftd-l”)
Hey cool– a function I wrote just got put up on cflib.org. Not that it’s juried or anything, but it’s still kind of neat to know that other people might get to use my code.
My function uses Java to do DNS lookups from within a Coldfusion page, and it supports sites which have more than one DNS record for the same hostname. It works in Coldfusion 5 or higher. It’s a reworking of an earlier function written by Ben Forta.
getAllHostAddresses
Here’s a map and photo of the Smith Memorial Playground, where I went with my family today. The playground has been around for a long time– over 100 years in fact– and was just rebuilt this summer. It’s a unique playground– the equipment is unusual and interesting, there’s a giant wooden slide, and most interestingly, there’s a large mansion that was built solely as a playhouse for the children of Philadelphia (it was never a residence). My favorite room of the mansion was “Smithville” in the basement, a room full of toy cars, with traffic lights, parking spots, parking meters, and gas pumps. Watching a bunch of five-year-olds in this room was a lot of fun.
My father says he took me to this playground when I was a small child, but I don’t remember. My kids had a fantastic time there today.
The playground is in Fairmount Park, but it seems that it is not run by the city– a nonprofit group maintains it.
Well, in typical fashion, I started this blog and then disappeared for a couple of months.
I’m not sure if anyone is reading this yet, but if so, hi. (Could you leave a comment so I know whether I’m talking to the wall or not?)
I do have a few entries on various topics partially-written. This summer has been the busiest one in recent memory, and it hasn’t been a great time for finishing anything other than work.
What have I been working on? Well, John Smith and I did another site for the Live Arts and Fringe festivals. I think this year’s site is the best ever– we rebuilt the “My Festivals” page into something that’s a true planning tool, and we implemented a great “Tell a Friend” feature. I’ve also been helping the William Penn Charter School set up their new network infrastructure– more on that in a future entry– and doing some work on a database of new plays for the National New Play Network. Not to mention working on a new release of tlavideo.com, to be launched September 8.
As the summer draws to a close, I’m looking forward to having Clara start kindergarten at Project Learn in September… we’re excited for her, and excited to be part of the Project Learn community.
More to come, in less than two months, I hope.
