The Origins of APL – 1974

This page shows 5 independent Wat green threads (view source for full Wat code).Each thread has an ID and is defined as a function that loops forever, repeatedly printing its ID, and then sleeping 250ms:["define", ["run-thread", "id"], ["loop", [".", document, "write", ["+", ["string […]

The new Wat is the best, most lightweight way to implement a JavaScript-based programming language I have found so far.Basically, I get away from JS as quickly and painlessly as possible, and start writing the language in itself.So I define a very small set of primitives on the joint foundation of Kernel-like first-class lexical environments and fexprs and d […]

Wat is back! If you'll recall, Wat is my ultra-minimal (~500 lines of JS) interpreter for a Kernel-based language with delimited continuations as well as first-order control, and hygienic macros as well as fexprs.I'm pretty excited by some recent and ongoing changes, which make Wat even smaller and turn it into more of a VM than a full language. Wa […]

Sorry for the silence, good peoples.. I’m wading with Grim Purpose through the mires of book-making. I’ve always had a hard time drawing Babbage on-model, so I finally made a maquette! Some process (I’m using SuperSculpy, for the interested): PROTIP: When sculpting a maquette, FIRST affix the armature to a stand, THEN start sculpting! Because […]

A couple of weeks ago I made a quick impromptu trip up to the town of Macclesfield, just south of Manchester. I went to see this:   Now that’s an actual punchycard room! It’s the Paradise Silk Mills, which is more than worth a visit, if you’re nearby (call first though, their opening hours are […]