Michael Fogus's Blog, page 9
August 6, 2014
A few bold, complete projects…
One of my favorite bloggers James Hague recently wrote a blog post entitled Timidity Does Not Convince. In this relatively short post he managed to get me thinking about programming languages and their viability in a market for mindshare, especially with his statement: The only arguments that hold water, in terms of programming language suitability, […]
May 7, 2014
Games of interest: Binary Homeworlds
A few months ago I discovered a game called Homeworlds, and have fallen deeply in love. Homeworlds is a game of intergalactic conquest where ships of differing capabilities battle for supremacy in star systems…. or rather, it’s a Looney Pyramids abstract strategy game invented by John Cooper 1 (a designer whom I admire greatly) akin […]
April 19, 2014
Emergence and quality
Although the blogging bug has not hit me lately, I have been thinking about bloggable topics. One interesting topic that I’m mulling around in my mind at the moment is the idea of emergence in programming language design. The catalyst for this focus was my recent research into the processes that board game designers use […]
February 3, 2014
I, Cognitect
In approximately 20 minutes I begin my first day at Cognitect as a . These are exciting times for me because it means1 that I can contribute more directly with the evolution of Clojure, ClojureScript, Pedestal and Datomic. For the past year and a half I have used these tools (not so […]
January 28, 2014
Flowchart: Should you create a new library?
Should you create a new library? :F
January 27, 2014
Timothy Hart, Rest in Peace.
On January 20, 2014 the world lost a hacker named Timothy Hart. Hart was not just any hacker — he was a hacker of the highest order. If you’ve read more than three books on Lisp then you might have seen his name pop up here and there. If not, then you’ve definitely felt his […]
January 24, 2014
Kris Burm on programming languages
The title of this post is intentionally misleading. Kris Burm, for those of you unfamiliar with him, is a game designer1 responsible for a highly praised series of abstract strategy games called Project GIFP. In an interview given circa 2000 Burm describes the challenges of game designers like himself who create purely thinking games without […]
December 27, 2013
The best things and stuff of 2013
Great things and people that I discovered, learned, read, met, etc. in 2013. No particular ordering is implied. Not everything is new. also: see the lists from 2012, 2011 and 2010 Great blog posts read My favorite Erlang program — When Joe Armstrong blogs about his favorite Erlang program, you read it. There is no […]
December 7, 2013
2014: The Year of the Vonnegut
I love Kurt Vonnegut. Everything that I’ve read that he’s written is a gem1 and his interviews are amazing. Except for PG Wodehouse, I consider Vonnegut the greatest writer of comedic depth-psychology in the history of the universe. I read very few biographies, but when I learned of the Vonnegut biography And So It Goes, […]
October 31, 2013
Open source board/card/dice game design
I’ve come to the wonderful world of board and card gaming fairly late in life. While many people were spending days and nights playing Axis & Allies or Egyptian Ratscrew during their formative years I spent my time either building little computer games, riding my skateboard or reading. Growing up I rarely, if ever played […]
