VS Naipaul’s Seven Rules for Beginners

Following yesterday's post on Alfred Kahn, here is advice from VS Naipaul, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001.

VS Naipaul’s Rules for Beginners

1. Do not write long sentences. A sentence should not have more than ten or twelve words.

2. Each sentence should make a clear statement. It should add to the statement that went before. A good paragraph is a series of clear, linked statements.

3. Do not use big words. If your computer tells you that your average word is more than five letters long, there is something wrong. The use of small words compels you to think about what you are writing. Even difficult ideas can be broken down into small words.

4. Never use words whose meaning you are not sure of. If you break this rule you should look for other work.

5. The beginner should avoid using adjectives, except those of colour, size and number. Use as few adverbs as possible.

6. Avoid the abstract. Always go for the concrete.

7. Every day, for six months at least, practice writing in this way. Small words; short, clear, concrete sentences. It may be awkward, but it’s training you in the use of language. It may even be getting rid of the bad language habits you picked up at the university. You may go beyond these rules after you have thoroughly understood and mastered them.

Alfred Kahn's memo

Alfred Kahn wrote a celebrated memo on writing with clarity. As described in The New York Times:

Though written long before the Internet age, the memo immediately went viral. It was published verbatim in The Washington Post, which also praised it in an accompanying editorial. It generated a marriage proposal from a Boston Globe columnist, who gushed: “Alfred Kahn, I love you. I know you’re in your late 50s and are married, but let’s run away together.” A Singapore newspaper suggested that Mr. Kahn be awarded a Nobel Prize. A Kansas City newspaper urged him to run for president. And, shortly after the memo’s appearance, he was appointed to the usage panel of the American Heritage Dictionary, a position he held until his death.

Here is the memo in full, spotted at here and here. Spotted via Boing Boing.

Terje Sorgjerd, The Aurora

The Aurora from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

I've never seen the northern lights, I hope I will one day.

Sorting algorithms as folk dances

Bubble sort, shell sort, insertion sort, and selection sort, each as a Hungarian, Romanian, or Gypsy folk dance. Alas, all the algorithms are O(n^2). I long to see an O(n log n) waltz, or better yet O(n) leaping into buckets. Spotted via Boing Boing.

An Empirical Comparison of Seven Programming Languages

Lambda the Ultimate has a post describing a paper by Shane Markstrum bewailing the unjustified claims one finds in papers on programming languages. I completely agree with him, but his plan seems to be to thoroughly document the current poor state of the science; I wish that instead he would do one study of the form that he (and I) would like to see. Markstrum's bibliography lists a paper performing a study of that sort, by Lutz Prechelt of Karlsruhe, and I've listed it above. Here's to more such studies!

Another paper bewailing the lack of empiricism for computing generally is Experimental evaluation in computer science: A quantitative study by Walter F. Tichy, Paul Lukowicz, Lutz Prechelt and Ernst A. Heinz. (Yes, it's the same Prechelt.)

Surface Detail

Surface detail from subBlue on Vimeo.

Video of a 3D fractal by subBlue. Anyone know which fractal this is or how it is generated? Thanks to Mike Fourman.

Why I am on strike

An open letter to my colleagues in the School of Informatics.

Colleagues,

Here are four people to think of when considering whether to join the
UCU strike to preserve our pensions on Thursday 24 March.

Yourself. The changes to pensions are estimated to remove £150K in
value over the lifetime of your pension (presuming the two-tier scheme
stays in place, see below). The most significant changes don't take
effect immediately, but bite over time:

• Capping cover for inflation. Full cover to 5%, half cover to 15%;
  that is, a 10% increase when inflation is 15% or higher. Recall
  inflation averaged 16% per year between 1974 and 1980: a cut of 6%
  over six years compounds to a 31% reduction, lasting over the
  remaining lifetime of the pension.
  
  
• Altering the index of inflation from RPI to CPI. The former is
  calculated with an arithmetic mean, the latter with a geometric
  mean, which is always less. CPI runs about 0.7% lower than RPI;
  a cut of 0.7% over twenty years compounds to a 13% reduction.
  
  
• Introduction of a two-tier system, with significantly lower
  payouts to new hires (see next point, re: Jill). If this follows
  the course of other two-tier schemes, the upper tier will be
  eliminated in favour of the lower, and old hires will see their
  pension slashed.
  

Jill, the next lecturer we hire. Old hires who pay into the pension
fund for forty years receive a pension of one-half their final salary;
new hires who do the same receive a pension of one-half their
*average* salary. Basing pensions on average rather than final salary
may be sensible, but to do so with no adjustment in multiplier makes
it appear that employers are using this as an excuse to slip in a
large cut. The changes are estimated to remove £450K in value over
the lifetime of a new hire's pension.

Bill, a student ten years from now. In the long run, our goal is to
keep our Universities strong for students and the country. On the
picket line last Thusday, I saw more students than lecturers.

Me. I saw lecturers cross the picket line on the grounds that they
had an appointment, and did not want to inconvenience the person they
were to meet. If you are one of them, perhaps your politeness would
extend to allowing me to retire with a decent pension.

Thank you for your consideration, -- P

Law of Proverbs

I propose the following Law of Proverbs: for every proverb, there is an equal and opposite proverb. Examples:

A stitch in time saves nine./If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

In for a penny, in for a pound./Don't throw good money after bad.

What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over./Truth will out.

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater./Make a clean sweep of it.What are your favourites?

Why you should consider a post at NSF

The NSF is interested in ensuring expertise in programming languages is represented among its program directors, and SIGPLAN is encouraging researchers to apply. This video from an NSF director explains why you should consider a post at NSF.

Theory B questions at Stack Exchange

Stack Exchange is a website for asking and answering technical questions. One part of the web site is set aside for Theoretical Computer Science. It tends to be dominated by topics in "Theory A" (algorithms and complexity), but there is a small, intrepid group attempting to establish it as a venue for topics in "Theory B" (logic, semantics, and programming languages). To encourage further participation, they've assembled a list of some of the interesting questions they've handled. Have a look, and contribute some questions or answers of your own!