Disqus - Latest Comments for JohnPaul

Re: Functional Programming | Clojure for the Brave and True

JohnPaul — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 16:21:39 -0000

Hehe. For what it's worth the OO programming notion of idempotence also holds for other system that may have side effects. Database updates can be idempotent. HTTP PUT is intended to be idempotent. The list goes on. Idempotence in OO programming and in other situations is important, and I would not want people to ignore it by considering only idempotence in functional programming, which we can agree is better and the one true way, etc.

Re: Functional Programming | Clojure for the Brave and True

JohnPaul — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 14:31:24 -0000

Tony's blog could mislead the unwary. It almost seems to force the functional programming notion of idempotence on OO programming, but OO programming already has a different notion of idempotence. The blog isn't actually wrong though. He uses static methods rather than instance methods, but it would be nice not to ignore the OO meaning of idempotence when discussing idempotence with Java examples.

For example, a simple setter in Java is idempotent, as is a simple getter, which has no side efffects. Idempotence in OO programming typically means the method called with a specific set of arguments produces a consistent and specific state no matter how often the method is called. The type of the return value does not matter all in the determination of idempotence for OO programming.

Tony's examples using the the closest thing Java currently has to plain functions is possibly confusing.

Re: ketan.org >> dangerous plastics

JohnPaul — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 18:59:28 -0000

Also, I do not think polycarbonate leeches phosgene, nor does PVC leech vinyl chloride as far as I know. They're just the building blocks from which those polymers are built. Ethylene seems about as dangerous as natural gas or other hydrocarbons.

Re: ketan.org >> dangerous plastics

JohnPaul — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 18:55:17 -0000

Yes, that phosgene, which is a chemical analog* of the products of burning (or outgassing from) Teflon, which can occur at the temperatures (above 600F) reached when preheating a nonstick pan on a cooking range.

* Phosgene (Cl2CO) contains chlorine, which is not present in Teflon pan coatings. Instead, you get a fluorine version in your kitchen, which is also bad.

Re: ketan.org >> dangerous plastics

JohnPaul — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 23:54:50 -0000

But polyethylene is one of the plastics that does not need to contain plasticizers or softeners like polyvinyl chloride, and it doesn't leech out BPA as polycarbonate does. Ethylene is kind of nasty, but it's also nothing like vinyl chloride from which PVC is made or phosgene from which polycarbonate is made (with BPA).

Re: ketan.org >> latent obscure jokes

JohnPaul — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 23:30:12 -0000

In the movie version of "Minority Report", the music playing during Sr. Cruz's working of the computer to investigate future uncommitted crimes is Schubert's "Unfinished" symphony.

Re: ketan.org >> an argument against a bailout

JohnPaul — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 10:58:29 -0000

Perhaps we should address the issue that people think they have to go to Tahiti or display such nuptial self-grandiosity in order to be happy. That stuff's nice if one can afford it, but one must be unfulfilled if it really takes that to have an allegedly happy wedding.