From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Drew Adams Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: RE: Emacs benchmarking suite Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2016 09:13:46 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <839ce9d7-7614-4285-8d37-9fe7cd52b427@default> References: <1458384791.7944.32.camel@codingquark.com> <87zituel31.fsf@mbork.pl> <1458389745.12830.2.camel@codingquark.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1458404098 10784 80.91.229.3 (19 Mar 2016 16:14:58 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2016 16:14:58 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org To: Dhavan Vaidya , Marcin Borkowski Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sat Mar 19 17:14:45 2016 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1ahJWX-0006cb-5z for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sat, 19 Mar 2016 17:14:45 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:49546 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ahJWW-0005aF-LO for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sat, 19 Mar 2016 12:14:44 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:51718) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ahJWS-0005XV-EX for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 19 Mar 2016 12:14:41 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ahJWN-0004Vj-G9 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 19 Mar 2016 12:14:40 -0400 Original-Received: from aserp1040.oracle.com ([141.146.126.69]:36400) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1ahJWN-0004Uo-A3 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sat, 19 Mar 2016 12:14:35 -0400 Original-Received: from aserv0022.oracle.com (aserv0022.oracle.com [141.146.126.234]) by aserp1040.oracle.com (Sentrion-MTA-4.3.2/Sentrion-MTA-4.3.2) with ESMTP id u2JGDnDj015305 (version=TLSv1 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=OK); Sat, 19 Mar 2016 16:13:49 GMT Original-Received: from aserv0122.oracle.com (aserv0122.oracle.com [141.146.126.236]) by aserv0022.oracle.com (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id u2JGDlHl030744 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=FAIL); Sat, 19 Mar 2016 16:13:48 GMT Original-Received: from abhmp0015.oracle.com (abhmp0015.oracle.com [141.146.116.21]) by aserv0122.oracle.com (8.13.8/8.13.8) with ESMTP id u2JGDk9q031631; Sat, 19 Mar 2016 16:13:47 GMT In-Reply-To: <1458389745.12830.2.camel@codingquark.com> X-Priority: 3 X-Mailer: Oracle Beehive Extensions for Outlook 2.0.1.9 (901082) [OL 12.0.6744.5000 (x86)] X-Source-IP: aserv0022.oracle.com [141.146.126.234] X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.4.x-2.6.x [generic] X-Received-From: 141.146.126.69 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:201872 Archived-At: > It used to be weird - I wouldn't get it while reading it, and after > a few hours, all of a sudden it made sense. Funny about that. That's the way something new hits us sometimes. We rarely start from a blank slate, and our initial understanding can only be modified, built upon, and adapted, never really ignored or escaped. The result can be that when a quite-different view is grasped, that seems to happen in a quantum leap and does not seem to be the result of a logical or historical progression. Paradigm shift; cf. ye olde quantity-leaps-into-quality thingie. We often cannot see any bridge that got us from there to here. We see only a discontinuity. Recursion, higher-order functions, abstract data types, infinite data structures, unification,... can be just such weird eye-openers. The first time I saw a declarative (e.g. Lisp/Prolog) definition of `append' I'm sure I stared at it like a deer in the headlights for a few minutes, before it registered. Or maybe, as you describe, it suddenly hit me later. Like staring at a SIRDS for the first time, trying hard to see something 3D in it to no avail, and then drifting off, paying less attention, staring past it vaguely, and suddenly having a 3D dinosaur pop out of the page unexpectedly. Enjoy. --- "It will flame out, like shining from shook foil" - G.M. Hopkins, 1877 http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173660