Notices by Peter Brett (krans@mastodon.me.uk)

@glynmoody WTAF

@mjr OFCOM have been, and continue to be, completely useless and ineffectual at holding anyone with actual power to account. They only ever punch down.

@glynmoody

@glynmoody Meanwhile many small discussion forums have announced geoblocking the UK because of the completely unmanageable liabilities created by the Online Safety Act. One law for the rich, another for the poor…

@dpk This is very thought-provoking — thank you! Is it even _possible_ to have a single basic record abstraction that fits all use cases (or can be used to build all use cases), as you suggest? Some of the most basic criteria seem mutually exclusive, but maybe I just haven't thought about it for long enough…

@glynmoody From the story, it sounds like he's going to get no punishment whatsoever.

Our in-house #Scheme dialect (SKILL++) makes heavy use of Disembodied Property Lists, an archaic feature of ancient Lisps like MacLisp and Franz Lisp.

They're an interesting data structure: a list-based associative data structure with unique identity and intended for destructive mutation.

I started drafting an SRFI. But I'm probably going to give up. I can't envision getting corporate VP-level approval for publication, and even if I do, I expect the SRFI commentariat to die laughing.

@mcc Yes, this is very good advice! Also, reading Unicode Technical Reports is a great way to get detailed information about the relevant algorithms and technical best practice needed to put that domain expertise to use. @david_chisnall

@mcc Hah! #Unicode deals with human language and scripts, which are much more complicated, inconsistent and illogical than reasonably expected; and text handling is not something that seems to be taught anywhere by anyone.

I guess the conclusion is that software engineers are just expected to learn how to Unicode correctly by collective telepathy? @david_chisnall

@cstross How about “Cosy sci-fi”, a la ‘A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet’

Hello, fellow #Scheme programmers.

In which #IRC channels do the RnRS aficionados hang out nowadays?

@cwebber @flatwhatson @dthompson

@glynmoody It is unclear to me how this is better than a train.

@clacke Late 2020 was when it left Early Access with the 1.0 release.

@leftpaddotpy Is it weird that I like info manuals and generally find them easier to use than manpages?

@CloudyMrs Oh, that's an interesting point. Did you try writing to your MSP or MP to ask about it? It's the kind of thing that the Parliamentary Library or SPICe could probably answer almost instantly.

@tokyo_0 “One rule for me, another for thee.”

@glitzersachen No. I think the project was a tasty target because it was barely maintained (due to capitalism) and no-one was actually looking at the code being submitted in detail (also because of capitalism).

@irenes @glyph @eb It's tricky to avoid the challenge that arises from the problem that (1) producing free software is work and (2) the workers live in a capitalist society and (3) the workers therefore need to pay for food and shelter.

Verily, there is no ethical consumption under capitalism.

@irenes @glyph @eb I thought it was called "free software" because users are allowed to do whatever they want to with it including modifications, not because it's provided free of charge.

The founders of the Free Software movement were Libertarians, not Socialists (unfortunately).

I guess we were talking at cross purposes — sorry.

@kaia One of the few people who can make fatigues look good…

@lardmotel @joeo10 @SDF Surely both sides *are* riddled with bad actors. That's exactly why an opt-out model is inappropriate, in either direction.