March 2008 Archives

I just read that closures are being added to C++ [PDF link].

A note to Sun: you know your language is falling embarrassingly behind if the C++ standards committee can move more nimbly than you can!

(For those who aren't already sick of reading about closures in Java, Neal Gafter is developing a prototype Java compiler that supports closures, and he even has a JSR proposal drafted and ready to go.)

Tomorrow marks the 5th anniversary of Bush's war with Iraq. The costs:

• 3990 US soldiers dead That is more than 2 per day.
• 20,416 US soldiers wounded (badly enough to require air transport). That's more than 11 per day.
• At least 82,240 civilians killed. That's 45 a day and only includes deaths that get reported in the media. One study puts the civilian death toll much, much higher.
• $503 billion. That's 275 million dollars a day, and it doesn't include future obligations, such as veteran's health care. (Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz argues that the war has already cost 3 trillion dollars.)

The blood of 2 soldiers and $275 million down the drain today and tomorrow and the day after.... With no end in sight.

Our elected representatives seem uninterested in stopping this war, but these candidates for the US House of Representatives have a responsible plan to end the war. It is remarkably sane and it is the only glimmer of hope I've had in a long time.

If you arrived here after reading slashdot's review of The Ruby Programming Language, you've come to the right place. Thanks, Brian, for the kind words! The post below includes links to the book's table of contents and to an interactive preview.