A Conversation for The Student Union Bar
No beer yet then? *Cough*
Amy the Ant - High Manzanilla of the Church of the Stuffed Olive Posted Jun 11, 2000
Oh. Well, I'm sure it's not deserved.
To change the subject, what do you do? I mess about with computers (but it's all perfectly legal -- somewhere).
No beer yet then? *Cough*
The Fish Posted Jun 11, 2000
He was asked to change it a while back, for obvious reasons
.
I suppose I could join Mensa if I was bothered... I've just never gotten round to it
No beer yet then? *Cough*
Menza Posted Jun 11, 2000
I'm a Computational Biologist, which means I mess about with computers lots. But I usually get access to some really good machines.
No beer yet then? *Cough*
Amy the Ant - High Manzanilla of the Church of the Stuffed Olive Posted Jun 11, 2000
Mensa is not worth the annual fee. I would leave if I could just get round to cancelling the Direct Debit. It's gone very right-wing IMHO.
I started as a physicist, now I'm a computer scientist of sorts. I research programming languages, especially those for novices and children.
No beer yet then? *Cough*
IanG Posted Jun 11, 2000
Sounds interesting. So what's current in the world of novice's and children's programming languages? BASIC and Logo are what were current when I was learning, which I guess dates me.
No beer yet then? *Cough*
Amy the Ant - High Manzanilla of the Church of the Stuffed Olive Posted Jun 11, 2000
There's still a strong LOGO community. Basic has dropped out of things. Visual languages like ToonTalk ([Broken link removed by Moderator]) are much discussed. I'm looking at something more tangible -- something you can debug by taking a hammer to it. I'm a hands-on sort of gal.
Amy
No beer yet then? *Cough*
IanG Posted Jun 11, 2000
Heading off on a bit of a tangent, I think the hands-on aspect of computing is much harder for people learning now than it was when I first started using computers. (For reference, my very first experiences were playing with a card punch machine. This makes me sound older than I am - I was very young at the time, my dad had brought me into work and used to let me play with that sort of thing... But most of my in-depth learning was on home computers like Sinclairs and BBC micros.)
Back in the early 1980s computers were relatively simple - it was possible for one individual to understand pretty much everything that was going on inside one. But a modern day PC has internal complexity to rival a mainframe from that era. So the ability to, say, stick an oscilloscope probe on part of the computer and understand what you see in a way that relates at all meaningfully to what you're trying to get the computer to do has become fantastically difficult whereas it used to be fairly simple.
To drag things slightly back towards what you were talking about, a few years ago I worked on a project allowing programs to be 'written' by dragging pictures around on a flow chart. Having a look around that toontalk site makes me feel like I lacked ambition! This is really interesting stuff, but I guess it's way off the 'No beer yet' topic here. Maybe you could put up a guide entry on the topic?
No beer yet then? *Cough*
Amy the Ant - High Manzanilla of the Church of the Stuffed Olive Posted Jun 11, 2000
You're right. I was going to do a proper Guide entry today but roadworks and stuff intervened (see my Journal). Maybe tomorrow ......
No beer yet then? *Cough*
Demon Drawer Posted Jun 12, 2000
It make interesting reading on my mailing list though, when Menza's full name jumps out at me at times.
No beer yet then? *Cough*
Amy the Ant - High Manzanilla of the Church of the Stuffed Olive Posted Jun 12, 2000
Do you think I should write something about children's programming languages for The Guide?
No beer yet then? *Cough*
Demon Drawer Posted Jun 12, 2000
That's my usual criteria. If I know something that noone else seems to have written about or sometimes written very poorly about I'll set about doing the writing thing. Isn't that right Menza.
No beer yet then? *Cough*
Amy the Ant - High Manzanilla of the Church of the Stuffed Olive Posted Jun 12, 2000
I'll get on and write something then. I was going to write something about procrastination but I notice that someone else got round to it ... unbelievable
No beer yet then? *Cough*
IanG Posted Jun 13, 2000
Well they're clearly not an expert!
*looks forward to Amy's guide entry*
No beer yet then? *Cough*
Amy the Ant - High Manzanilla of the Church of the Stuffed Olive Posted Jun 13, 2000
I don't know how I am going to get round it writing anything - it's hard enough to keep up with the forums I'm in. I appear to be in two bars at the same time. That's a first although I've often been spotted with two drinks at the same time - why are there always people with cameras around on those occasions?
No beer yet then? *Cough*
Menza Posted Jun 13, 2000
Get used to being in tha bar, I think I'm in four.
No beer yet then? *Cough*
Demon Drawer Posted Jun 13, 2000
I'm in at least that many. F&F, Chesire Grin, Frinks Drinks, Damogran and Greebo's partys, the beer tent (location moveable), the beach hut (where I serve), The SU Bar. Oh boy am I a vurtula alcoholic.
No beer yet then? *Cough*
Amy the Ant - High Manzanilla of the Church of the Stuffed Olive Posted Jun 13, 2000
I think he can be forgiven for slurred speech in the circumstances.
Key: Complain about this post
No beer yet then? *Cough*
- 61: Amy the Ant - High Manzanilla of the Church of the Stuffed Olive (Jun 11, 2000)
- 62: The Fish (Jun 11, 2000)
- 63: Menza (Jun 11, 2000)
- 64: Amy the Ant - High Manzanilla of the Church of the Stuffed Olive (Jun 11, 2000)
- 65: IanG (Jun 11, 2000)
- 66: Amy the Ant - High Manzanilla of the Church of the Stuffed Olive (Jun 11, 2000)
- 67: IanG (Jun 11, 2000)
- 68: Amy the Ant - High Manzanilla of the Church of the Stuffed Olive (Jun 11, 2000)
- 69: Demon Drawer (Jun 12, 2000)
- 70: Amy the Ant - High Manzanilla of the Church of the Stuffed Olive (Jun 12, 2000)
- 71: Menza (Jun 12, 2000)
- 72: Demon Drawer (Jun 12, 2000)
- 73: Amy the Ant - High Manzanilla of the Church of the Stuffed Olive (Jun 12, 2000)
- 74: IanG (Jun 13, 2000)
- 75: Amy the Ant - High Manzanilla of the Church of the Stuffed Olive (Jun 13, 2000)
- 76: Menza (Jun 13, 2000)
- 77: Demon Drawer (Jun 13, 2000)
- 78: Menza (Jun 13, 2000)
- 79: Amy the Ant - High Manzanilla of the Church of the Stuffed Olive (Jun 13, 2000)
- 80: Menza (Jun 13, 2000)
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