Tim Lesher

Journeyman (17 years' experience) software developer, developing in Python, C++, Java, and C, in that order of preference. C++ and Java tend to periodically swap positions on that list...

I hack voice-controlled wearables for Vocollect. (http://www.vocollect.com).

I've been lurking on WardsWiki since 1999, but didn't get up the nerve to write anything until about 2001 (FearOfLookingStupid??).

I don't come around here much anymore since the emergence of SharkBot. I do believe in SharkBotConsideredHarmful. And while I understand and sympathize with the aims that caused its creation and continued use, to me it feels a lot like "having to destroy the village in order to save it."

Other things:

For years now, I've been on the quest for ThePerfectPersonalWiki. Can anyone help? Never mind... it's TiddlyWiki. --tl

I used to think that listing some pages one created was a violation of EgolessWiki, but since other folks whom I respect have done it, here are a few of my favorites:

Originally, I wrote this in response to the post-NineEleven meme "If you stop doing <blank>, then the terrorists win". I started with that, GodwinsLaw, and (just for grins) a few of the ExtremeProgramming tenets. A WikiGnome later extracted part of the resulting discussion into FoosLaw, and kindly credited me with it.

Favorite Wiki Quotes:

"Revision 11 made 3 years ago by..." (new personal favorite) ...and two months later, I discovered LeastRecentChanges, which talks about the same idea. Perhaps the fact that I found LRC two months after I noted this is some metaWiki wisdom; if so, I haven't grokked it yet.

...never consider opening a dictionary to resolve an argument. -- BenKovitz

The crazy thing about WardsWiki is people will generally comment when you've done something wonderful, they will generally not comment when you've done something moderately good to moderately bad (as defined by each reader's perception), and they will howl like crazed-monkeys (ok, I'm exaggerating) when they feel you've really stepped in it. Silence doesn't necessarily imply consent, and RateOfChange is a consideration when dealing with RecentChangesJunkies. -- SeanOleary

This is Wiki where everything is wrong, don't forget, so people will disagree with you. -- SunirShah

Define "simple". Define "usable". Define Universe, and give three examples. Complexity has to go somewhere. -- anonymous

WikiNostalgia

A recent (August 2004) exchange, written to my HomePage, that restored some of my hope for WardsWiki. This is the way Wiki seemed to work when I first found it in 1999-ish: someone (me, in this case) makes an edit that someone else questions, and we hash it out like humans.

Tim, why did you remove the report I put on WikiVandals about WikiHistory? Just curious. -- WikiGnome1

I almost did myself, because that sort of removal is a common newbie experiment, typically not any more malicious in intent than adding "hello" to a page. But "vandalism" is somewhat subjective; who says we have to guess at intent? So I left it alone. No big deal either way, I would say. -- WikiGnome2

I have to admit wondering that myself, and admit to being guilty of shoot-first-ask-questions-later. -- WikiGnome1

What WikiGnome2 said. I looked but didn't see that IP address before on 'Vandals or 'VandalsHistory, and I figured with the amount of spam vandalism going around, it was easy to see a fat-fingered newbie deletion as vandalism, and thought that might have been the case. I also thought "well, historically WikiGnome1 is quite reasonable, so maybe he knows something I don't about it... I'll strike it for now (with my UserName intact) just in case. He'll probably notice--if he puts it back, then I'll apologize for the intrusion and life goes on." -- tl

Notes to Self

WikiMail

[Note to WikiGnomes: if you see something ostensibly abusive or inflammatory on my HomePage, and it's in the WikiMail section, just let it be - I'll delete it or let it stand when I read it. Thanks!] -- tl

At any rate, I highly recommend LispInSmallPieces for someone who wants to understand the semantics of Lisp and Scheme in a lot more depth than is necessary for casual coding, e.g. if one is interested in serious implementations of Lisp or Scheme. (I was rereading it this time around because I implemented a Lisp/Scheme hybrid, and some aspects of the marriage didn't work out well, so I needed to rethink some issues.) -- DougMerritt

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