https://why.theplatypus.codes/ Recent content on Why The Platypus Codes Hugo -- gohugo.io en-us Mon, 17 Feb 2020 14:58:43 -0500 https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/reachable-states/ Fri, 03 Apr 2020 08:28:49 -0400 https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/reachable-states/ In order to assist the checker, the programmer should make assertions about the various states that the machine can reach. https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/definite-assertions/ Fri, 03 Apr 2020 08:28:21 -0400 https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/definite-assertions/ the programmer should make a number of definite assertions which can be checked individually, and from which the correctness of the whole programme easily follows. https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/price-of-reliability/ Mon, 23 Mar 2020 15:44:29 -0400 https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/price-of-reliability/ The price of reliability is the pursuit of the utmost simplicity. It is a price which the very rich find most hard to pay. https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/language-complexity/ Mon, 23 Mar 2020 15:42:08 -0400 https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/language-complexity/ If our basic tool, the language in which we design and code our programs, is also complicated, the language itself becomes part of the problem rather than part of its solution. https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/added-later/ Mon, 23 Mar 2020 15:36:28 -0400 https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/added-later/ A feature which is omitted can always be added later, when its design and its implications are well understood. A feature which is included before it is fully understood can never be removed later. https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/two-ways/ Mon, 23 Mar 2020 15:21:48 -0400 https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/two-ways/ I conclude that there are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/subset-improvement/ Mon, 23 Mar 2020 15:17:23 -0400 https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/subset-improvement/ we recognized that a subset could be an improvement on the original. https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/read-by-people/ Mon, 23 Mar 2020 15:14:41 -0400 https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/read-by-people/ First, we certainly want programs to be read by people and people prefer to read things once in a single pass. https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/against-the-law/ Mon, 23 Mar 2020 15:04:51 -0400 https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/against-the-law/ In any respectable branch of engineering, failure to observe such elementary precautions would have long been against the law. https://why.theplatypus.codes/switchboard/ Mon, 17 Feb 2020 14:58:43 -0500 https://why.theplatypus.codes/switchboard/ The problem Sometimes I build little things that have a web componant. It might be a webiste or an API, the usual suspects. As much as it scares me sometimes I also think that these things should run for real and be treated as real, if small, products in order to take them serisiously myself. The final piece to the puzzle is my own laziness. The cloud is a fine place to host things. https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/conjure-the-spirits/ Tue, 07 May 2019 10:30:00 -0400 https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/conjure-the-spirits/ In effect, we conjure the spirits of the computer with our spells. (p. 1) https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/how-to/ Tue, 07 May 2019 10:30:00 -0400 https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/how-to/ Computation provides a framework for dealing precisely with notions of “how to”. (p. xvi) https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/in-order-to-use-it/ Tue, 07 May 2019 10:30:00 -0400 https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/in-order-to-use-it/ The user should not need to know how the procedure is implemented in order to use it. (p. 25) https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/incidentally-for-machines/ Tue, 07 May 2019 10:30:00 -0400 https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/incidentally-for-machines/ Thus, programs must be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute. (p. xv) https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/not-a-science/ Tue, 07 May 2019 10:30:00 -0400 https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/not-a-science/ “computer science” is not a science and that its significance has little to do with computers. (p. xvi) https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/read-and-write/ Tue, 07 May 2019 10:30:00 -0400 https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/read-and-write/ you must read and write computer programs—many of them. It doesn’t matter much what the programs are about or what applications they serve. (p. xi) https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/spirit-and-style/ Tue, 07 May 2019 10:30:00 -0400 https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/spirit-and-style/ They should feel secure about modifying a program, retaining the spirit and style of the original author. (p. xvi) https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/visualize-the-behavior/ Tue, 07 May 2019 10:30:00 -0400 https://why.theplatypus.codes/quotes/visualize-the-behavior/ [A master software engineer] can visualize the behavior of his system in advance. (p. 2) https://why.theplatypus.codes/note/elixir-protocols-and-behaviors/ Mon, 16 Jul 2018 13:18:00 -0400 https://why.theplatypus.codes/note/elixir-protocols-and-behaviors/ Protocols: Describe how an known action is taken on a Type. Behaviors: Describe how a Type takes an known action. https://why.theplatypus.codes/thought/protected-dynamic-client-registration/ Fri, 30 Mar 2018 15:37:06 -0400 https://why.theplatypus.codes/thought/protected-dynamic-client-registration/ Thoughts on Protected Dynamic Client Registration. This proposes a method of trust intended for software statements that can be Endorsed by trusted 3rd parties, and used by an authorization server that has little or no knowledge of the Developer. This uses the General JWS JSON Serialization Syntax to exchange data and signatures between parties. Payload MUST contain at least one of kid, jku, jwk to allow identification of the Developer. https://why.theplatypus.codes/fable/how-the-platypus-built-an-arch/ Tue, 26 Dec 2017 12:28:00 -0400 https://why.theplatypus.codes/fable/how-the-platypus-built-an-arch/ One evening the platypus was in his workshop tinkering with a new piece of code. As the evening wore on and the code grew the platypus started to think about the code’s future. Who would use it? Where would it live? He knew that only he would use the code, it was just a silly personal project after all, but to his dismay he did not know where it could live.