I was at the open day at Coder Dojo in Malahide this morning with my three kids.
Very interesting presentations on hardware and programming. And demos of cool stuff including a Raspberry Pi and a JavaScript-controlled helicopter!
The organisers asked the kids to name programming languages. The kids duly came up with Scratch and Java. One of the kids asked me if I could name any more. That got me thinking.
So here I am going to name all of the programming languages I can think of in alphabetical order:
Algol, APL, Assembler, AutoIt
B (I think?), BASIC
C, C++, C#, COBOL
D
E
Fortran
G
H
I
Java, JavaScript
K
Lisp, Logo, LotusScript
M
N
O
Perl, PHP, Processing, Prolog, Python
Qt
Rapid-Q, RPG, Ruby
Scheme, Scratch, SNOBOL, SQL
T
U
VB, VB.NET
W
X
Y
Z
That's 31 by my count.
There are lots more than I know of but can't remember, and lots more that I have never heard of.
Saturday 15 December 2012
Best Christmas book: The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey
I blogged last year about the best Christmas book ever: The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey.
I read it again this year with my (now) 8 and 10 year olds. Again there were tears. Again they were mine.
The difference this year was that my 8 year old, Andrew, read it this time. He did a great job.
At the end he asked me if they all got married and lived happily every after. Obviously I told him that they did. How else could a great book like that end!
I read it again this year with my (now) 8 and 10 year olds. Again there were tears. Again they were mine.
The difference this year was that my 8 year old, Andrew, read it this time. He did a great job.
At the end he asked me if they all got married and lived happily every after. Obviously I told him that they did. How else could a great book like that end!
Looper
I like time travel movies a lot. I will return to this topic in a future post.
I watched Looper the other day. It is very good. It is a time travel movie where the story is interesting but also not too hard to follow (once you have accepted the premise that it makes sense to send people back in time to have them killed).
The cast is very good. Joseph Gordon-Levitt look like I've never seen him before. Bruce Willis gets to do his "die hard" thing. Emily Blunt does a good job too.
But most of the credit most go to writer/director (and actor too I see) Rian Johnson. This seems to be only the third movie he has written/directed and he did a fine job.
My rating: 7.5/10
Here is a still from the movie showing Willis and Gordon-Levitt:
I watched Looper the other day. It is very good. It is a time travel movie where the story is interesting but also not too hard to follow (once you have accepted the premise that it makes sense to send people back in time to have them killed).
The cast is very good. Joseph Gordon-Levitt look like I've never seen him before. Bruce Willis gets to do his "die hard" thing. Emily Blunt does a good job too.
But most of the credit most go to writer/director (and actor too I see) Rian Johnson. This seems to be only the third movie he has written/directed and he did a fine job.
My rating: 7.5/10
Here is a still from the movie showing Willis and Gordon-Levitt:
Thursday 13 December 2012
Miracle on 34th Street - I'm not so sure
I bought Miracle on 34th Street (the 1947 edition) on DVD some years ago but I never got the kids to watch it.
Originally they would have been opposed to the idea of watching a movie in black and white. But of course I have won them over to this idea some time ago with It's a Wonderful Life.
So this year I took it out again and I watched it with the two younger ones (10 and 8).
It has a number of things going for it:
The bad news is: I don't think we will be watching it again. At least not until the kids are older.
Without discussing the details, suffice it to say that I just don't think it is suitable.
So if you want to watch a "Christmas classic" with your kids, I would suggest that you try one of these two.
Originally they would have been opposed to the idea of watching a movie in black and white. But of course I have won them over to this idea some time ago with It's a Wonderful Life.
So this year I took it out again and I watched it with the two younger ones (10 and 8).
It has a number of things going for it:
- It's a "Christmas classic"
- It features Ireland's own Maureen O'Hara
- It is #9 apparently on the American Film Institute's "100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time"
The bad news is: I don't think we will be watching it again. At least not until the kids are older.
Without discussing the details, suffice it to say that I just don't think it is suitable.
So if you want to watch a "Christmas classic" with your kids, I would suggest that you try one of these two.
Wednesday 12 December 2012
12/12/12 12:12
Did you do anything exciting at twelve minutes past midday today to mark the fact that it was 12/12/12 12:12?
I was at work and didn't realise that anything exciting had happened!
Strange that it was one of those dates that worked on this side of the Atlantic and also on the other side.
Not really as exciting I guess as 10/11/12 13:14 but that one was on different days depending on where you live.
Strange also how often these special date/time combinations occur.
I was at work and didn't realise that anything exciting had happened!
Strange that it was one of those dates that worked on this side of the Atlantic and also on the other side.
Not really as exciting I guess as 10/11/12 13:14 but that one was on different days depending on where you live.
Strange also how often these special date/time combinations occur.
Fourth Best Christmas Song
I blogged about the 3 best Christmas songs last year.
That was easy - IMHO they are head and shoulders above the rest.
But this year I will go out on a limb and name my fourth favourite. It is "Stay Another Day" by East 17.
It was written by band member Tony Mortimer and was the Christmas Number One back in 1994 in Ireland, the UK, Sweden, and Denmark.
That was easy - IMHO they are head and shoulders above the rest.
But this year I will go out on a limb and name my fourth favourite. It is "Stay Another Day" by East 17.
It was written by band member Tony Mortimer and was the Christmas Number One back in 1994 in Ireland, the UK, Sweden, and Denmark.
Homeland - Not so sure anymore!
I blogged about Homeland last month.
In that posting I expressed some reservations about the show.
Since then I have been keeping up with the new episodes and my reservations are getting bigger and bigger.
I think there is far too much in the show that is simply unbelievable. The behaviour of the Carrie character specifically is becoming more and more ridiculous. The idea that the CIA would continue to use her as her behaviour becomes increasingly erratic/unpredictable simply beggars belief.
And the whole piece about the (possible spoiler - select text to make visible) hit and run is ridiculous too.
So I'm still watching it but I predict that I won't be for much longer.
In that posting I expressed some reservations about the show.
Since then I have been keeping up with the new episodes and my reservations are getting bigger and bigger.
I think there is far too much in the show that is simply unbelievable. The behaviour of the Carrie character specifically is becoming more and more ridiculous. The idea that the CIA would continue to use her as her behaviour becomes increasingly erratic/unpredictable simply beggars belief.
And the whole piece about the (possible spoiler - select text to make visible) hit and run is ridiculous too.
So I'm still watching it but I predict that I won't be for much longer.
Christmas FM
Last Christmas I blogged about:
The best Christmas songs
The best Christmas movies
The best Christmas book
I can't believe that I failed to blog about one of the other great things about Christmas: Christmas FM!
Christmas FM broadcasts Christmas music for 30 days, closing down again on St Stephen's Day.
You can listen to it in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Wexford. And you can listen to it on the web.
I spotted it on my dial the day before it started broadcasting and I was tuned in at 8:20 in my car on the first morning. It really puts you in the Christmas mood.
And it's run by volunteers and all money raised this year goes to ISPCC Childline.
The best Christmas songs
The best Christmas movies
The best Christmas book
I can't believe that I failed to blog about one of the other great things about Christmas: Christmas FM!
Christmas FM broadcasts Christmas music for 30 days, closing down again on St Stephen's Day.
You can listen to it in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Wexford. And you can listen to it on the web.
I spotted it on my dial the day before it started broadcasting and I was tuned in at 8:20 in my car on the first morning. It really puts you in the Christmas mood.
And it's run by volunteers and all money raised this year goes to ISPCC Childline.
Tuesday 11 December 2012
A month with no posts!
I can't believe it has been just over a month since my last post!
I had 4 assignments to do for college over the last month so it all went by in a bit of a blur!
But I'm back now and can't want to get posting again!
I had 4 assignments to do for college over the last month so it all went by in a bit of a blur!
But I'm back now and can't want to get posting again!
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