{ "attachments": [], "comments_archived": true, "date": "2003-10-16T17:19:17.000Z", "layout": "post", "title": "Seeking Out Opposites", "wordpress_id": 497, "wordpress_slug": "seeing-out-opposites", "wordpress_url": "http://www.decafbad.com/blog/?p=497", "year": "2003", "month": "10", "day": "16", "isDir": false, "slug": "seeing-out-opposites", "type": "entry", "postName": "2003-10-16-seeing-out-opposites", "html": "

\nFor the past year or two, I've been trying an experiment in my\npersonal research and learning. I've been seeking out tools and\ntechnologies which are as different as possible from those with which\nI already have experience. I want to break up some prejudices and\nhabits I have, and expose myself to more ways of looking at things.\nNow that I write this, it sounds like a great approach to life in\ngeneral, but for now I'm focusing on computer science. :)\n

\n\n

\nMy success \nwith this has been entirely dependant on free time and brain cycles,\nof which I've had precious little. But, I have managed to wean myself\naway from Perl to learning Python, developing a few apps with it and\nincorporating it into my problem solving kit. I've also managed to\nget myself away from XEmacs for hours at a time in order to weave Vim\ninto my work-a-day life. These two things haven't been easy for me,\nsince I've been using both Perl and some variant of Emacs for almost\n12 years now, and I've done my share of sneering at that which is not\nperl or emacs. \n

\n\n

\nAnd, although I've yet to spring upon them, I've also been making wary, \nnarrowing circles around Lisp, Smalltalk, Prolog, and .NET. There\nbeen occasional forays into Java, as well as my daily attachment to\nFlash and Actionscript lately. And then, there've been my hefting and\nswinging of XSLT and XPath, as well as RDF, countered by a few feints\nwith plaintext shell tools and YAML. There's been more, but most\ninvestigations have been too tentative to mention.\n

\n\n

\nIf there's a \"holy war\" between two things, I want to explore them both.\nI tend to see two apparently intelligent parties in an extended debate\nover which of them has a hold on the One True Way. In my\nexperience, though, there's a high likelyhood that such a phenomenon\npoints toward a real truth which lies somewhere inbetween. (This, of\ncourse, ignoring such cases where one party is correct, and the other\nis WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!) There tend to be very good reasons why smart\npeople on either side of a fence have taken up with what they have,\nand I want to know both sides thoroughly. I know full well that both\nsides have at least some valid criticisms against the other, but I\nwant a synthesis of the two.\n

\n\n

\nIn this field of computer science, there\nare as many ways of working with the dreamstuff as there\nare ways of structuring thoughts. And, rather than there ever being\nOne True Way to do things, there will always be another smart person\ndeveloping another powerfully expressive and insightful way of doing\nthings. Someday, I'd like to be one of those smart people, so I need\nto have a sense for that truth in the middle that other One True Ways \nbracket and zero in on. And then, I want to know enough to jump out\nof the frame altogether, and in which ways I can invert and twist\nthings to encircle some new spark.\n

\n\n

\nSomeday in the next few years, I'd like to get back into school so I\ncan get to even higher levels of growing up to be a computer scientist.\nBut for now, it's back to work for me. And, if you happen to think of\nany geeky holy wars, let me know. I'm collecting them for study.\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n

shortname=seeing_out_opposites

\n

Archived Comments

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n", "body": "

\r\nFor the past year or two, I've been trying an experiment in my\r\npersonal research and learning. I've been seeking out tools and\r\ntechnologies which are as different as possible from those with which\r\nI already have experience. I want to break up some prejudices and\r\nhabits I have, and expose myself to more ways of looking at things.\r\nNow that I write this, it sounds like a great approach to life in\r\ngeneral, but for now I'm focusing on computer science. :)\r\n

\r\n\r\n

\r\nMy success \r\nwith this has been entirely dependant on free time and brain cycles,\r\nof which I've had precious little. But, I have managed to wean myself\r\naway from Perl to learning Python, developing a few apps with it and\r\nincorporating it into my problem solving kit. I've also managed to\r\nget myself away from XEmacs for hours at a time in order to weave Vim\r\ninto my work-a-day life. These two things haven't been easy for me,\r\nsince I've been using both Perl and some variant of Emacs for almost\r\n12 years now, and I've done my share of sneering at that which is not\r\nperl or emacs. \r\n

\r\n\r\n

\r\nAnd, although I've yet to spring upon them, I've also been making wary, \r\nnarrowing circles around Lisp, Smalltalk, Prolog, and .NET. There\r\nbeen occasional forays into Java, as well as my daily attachment to\r\nFlash and Actionscript lately. And then, there've been my hefting and\r\nswinging of XSLT and XPath, as well as RDF, countered by a few feints\r\nwith plaintext shell tools and YAML. There's been more, but most\r\ninvestigations have been too tentative to mention.\r\n

\r\n\r\n

\r\nIf there's a \"holy war\" between two things, I want to explore them both.\r\nI tend to see two apparently intelligent parties in an extended debate\r\nover which of them has a hold on the One True Way. In my\r\nexperience, though, there's a high likelyhood that such a phenomenon\r\npoints toward a real truth which lies somewhere inbetween. (This, of\r\ncourse, ignoring such cases where one party is correct, and the other\r\nis WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!) There tend to be very good reasons why smart\r\npeople on either side of a fence have taken up with what they have,\r\nand I want to know both sides thoroughly. I know full well that both\r\nsides have at least some valid criticisms against the other, but I\r\nwant a synthesis of the two.\r\n

\r\n\r\n

\r\nIn this field of computer science, there\r\nare as many ways of working with the dreamstuff as there\r\nare ways of structuring thoughts. And, rather than there ever being\r\nOne True Way to do things, there will always be another smart person\r\ndeveloping another powerfully expressive and insightful way of doing\r\nthings. Someday, I'd like to be one of those smart people, so I need\r\nto have a sense for that truth in the middle that other One True Ways \r\nbracket and zero in on. And then, I want to know enough to jump out\r\nof the frame altogether, and in which ways I can invert and twist\r\nthings to encircle some new spark.\r\n

\r\n\r\n

\r\nSomeday in the next few years, I'd like to get back into school so I\r\ncan get to even higher levels of growing up to be a computer scientist.\r\nBut for now, it's back to work for me. And, if you happen to think of\r\nany geeky holy wars, let me know. I'm collecting them for study.\r\n

\r\n\r\nshortname=seeing_out_opposites\r\n\r\n
\r\n

Archived Comments

\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n
\r\n ", "parentPath": "./content/posts/archives/2003", "path": "2003/10/16/seeing-out-opposites", "summary": "For the past year or two, I've been trying an experiment in my\npersonal research and learning. I've been seeking out tools and\ntechnologies which are as different as possible from those with which\nI already have experience. I want to break up some prejudices and\nhabits I have, and expose myself to more ways of looking at things.\nNow that I write this, it sounds like a great approach to life in\ngeneral, but for now I'm focusing on computer science. :)\n\n\n\nMy success \nwith this has been entirely dependant on free time and brain cycles,\nof which I've had precious little. But, I have managed to wean myself\naway from Perl to learning Python, developing a few apps with it and\nincorporating it into my problem solving kit. I've also managed to\nget myself away from XEmacs for hours at a time in order to weave Vim\ninto my work-a-day life. These two things haven't been easy for me,\nsince I've been using both Perl and some variant of Emacs for almost\n12 years now, and I've done my share of sneering at that which is not\nperl or emacs. \n\n\n\nAnd, although I've yet to spring upon them, I've also been making wary, \nnarrowing circles around Lisp, Smalltalk, Prolog, and .NET. There\nbeen occasional forays into Java, as well as my daily attachment to\nFlash and Actionscript lately. And then, there've been my hefting and\nswinging of XSLT and XPath, as well as RDF, countered by a few feints\nwith plaintext shell tools and YAML. There's been more, but most\ninvestigations have been too tentative to mention.\n\n\n\nIf there's a \"holy war\" between two things, I want to explore them both.\nI tend to see two apparently intelligent parties in an extended debate\nover which of them has a hold on the One True Way. In my\nexperience, though, there's a high likelyhood that such a phenomenon\npoints toward a real truth which lies somewhere inbetween. (This, of\ncourse, ignoring such cases where one party is correct, and the other\nis WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!) There tend to be very good reasons why smart\npeople on either side of a fence have taken up with what they have,\nand I want to know both sides thoroughly. I know full well that both\nsides have at least some valid criticisms against the other, but I\nwant a synthesis of the two.\n\n\n\nIn this field of computer science, there\nare as many ways of working with the dreamstuff as there\nare ways of structuring thoughts. And, rather than there ever being\nOne True Way to do things, there will always be another smart person\ndeveloping another powerfully expressive and insightful way of doing\nthings. Someday, I'd like to be one of those smart people, so I need\nto have a sense for that truth in the middle that other One True Ways \nbracket and zero in on. And then, I want to know enough to jump out\nof the frame altogether, and in which ways I can invert and twist\nthings to encircle some new spark.\n\n\n\nSomeday in the next few years, I'd like to get back into school so I\ncan get to even higher levels of growing up to be a computer scientist.\nBut for now, it's back to work for me. And, if you happen to think of\nany geeky holy wars, let me know. I'm collecting them for study.", "needsBuild": true, "prevPostPath": "2003/10/14/when-rss-attacks", "prevPostTitle": "When RSS Developers Attack", "nextPostPath": "2003/10/29/nokia-ngage-schmutz", "nextPostTitle": "A thought about the Nokia N-Gage" }