From: Chad Perrin <perrin@...>
Date: 2006-09-09T19:22:45+09:00
Subject: Re: DRAW 1280, 1024

On Sat, Sep 09, 2006 at 06:46:51PM +0900, Robert Dober wrote:
> 
> Chad
> maybe you remember the post where I was discarding D and you kind of made me
> think  about it twice. This is a good time to come back [ I consider this
> group flexible enough not to be bothered by slighly off topic posts but feel
> free to tell me if I am wrong ] to you on this point.
> I do not regret at all looking at D a second time and it indeed seems a very
> nice thing to have in your toolbox!!!.
> So why not toss in the links for UCBLogo?
> I feel it might be of  interest for more folks than just OP and myself.
> If you feel differently about it could you reply to me offlist?
> Thx in advance

Good point(s).  I'll post links here, at least:

central UCBLogo resources page:
  http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~bh/logo.html

Computer Science Logo Style
Volume 1: Symbolic Computing
  http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~bh/v1-toc2.html

Computer Science Logo Style
Volume 2: Advanced Techniques
  http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~bh/v2-toc2.html

Computer Science Logo Style
Volume 3: Beyond Programming
  http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~bh/v3-toc2.html

At least some Linux distributions (Debian included) provide UCBLogo
packages in their software archives.  I was delighted to find that I
could install UCBLogo on my Debian systems by typing "apt-get install
ucblogo" (without the quotes) into a root shell.  Quite convenient.

Logo has been called the "Lisp without parentheses", and that's pretty
much what it is.  Most implementations have been somewhat neutered in
the creators' zeal for producing a language implementation that is
friendly to young students, but UCBLogo is not of that ilk -- it goes so
far as to include support for Lisp macros (though I haven't personally
explored their use enough to be able to make a determination about how
well they're supported, the syntax and use seems quite similar to that
of ANSI Common Lisp).

It's an open source distribution of Logo created by a Berkeley
professor, Bryan Harvey, who is also the author of the above-mentioned
university computer science textbooks that make use of UCBLogo as the
example language.  I've found the books to be well-written (so far -- I
have been often and thoroughly distracted by the demands of other
languages in my life, alas), and the language absurdly easy to learn.
It has been the single biggest factor in my growing appreciation for
arithmetic prefix notation, and functional syntax in general, so far.

Suddenly, I'm considering creating a mailing list . . . damn.  Like I
don't have enough on my plate already.

-- 
CCD CopyWrite Chad Perrin [ http://ccd.apotheon.org ]
"Real ugliness is not harsh-looking syntax, but having to
build programs out of the wrong concepts." - Paul Graham