Category Archives: General

Adding an ‘s’ to Marked Text

Posted on 2018-04-07 by jcs

Jay Bosamiya has an excellent tip for adding an ‘s’, or some other character, to the end of text that has some Org mode emphasis markup added. How to ensure that you can emphasize/make verbatim/make as code/etc, even with an … Continue reading →

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Open Source Tools

Posted on 2018-04-06 by jcs

I prefer open source software but I’m not an absolutist. I no longer have much interest in patching my OS, for example, so I feel comfortable using macOS because the eco-system—or walled garden, if you prefer—allows me to integrate my … Continue reading →

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Niklaus Wirth and Compiler Construction

Posted on 2018-04-05 by jcs

Many years ago, I did a stint as a compiler writer. I don’t do that anymore but I’ve continued practicing what I learned by implementing several little languages for various tasks. Mostly, I’ve leveraged lex and yacc for those chores … Continue reading →

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An Application of Org-element

Posted on 2018-04-04 by jcs

The other day, I saw this query on the reddit Emacs subreddit. I already have solutions for this type of problem but I’m always interested in the how people use Org mode to record and report data so I followed … Continue reading →

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SBCL 1.4.6

Posted on 2018-04-03 by jcs

Most of my Lisp programming lately has been in Emacs-lisp so it’s been a few months since I’ve used Common Lisp. The other day, though, I noticed that Version 1.4.6 of Steel Bank Common Lisp (SBCL) had just been released … Continue reading →

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C++ and Pointers

Posted on 2018-04-02 by jcs

The other day, I wrote that C++ is not my favorite language and that it’s eliminated most of what’s useful about C while retaining most of C’s disadvantages. Then I saw this post, which says that the 2018 C++ committee … Continue reading →

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Back to RSS

Posted on 2018-04-01 by jcs

Lately, I’ve noticed a renewed interest in RSS. The reasons for that are not hard to understand. As yesterday’s post made clear, social media has become a toxic wasteland interested only in collecting the intimate details of our lives and … Continue reading →

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Enough Is Enough

Posted on 2018-03-31 by jcs

I’m not on Facebook. I’ve never been on Facebook. At first it was simply a matter of not being a 14 year old junior high schooler. Later, even adults started hanging out there but I still thought it was silly … Continue reading →

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A C++ Configuration for Emacs

Posted on 2018-03-30 by jcs

If you’ve been around for a while, you know that I don’t think very much of C++. It has all the disadvantages of C while managing to lose what makes C worthwhile. Others disagree, of course, and in any event … Continue reading →

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The Right Tool for the Job

Posted on 2018-03-29 by jcs

On the The Unix Heritage Society mailing list, someone started a thread commemorating the death of John Backus, who, in addition to inventing the Backus-Naur form, lead the team that developed the original FORTRAN. Someone else made a disparaging remark … Continue reading →

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