Data Structures

Keith Devens:

I came across a neat list of data structures and algorithms resources today, so I’m keeping a list.

CVSTrac

Serious software development requires keeping track of “issues”: bugs, feature requests, unresolved support incidents, code snippets, prototyping results, URLs, etc. A few months ago, I dumped my home-made FileMaker database for CVSTrac, and I couldn’t be happier. The developer has shown enormous restraint in keeping it simple, and the result is one of the most elegant pieces of open source software that I’ve seen. (Apparently, the code is elegant too.) If you’re on a huge project, you might want something heavier, but CVSTrac is more than enough for most smaller teams, I think. You can try it out on CVSTrac’s own server. I’ve posted a Mac OS X build. Hopefully I’ll have time to write a full review soon.

It’s All Thanks to Science

Matt Ridley:

Far from imprisoning us in fate, self knowledge about the causes of our behaviour will liberate people to make choices: as the philosopher Daniel Dennett argues, more knowledge brings more free will.

“Organic farming is sustainable,” says Indian biotechnologist CS Prakash. “It sustains poverty and malnutrition.”

If you asked intellectuals at almost any time since Malthus to talk about the future, they would have been pessimistic and they would have been wrong.

(via Jerry Kindall)

The Daily Show

Somehow I only just discovered that The Daily Show has highlights from recent shows online. Stephen Colbert says: “What we need to do is develop bombs that can kill ideas.”

Quote of the Day

Whoever thinks a faultless piece to see, Thinks what ne’er was, nor is, nor e’er shall be. —Alexander Pope