Silverlight on Rails

I am looking to move to a better UI platform for the next version of Subtext. The two contenders are Flash and WPF. As it happens, I have stumbled into the first skirmishes of a major technology war between Adobe and Microsoft. I have a hunch about what Microsoft’s next move will be. In the finest traditions of the blogosphere I am rushing to broadcast my unfounded speculation. Continue reading “Silverlight on Rails”

Brother, can you spare a pixel?

There is a lot of buzz these days about “Rich Internet Applications”. People are finally realizing that HTML is incapable of supporting a sophisticated user interface. AJAX is a reeking pile of hacks and cluges that offers only a glimpse of what could be possible with a halfway-intelligent browser platform. Many people are betting this platform will be Flash. Specifically Flash 9, Flex 2, and ActionScript 3. Maybe — but there is one dirty little secret no one is talking about: Flash is resolution-dependent. Continue reading “Brother, can you spare a pixel?”

No Ifs, Ands, or Buts

Long time no see. I have posted my latest OOPSLA submission.

At long last I feel like I am making progress again. I have been stuck on this problem for the last 9 months. The worst part is that people kept asking me “What are you working on?”, and I would say, “Well, I am trying to figure out how to do conditionals, and I am really stuck”. This produced funny looks. I mean, what kind of moron can’t figure out how to do conditionals? What could be hard about that? Well, I think I have finally figured out how to do conditionals.

The next paper will probably be about how to do loops. But first I need to do some honest coding…