Arbitrary computations at compile time are not necessarily a bad thing. LISP had the advantage that regular code and data were notated and stored the same way, so writing macros to shovel code around was no harder than writing functions to shovel data around. Importantly, the language for the macros was the same as the language itself. The loop macro link you provided is a bad example; overall, LISP did macros right.

C++ templates are a byzantine language that shares nothing at all in common with C++ itself, which is fine if you're not trying to build a turing machine out of them. I want a C-based language with LISP-like macros so bad, but template metaprogramming has always seemed like an abuse to me. Code that convoluted could not have been intended.

Though completely off-topic, another reason people often save money when switching car insurance is that their cars are re-valued in the process. Of course, the car's current value is less than it was when the first insurance was purchased.

You might like this, then. From Neal Stephenson's Anathem:

Although it's not nearly as hard to read, saying GWT-generated JS is enough to examine source for trust is like saying binaries are enough to examine for trust. You can go through a binary and figure out what a certain program will do (after all, computers do this every time they run a program), but it's much more difficult.

I... uh... was not aware I though slashdotters were stupid? Huh. Sorry if it came off that way :D

Free software isn't ambiguous to a slashdotter, but you can probably see how "100% Free, Trisquel 4.5 STS 'Slaine' Released" is a more ambiguous headline than "100% Libre, Trisquel 4.5 STS 'Slaine' Released". The headline is horrible because nobody knows what Trisquel is, but by using libre you immediately know it's about free software. For people who haven't heard it used before, well, as you said, slashdotters are a smart crowd. It's an easy association.

Yes. That would be dumb! Telling people about how great free software is when they don't care is the worst thing to do to help the free software movement, as it's about the worst thing you can do for any idea. It'd be like telling someone "my phone is jailbroken!" when all they want to do is borrow it to make a quick call.

But when you're talking about free to people who do care (like, say, some slashdotters), it's useful to distinguish between the two very different definitions of free. Some software is neither, some is one but not the other, and some is both, and these distinctions matter if you're someone who cares about these things.

In the open source community (and most of the larger computer nerd metacommunity) the term free software has a very specific meaning. Unfortunately, the english word free has two different meanings: free as in freedom, and free as in beer, as it's usually put. To anyone not in the know, free software is just software that can be obtained at no cost.

Using the words libre and gratis clarifies what you're talking about, and though it may not be a particularly useful distinction on slashdot, it's often used elsewhere. Most people can guess what they mean even if they've never heard them used in this context, because gratis is often used to say "this costs nothing", while libre sounds a lot like liberty.

You could just set up a VPN at home (I do it through my DD-WRT router, it was simple enough) and then you literally are on the home network. Of course, then you have to deal with the slow VPN connection.

For a more tailor-made solution, you could use MobileSubstrate to hook whatever mechanism the app would use to check out the local network, and make it look like you're at home only to the TV app. Similar things have been done to make Apps think you're on wifi when you're really on 3G, so you can use Skype, etc. over wifi.

I'm sorry, I read the word sheeples and I stopped reading. You might have had an important and well-defended point to make, but now I'll never read it; that word is too closely associated with snarky teenagers and tinfoil-hat conspiracy theorists for me to take it seriously. It's like trying to use phonies in serious conversation. You may be using it correctly, but you're associating yourself with people who you probably don't want to be associated with.

Just some helpful advice: I'd avoid using it in the future.

I get what your trying to say, but this probably isn't the best way to say it. It's hard to argue something isn't Turing-complete when I can go and download a Turing machine app.

While I'd readily agree that XCode is basically the best thing ever for coding in Objective C, I do take issue with your last comment.

I love working in Emacs, thank you very much. Just because you don't doesn't mean nobody else does. Given that OSX comes with many common Emacs keystrokes automatically enabled, I'm sure I'm not alone.

Yeah, that's my only major complaint with Diaspora so far. I'm a developer that's interested and would love to contribute, but I just do not have enough time to learn a whole new framework. Just installing all the stuff you need to run it takes almost too long for me, although it looks like it's gotten a lot better (smaller) since I looked at it last.

I know people like to hate on Diaspora around here, but this would be an ideal platform for it. Run your diaspora seed for you and a few friends on a wall-wart server. You could even pre-install diaspora, and sell them online for the non-tech-minded. Just unwrap, plug in, and setup through a web browser.

This isn't a new idea, but I think it's a good one (that is, if Diaspora ever takes off...)

Gentoo was probably what taught me how to use Linux properly, because the installation itself is an educational experience. You partition your drives with fdisk, format them with mke2fs (and friends), compile your own kernel, and write your own grub configuration, all with a fairly well-written guide for each step. There's very little magick going on in a Gentoo system, because you write most of the configuration yourself.

After a few installations of Gentoo (and about a year maintaining a Gentoo system) I knew about enough to build my own Linux system.

Your description is good, so I'll attempt to ride your coattails and tack on my own. It's not an original idea, but I think it's a good one.

Anonymous is a Stand Alone Complex, or a group of copycats with no original. Or, a sort of similar thinking (and action) caused by a confluence of similar media and the rapid exchange of ideas (such as over the internet). Particularly (from above link):