../ To Do List for David

Online list of things to do ("tasklist") . .

updated 2009-04-21.

Contents:

Projects David is working on in his Copious Free Time:
- Learn the next natural language on my list
- Learn the next computer language on my list
computer language comparisons

Projects David is working on in his Copious Free Time:

How You Can Help: If you can help me with any of these, I'd appreciate it. If you find a dead link, please tell me , so I can fix it and save the next visitor a bit of annoyance.

"Our chief defect is that we are more given to talking about things than to doing them." -- Jawaharlal Nehru, Indian statesman (1889-1964)

Projects:

imaging ECG project - I hope this will help people understand the human heart better.
propeller analyzer
"User never notices any single fault" file server project ( partial milestone: distributed wiki )
ultra-simple email client ... highly resistant to spam
Jerome Garrett project
RFID eyeglass-finder ( build small demo ``where are my keys ?'' device. )
job search
software bazaar
levitation
wireless power transfer
sundial
24/7 audio recorder "personal recorder"
"automated pulsar finder": robotic telescope
Gumby project
video camera on a radio controlled airplane (put on RC car first?)
wearable computer.
start a ``lending library'' of engineering tools.

Skills:

drawing (Inkscape)
circuit design (gEDA)
programming (Java + Eclipse + Subversion; Python)
exercise
set up electronics lab
organize apartment
getting a Ph.D. ... teaching ... perhaps do projects as "research projects"

natural language

Learn the next natural language on my list:

Deutsch
American Sign Language (Ameslan)
Español
Morse Code

For more details, see "languages I want to learn" idea_space.html#languages_to_learn .

perhaps the translation tools at idea_space.html#translation will help.

Perhaps: make link to show my pages in german (via one of the online translation tools idea_space.html#translation ).

artificial language

Learn the next artificial language on my list:

Python
Perl (2 niches in particular: chip design / VLSI design and CGI programming)
Java
VHDL or Verilog
GNU Octave
CSS
XML
Forth
PostScript
SQL
Look at the languages that run on a PIC http://massmind.org/techref/microchip/language/cs.htm ... http://massmind.org/techref/language/ccpp/
froth
TeX and LaTeX,
Lisp (probably the Scheme dialect). (Lisp language)
.NET
--------------------- I doubt I will find the time to even start learning the artificial languages below this line. -------------------------
learn MHDL, a hardware design language for modeling *analog* circuits (and microwave systems).
Atmel AVR assembly language
Parallax Propeller assembly language
Lua
Smalltalk
Ruby
Tcl
Prolog (OK, I learned a little bit, but I never got fluent)
the "WEB" dialect of Pascal
the "Delphi/Kylix" dialect of Pascal
Knowledge Interchange Format (KIF)
Objective-C
the Joy programming language
Zope
PHP
VRML
Delphi
Abundance
SNOBOL4+
Ada
Modula-3
COBOL

For more details on all of these languages, see "computer languages" todo.html#computer_languages

I've already learned many artificial languages.

_Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs_ book by HaroldAbelson, Gerald Jay Sussman (GeraldSussman) and Julie Sussman "Do not read reviews of this book. Read the book. Do the exercises. It will teach you more about the essence of programming than any other book I know." -- ChristianLemburg "this is not a book about Scheme; it is a book about the fundamental aspects of computer programs.'' (Though it also teaches Scheme)" http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?StructureAndInterpretationOfComputerPrograms

etc.

become familiar with other software development tools: Subversion, LXR, Bonsai, Tinderbox, Bugzilla.
work on some of my to-program projects to_program.html .
Do some genealogy research on my family (the Stark, Rice, and Cary families). david_cary.html#genealogy
Consider making a Rice family web site.
Attempt to become less "over-specialised and/or excessively arrogant".
the Mozilla calendar project http://www.oeone.com/developers/calendar.html seems like something important enough to spend time on.

Build electronics things -- things that are useful, things that are educational, and things that are both.
Nanotechnology nanotech.html needs to be implemented (this is way too big for me alone).
Make a list of lots of cool software tools (all the software on my machine) and how to get it -- to make it easy for others to build a system at least as good as mine. If everyone posted a list like this, then I could download all the tools to make my machine at least as powerful as everyone elses, and they could do the same, a win-win situation.

computer languages

see computer languages I want to learn

[FIXME: move to http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?CategoryLanguage ? move to http://rosettacode.org/ ? ]

(see also book.html for some recommended books for some of these languages, computer_graphics_tools.html#writing (Postscript and others) , computer_architecture.html (FORTH and some others), , html.html (CGI programming) , linux.html (Java and some others), video_game.html , )

Infosec http://www.infosyssec.net/infosyssec/prog1.htm has a long list of tutorials for many different computer programming languages.

Bruce Eckel has written some programming books and made them available online: _Thinking in Java_, _Thinking in Enterprise Java_, _Thinking in C++_ ("This book won the Software Development Magazine Jolt Award for best book published in 1995"), _Thinking in Python_, _Thinking in Patterns with Java_ http://mindview.net/Books ... and _Black Belt C++, The Master's Collection_ _Computer Interfacing with Pascal & C_ http://mindview.net/Books/books.html ...

... what I think is important for you to understand about the language, rather than everything I know. I believe there is an "information importance hierarchy," and there are some facts that 95% of programmers will never need to know, but would just confuse people and add to their perception of the complexity of the language.

(the comp.lang.* series of newsgroups)

[web pages with programming language comparisons]

comparison and contrast of various langauges:

"A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" -- Alan Perlis http://www.norvig.com/21-days.html
"faqts : Computers : Programming : Languages" http://faqts.com/knowledge_base/index.phtml/fid/138 lists well over 100 languages with a discussion forum for each language.
[FIXME: move to #algorithm] "faqts : Computers : Programming : Algorithms" http://faqts.com/knowledge_base/index.phtml/fid/585 includes a discussion forum.
http://faqts.com/knowledge_base/index.phtml/fid/138 lists many computer languages.
Programming Languages: The Internet's Current Opinion http://home.earthlink.net/~mrob/pub/lang_srom.html
What Languages Suck, And What Languages Rule http://www.lehigh.edu/~sol0/rules.html
Developer Shed Network http://devshed.com/ has discussion groups for each of the popular programming languages ... and related stuff like "Web Page Development", "Database Discussion", "non-language specific... Software Design & Algorithms", etc.
``Learning a new language is harmless. It gives you new ideas and insights. You don't have to switch, just learn and try it.'' -- http://slashdot.org/developers/01/12/01/0110233.shtml
Review of existing Languages http://control.gsnu.ac.kr/~astruct/unix/langua~1.htm All (?) known computer languages, with pointers to more information.
There are lots of humourous comparisons between computer languages, such as ``The Parable of the Languages'' by Bb (?) http://weblog.burningbird.net/archives/000581.php
Computer Language Shootout Scorecard http://bagley.org/~doug/shootout/craps.shtml about 30 different language implementations (a few languages represented by 2 implementations), and a standard set of programs translated to each language. compares speed, lines of code, etc. Doesn't take itself seriously.
Discussion at http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?GreatComputerLanguageShootout
Programming Languages Requested -- These are in the order of the most frequently used listed at the top.
- C++
- C
- Java
- Visual Basic
- UNIX
- COBOL
- Oracle
- PowerBuilder
- DB2
- SQL
- Assembler
-- http://www.cs.okstate.edu/programs/job.languages.f99.html
"which programming languages are hot with employers" http://www.bitbreather.com/programming_languages.html (discussed at http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/04/2311217&&mode=thread&&tid=98 ) lists (as of 2003-01-04)
```
	SQL 24.06%
	ASP 14.90%
	Java 14.55%
	C++ 11.33%
	Visual Basic 10.07%
	Perl 4.73%
	
```
(the C programming language might be more or less popular than these -- no statistics were collected for it)
``Perl versus ....'' http://www.perl.com/language/versus/ points to Java vs. Python, ... and other language comparisons
``Different tools are suited to different jobs. ... [Y]you can pick up a bowling ball with tweezers, it is rather difficult and ultimately unrewarding.'' -- unknown (quoted by Jake Kauth 3 Apr 1996)
programming language comparison http://www.spr.com/library/0langtbl.htm "function points" [FIXME: offline ?]
"Review of existing Languages" http://www.tunes.org/Review/Languages.html has the most exhaustive list I've ever seen of computer programming languages, many with useful links to further information. [FIXME: move my PostScript and Forth links there ?]
Programming Languages: The Internet's Current Opinion http://home.earthlink.net/~mrob/pub/lang_srom.html gives a pretty (ASCII) 2 D graph, with various languages plotted on the graph:

Languages that appear higher on the chart (like C and C++) appear on a greater total number of web pages. Languages that appear closer to the right side of the chart (like forth) have a greater 'rules/sucks' ratio -- that is, they appear more often with 'rules' than with 'sucks'.

DAV: perhaps I would have more fun learning the languages that people like the best -- Forth, Smalltalk, and Objective C are the furthest right on this chart.
Vote On Programming Languages http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?VoteOnProgrammingLanguages
Alternatives To C++ http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?AlternativesToCplusPlus has a long list of languages comparable to C++.
perhaps I should list the programming languages I know, and my comments on each one ... ... maybe become more fluent in Prolog news:comp.lang.prolog ...
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Programming/Languages/
Dan's Page of Computer Languages http://users.bergen.org/~dankna/comp/lang/ some good C links, PostScript, P-Code CGI, XML, etc.
[computer languages to learn] ``The Year Ahead: Skills trends for 2003'' article by Andrew Swinton 2002-12-27 http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2127185,00.html
Core skills
The 'core' technical IT skills, according to e-skills, demanded by employers for both contractors and permanent staff are unchanged from last year except for the addition of .Net this year:
- SQL
- C++
- Unix
- Oracle
- Windows NT
- Java
- Visual Basic
- MS Office
- .Net
Contract staff with SAP and Windows 2000 skills were consistently in demand in 2002 ... Small increases in demand have been tracked over the last two quarters in the following skills areas: Freehand [ free trial download http://www.macromedia.com/software/freehand/ ] , OLAP, Smalltalk, BPCS and EPOS for permanent positions, with JDBC, JSP EPOS, VPN, VBA and Switches had increased demand for contractors.
...
Soft skills
There is a trend for firms to hire more business-aware staff with customer focus, client-facing and interpersonal abilities but also in more technologically specific areas such as:
- Project Management
- Security
- XML
- EAI
- .Net
- C#
The Year In Scripting Languages http://lwn.net/Articles/19959/ | mirror http://www.vendian.org/language_year/ has good pointers to the programming languages Lua, Perl, Python, Ruby, and Tcl.
programming language comparison humor: How to shoot yourself in the foot in each of 20 different programming languages. dav_info.html#languages
Scripting languages are becoming more and more popular. Supposedly this "scripting language chooser" http://www.awaretek.com/langchooseaaa.html (discussed at http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/01/05/1732239&mode=thread&tid=156 ) helps you decide which one to use.

Learning various programming languages

http://www.planet-source-code.com/ has lots of tutorials and source code for many languages (Visual Basic, C++, Java, Lisp, SQL, ...)
... I have lots of pointers to learning many specific languages below ...

``programming language was the wrong term, because they just ain't like human languages.'' -- Edsger W. Dijkstra ? DAV wishes he had more context around this remark.

``world's most flexible programming language'' http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=37518 compares and contrasts several languages ... and for these categories gives these recommendations: object-oriented: Smalltalk. imperative: PERL, Python, or C. functional: Scheme. logical: Prolog. The follow-ups mention FORTH and PostScript.

....

learn Verilog, a hardware description language (HDL). Some people I know seem to prefer Verilog over VHDL.
PostScript computer_graphics_tools.html#PostScript
systems query language (SQL) -- recc. Thomas Munn.
- http://www.home.earthlink.net/~rrothsprint/links/links25.htm
CSS: Cascading Style Sheets html.html#css
FORTH (some tutorials and more information at computer_architecture.html#forth ) (I already picked up a little bit by osmosis, leakage from other similar languages -- RPL, PostScript -- but I have a little ways to go before I'm fluent )
- people who want to learn Forth http://www.43things.com/things/view/22397 people who want to master Forth http://www.43things.com/things/view/82136 ??? http://www.43things.com/things/view/87413
- people who want to write a forth interpreter http://www.43things.com/things/view/38015
- BSSClub http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Cable/7772/ High Language Interpreters Club for Microcontrollers This page is dedicated to the people that are interested in building, testing, and using various higher language interpreters for Microchip PIC processors.
Java
- people who want to Learn Java http://www.43things.com/things/view/2576
- programming in Java http://www.howstuffworks.com/program1.htm
- Real-Time Java Experts Group http://www.rtj.org/
- ``How to Think Like a Computer Scientist'' by Allen Downey http://www.ibiblio.org/obp/thinkCS.html is under the GNU Free Documentation License, with Java, Python, and C++ versions. [FIXME: read] Consider starting a FORTH version. How about a plain C version ?
- play with JavaBots http://www.cc.gatech.edu/grads/b/Tucker.Balch/JavaBots/EDU/gatech/cc/is/docs/index.html
- Java Programmers FAQ by Peter van der Linden http://www.afu.com/javafaq.html | mirror http://www.faqs.org/faqs/computer-lang/java/programmers/faq/
- ``Java on the Palm PDA'' article by Sing Li 2000-10 http://www.vsj.co.uk/archive/oct2000/java/javanet1-0010.asp
- http://java.sun.com/ lots of information, pointers to JUG (Java user groups), community discussion forums, ......
- http://ddj.com/topics/java/
- ``Java and Embedded Real-Time Control'' article by Kevin Nilsen 1996 http://www.ddj.com/documents/s=949/ddj9617e/9617e.htm
- ``JavaOS'' computer_architecture.html#JavaOS
- Java Answers Forum http://www.artima.com/forums/forum.jsp?forum=1
- Java for everyone http://www.scally.com/macwoods/java.html
- _Thinking in Java_ book by Bruce Eckel, free copy available online. http://www.bruceeckel.com/javabook.html "the best Java book available to date" -- recc. Macneil Charles Shonle http://www.clarku.edu/~mshonle/
- Spirograph as a Java applet http://wordsmith.org/anu/java/
Python
- Python http://www.python.org/
  
  I know over two dozen general-purpose languages, write compilers and interpreters for fun, and have designed any number of special-purpose languages and markup formalisms myself.
  ...
  Python ... an exceptionally good design. ...
  another useful property of the language: it is compact -- you can hold its entire feature set (and at least a concept index of its libraries) in your head. C is a famously compact language. Perl is notoriously not...
  ...
  this is an amazing testament to Python's clarity and elegance of design.
  There was simply no way I could have pulled off a coup like this in Perl, even with my vastly greater experience level in that language. It was at this point I realized I was probably leaving Perl behind.
  This was my most dramatic Python moment. But, when all is said and done, it was just a clever hack. The long-term usefulness of a language comes not in its ability to support clever hacks, but from how well and how unobtrusively it supports the day-to-day work of programming. The day-to-day work of programming consists not of writing new programs, but mostly reading and modifying existing ones.
  ...
  Perl still has its uses. For tiny projects (100 lines or fewer) that involve a lot of text pattern matching, I am still more likely to tinker up a Perl-regexp-based solution than to reach for Python. ... For anything larger or more complex, I have come to prefer the subtle virtues of Python...
  -- Eric Steven Raymond http://www2.linuxjournal.com/lj-issues/issue73/3882.html /* http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=3882 */
- "VPython: 3D Programming for Ordinary Mortals" http://vpython.org/
- Python Things http://lfw.org/python/
--------------------- I doubt I will find the time to even start learning the artificial languages below this line. -------------------------
[FIXME: all these languages are probably mentioned at http://c2.com/cgi/wiki somewhere -- perhaps I should just dump this information on various languages there and leave a link from here to a couple of the most relevant pages there. ]
``lua''
- The Programming Language Lua http://www.lua.org/
- ps2lua lets you write scripts to control your PlayStation 2 Linux system. http://sourceforge.net/projects/ps2lua/
- tomsrtbt computer_architecture.html#tomsrtbt
- Lua Language http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?LuaLanguage
- challenge: write a wiki in Lua http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiInLua
``froth'', very similar to FORTH. Has ``address register'' to make it fit DSP architecture better. [DAV: how much of this will fit on a PIC ?] http://sourceforge.net/projects/froth/ ... Is there any synergy between "froth" and "dsp_K ... an open-source, real-time kernel and library for digital signal processors (DSPs). http://dsp-k.sourceforge.net/ ... http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT6489405871.html ? (This seems to be designed for systems much too small for a full Linux kernal ... competitor to eCos ?)
LAIDBACK
This language was developed at the Marin County Center for T'ai Chi, Mellowness and Computer Programming (now defunct), as an alternative to the more intense atmosphere in nearby Silicon Valley.
The center was ideal for programmers who liked to soak in hot tubs while they worked. Unfortunately few programmers could survive there because the center outlawed Pizza and Coca-Cola in favor of Tofu and Perrier.
Many mourn the demise of LAIDBACK because of its reputation as a gentle and non-threatening language since all error messages are in lower case. For example, LAIDBACK responded to syntax errors with the message: "I hate to bother you, but i just can't relate to that. can you find the time to try it again?" -- http://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/87/29869.22.html
Objective-C http://developer.apple.com/techpubs/macosx/Cocoa/ObjectiveC/index.html
Lisp (probably the Scheme dialect).
- http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WhyLisp
- The full text of some books about Lisp is online: book.html#lisp .
- CLiki http://cliki.net/ the Common Lisp wiki: free software implemented in Common Lisp and available on Unix-like systems
- http://lisp.tech.coop/
- Ka-Ping Yee http://zesty.ca/ is teaching SICP http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~ping/61a/
- http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?LispLanguage points to "Pascal Costanza's Highly Opinionated Guide to Lisp" 2/9/2002 http://pascalcostanza.de/lisp/guide.html | http://www.cs.uni-bonn.de/~costanza/lisp/guide.html
- code snippets for scsh, a variant of Scheme 48 ... an interactive environment. http://scsh.net/cgi-bin/wiki.cgi
- ``the lisp webserver market ... It is LGPL'ed and will always be.'' http://www.franz.com/resources/educational_resources/aserve.062800.lhtml
- Scheme http://www.swiss.ai.mit.edu/projects/scheme/ points to many implementations and documentation.
- http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?CategoryLisp ... http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?IwannaLearnLisp
- http://www.franz.com/
- http://www.lisp.org/
- the SISC Wiki (Second Interpreter of Scheme Code: SISC is an extensible Java based interpreter of the algorithmic language Scheme ... SISC is a complete implementation of the language. The entire R5RS Scheme standard is supported ) http://sisc.sourceforge.net/wiki/wikka.php
Smalltalk http://www.squeak.org/ (complete source code freely available) (Originally developed on the Macintosh, the ported to numerous other platforms including Windows CE ... Acorn RiscOS ... Unix ...)
the Joy programming language, apparently designed by Manfred von Thun http://www.latrobe.edu.au/philosophy/phimvt/joy.html has interesting similarities to Forth and RPL. (DAV first heard about this in news:comp.sys.hp48 ) It's heavily stack-oriented, and a single item on the stack can be an entire list or even a program.
JavaScript http://faqts.com/knowledge_base/index.phtml/fid/53/
TeX
http://www.php.net/ ``PHP is a server-side, cross-platform, HTML embedded scripting language. ... open-source.'' http://www.phpbuilder.com/
VRML
- http://pilot.msu.edu/user/ionescua/ VRML tutorial, animated GIF tutorial.
- http://wordsmith.org/anu/vrml/ ???
Pascal (the Delphi dialect)
- the Borland Delphi Wiki http://www.upperbit.com/OpenWiki/owbase/ow.asp?BorlandDelphi
- http://discuss.fogcreek.com/delphiquestions/
- http://borland.com/
- Some extra features in various dialects of Pascal: SP - Standard Pascal EP - Extended Pascal TP - Turbo Pascal (Borland Pascal) DP - Delphi (Object Pascal) PP - Pascal++ GP - Gnu Pascal http://www.informatik.uni-halle.de/lehre/pascal/sprache/pasindex.html
- The Pascal + Delphi site http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2926/tp.html Turbo Pascal links
- Does Delphi or other Pascal variants overcome the objections listed in:
  "Why Pascal is Not My Favorite Programming Language" by Brian W. Kernighan, April 2, 1981 mirrors:
  - http://www.lysator.liu.se/c/bwk-on-pascal.html
  - http://www2.informatik.uni-halle.de/lehre/pascal/sprache/bwk-on-p.html
- Pascal Programming Tutorial http://www.cit.ac.nz/smac/pascal/default.htm
Abundance http://mindprod.com/article.html ``Abundance: A Data Base language that can run backward in time'' by Roedy Green. Has some interesting features: jaunting, Implicit Array Subscripts, ...
Ruby http://www.ruby-lang.org/ ``Ruby is the interpreted scripting language for quick and easy object-oriented programming. It has many features to process text files and to do system management tasks'' (The interpreter is distributed under GPL or under an Artistic license).
learn MHDL, a hardware design language originally focused toward the modeling of microwave systems, but can also model more typical analog circuits. Largely based on VHDL (which can only model digital circuits). Understands track parasitics. Developed by Intermetrics. Or learn some other design tool just as powerful (do any exist ? Analog Verilog (Verilog-A), also known as IEEE 1364 ? Analog VHDL (VHDL-A) ? )
Ada http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ada.html ... GNAT, the GNU Ada (see the ``Ada information'' section of http://www.gnu.org/software/gcc/readings.html )
Parallaxis-III - A Structured Data-Parallel Programming Language http://www.ee.uwa.edu.au/~braunl/parallaxis/ "Parallaxis is a structured programming language for data-parallel programming (SIMD systems), developed by Thomas Bräunl"
Pop-11 http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/users/adrianh/pop11.html
Rebol http://www.rebol.com/
Modula-3
SNOBOL4+ http://www.computek.net/public/gep2/snobol4.html | http://www.snobol4.com/
http://www.Zope.org/ is apparently used to build dynamic websites

grasscatcher

a list of projects that sound like fun, but I have zero time to invest in right now: (If anyone is interested in me doing any of these, or if anyone else wants to do / has done these, I'd like to hear about it)

Connect a telescope to my computer. Use it to search for pulsars and/or lasers (optical, IR, etc). Can the doppler effect help discriminate earth-based vs. extraterrestrial sources ? If I come up with any clever ideas, the folks at Optical SETI at Harvard / Smithsonian http://mc.harvard.edu/oseti/ | http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/01/22/telescope.alien/ would probably be interested.
"The fastest pulsar found so far, however, spins at only about 600 revolutions per second." -- 2000-02-17 DAV: Do astronomers really have equipment for finding faster pulsars ? todo: build something to find pulsars. (I think careful manipulation of pulling charge across CCDs and then using FFT to look for pulsars would be interesting and low-cost compared to brute-force high-speed cameras).
Theory predicts that "newborn neutron star ... typically 50 rotations per second" "matter orbiting a neutron star can have a period as short as a millisecond."
Al Kelly's CCD Astrophotography Page http://www.ghgcorp.com/akelly/
todo: search http://slashdot.org/ for "pulsar".

unsorted misc

build a flying robot robot_links.html#flying_robots .
make model trains that don't need track, they just follow lines of tape put on the floor. This way you can put arbitrarily complicated tracks on the dining room floor, and when it's time to eat, you can *leave* them there (only have to put away the train itself). Perhaps have it sense little colored stickers just before each intersection to choose which way to turn ?
assemble a set of tools and plans that "has closure" 3d_design.html#closure .
Engineers Without Frontiers http://www.ewof.org/ seems like a worthwhile organization. "Engineers Without Frontiers (EWOF) will provide the engineering skills of volunteers throughout the world to non-profits and others who are doing humanitarian work but lack the funding to pay for professional engineering services. The project is somewhat modelled after Doctors Without Borders."

consider building a magnetoelectrohydrodynamic water pump.
It would be cool to implement Miss Rosette http://www.apple.com/education/LTReview/current/elephant/elep8.html a "word processor" for this visual language logographic language.
Considering helping re-design the Taniwha Flight Computer schematic.html#flight_computer
http://piclist.org/techref/ideas.htm has some interesting and strange ideas for projects to do.
"Which language should programmers seek out and learn?"
1. Learn (or read) at least one every year or two so you don't get pigeonholed into the limitations of the language you use every day. Different languages promote different approaches - and different approaches/designs are the toolchest of this industry.
2. At least try out one functional language (Lisp/Scheme), one OOP language(C++/Java), one procedural language. None is better than the other, they have different takes on the world and shine at solving different types of problems.
3. Sticking with one language (at the total exclusion of others)limits your output and stunts your learning curve. Looking at more than one also reminds you what languages are for -- expressing more succinctly and clearly the instructions you want the computer to heed.
-- Bjarne Stroustrup 1995 (slightly paraphrased ?) http://slashdot.org/developers/01/12/01/0110233.shtml
[languages] ``java'' (c) 1997-2000 Jamie Zawinski http://www.jwz.org/doc/java.html ``I think Java is the best language going today, which is to say, it's the marginally acceptable one among the set of complete bagbiting loser languages that we have to work with out here in the real world.''
[FIXME: move natural language info to idea_space.html ?] ``The Translator's Home Companion is intended to serve as a focal point of information about resources available on the Internet and elsewhere for translators, interpreters, and all those interested in the arts and crafts of foreign languages.'' http://www.lai.com/lai/companion.html
todo: build some of the more interesting circuits / tools in schematic.html

unsorted

(about ToDo lists in general ... recommends using a Wiki to manage the ToDo list) http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiToDoList
todo: build atomic resolution microscope. See http://opencircuits.com/atomic_microscope
build "The Ideal Student Computing Machine" as described in "Computing Devices in the Elementary School" by Ken Myers 2000-04 http://members.aol.com/KMyersPsion/edcom.html .

Started: 1997 Jul 28.
Original Author: David Cary.
Current maintainer: David Cary.

This page has backlinks

David Cary
d.cary+todo.html@ieee.org.

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