Here is a not so short list of things I bookmarked during the summer.

• Blowing up my compile times for dubious benefits: An interesting discussion (and application in Rust) on optimizing move generators in chess engines.
• Why Modality and Chording?: Probably one of the best discussion I’ve seen on Vim modal editing vs. Emacs chording.
• Do you know how much your computer can do in a second?: Nicely packaged and very instructive.
• Elements of Data Science: A new textbook by Allen Downey on data science, with applications in Python. What I like with Downey’s books is what he said upfront: “When I use a term, I try to define it immediately, and when I use a programming feature, I try to explain it.”
• deta: Functional Database Mapping: It provides a handy way of mapping data between database tables and Racket structs. I will need to try this at some point.
• Structures in C: From Basics to Memory Alignment: For those interested in C programming.
• A Functional Introduction To Computer Science: This is a two-part textbook on functional programming with Racket, with lot of exercises.

When I first started teaching using Racket in first year, I was inspired to change my research focus to functional programming languages. Consequently, when I set out to design the two-course sequence whose materials I adapted for FICS, I had a wealth of recent reading to draw on. Among the sources I used, besides the first edition of HtDP, were the early editions of “Programming Languages: Application and Interpretation” by Shriram Krishnamurthi, the second edition of “Essentials of Programming Languages” by Friedman, Wand, and Haynes, “LISP In Small Pieces” by Christian Quienniec, “The Scheme Programming Language” by Kent Dybvig, “ML For The Working Programmer” by Larry Paulson, and the papers of Chris Okasaki. There are others I’m forgetting because I’m writing this away from my office bookshelves.

• Extending a Language — Writing Powerful Macros in Scheme: The author uses Chez Scheme (and Emacs) to illustrate the definition and use of syntax objects and syntax-case macros. For another in-depth account of Scheme macros, see The Adventures of a Pythonista in Schemeland, and Alexis King’s posts on that very specific topic.
• Is there an open source implementation of Mathematica-the-language?: Some useful links are to be found in this thread and associated comments.
• CPU Utilization is Wrong: In which we learn that CPU utilization is a misleading metric, most of the time.
• Division of integers by constants: Even if the focus is on embedded systems, the two recipes discussed in this post are highly instructive (TL;DR division by a constant is equivalent to multiplication by the reciprocal of that constant).
• How Tail Call Optimization Works: A short illustration of recursive tail-call in C.
• {n} times faster than C - part one: On how to overoptimize a simple C loop.
• Clojure Plays Mario: In which tha uthor describes an AI that could complete all of the levels in the original Super Mario Bros for the NES (except for the Bowser levels that have mazes).
• Web Browser Engineering: An online book on designing a small bu efficient web browser in Python.
• An Introduction to Statistical Learning: I never realized that there was also a Python version of the ISLR textbook. I guess we should call it ISLP then.

Even if the ideas you’re sharing with the world aren’t original you can enrich them with your personal view. As Bill Thurson said 2 all of us have clear understanding of a few things and murky concepts of many more. There is no way to run out of ideas in need of clarification. — Nobody cares about your blog