ByteLabs

After loads of refactoring work a new version of HBURG has been released. If you have cabal install you can easily get it by executing the following commands:

 $ cabal update
 $ cabal install hburg

Of course you can also use the instructions provided here.

Notable changes:

• Completely refactored back-end
• Automated integration tests via Test.hs. Execute tests by running:

 $ runghc Test.hs clean configure build test

• The example Java compiler that demonstrates HBURGs usage has also been revised and updated. See HBURGs homepage for more information on the example compiler.

I am actively working on a C# back-end so you can use HBURG to generate a code generator for a compiler written in C#. This should come in handy for the advanced compiler course at the SSW.

Time Machine associates backups with the MAC address of your computer. Thus if you migrate your Time Machine backup to a new Mac Computer, you can’t resume backups where you left off. The following article should help to remedy the problem.

Please do read the following article:

• http://www.nenasili.cz/en/832_noam-chomsky

You may want to take part in the following online petition:

• http://petice.nenasili.cz/?lang=en

My dad discovered the following patent claim. Compare this with my diploma thesis. Does that ring a bell ;-)

My diploma thesis has been published as book.

Amongst many other bookstores I found these quite cool:

• Buecher.de has a nice page about it.

• Amazon.com and Amazon.de has it as well.

Another delightful essay by Peter Norvig about the elections in the US.

Download stable or pre-release darcs source distribution. You need to edit two files, namely aclocal.m4 and autoconf.mk:

• aclocal.m4: add the following before the AC_MSG_RESULT([failed]) line in the WORKAROUND_openFd section:

AC_MSG_RESULT([okay])
IMPORT_WORKAROUND([
   import qualified GHC.Handle ( fdToHandle' )
   import System.IO ( Handle, IOMode )
   import System.Posix.Internals ( FDType )
   import qualified GHC.IOBase ( FD )
])
CODE_WORKAROUND([[
  {- 
   Work around change in the GHC.Handle.fdToHandle' API.
  -}
openFd :: GHC.IOBase.FD -> Maybe FDType -> FilePath -> IOMode -> Bool -> Bool -> IO Handle
openFd fd x y z a b = GHC.Handle.fdToHandle' fd x b y z a
]]),

• autoconf.mk: add -package containers to GHCFLAGS

• run autoconf

Now you are ready and set to build darcs with GHC 6.8.1. The unstable darcs branch works out of the box with GHC 6.8.1.

A new version of GHC is out. Significant changes since the last release:

• Haskell Program Coverage (hpc)
• GHCi includes a debugger
• The code generator uses pointer tagging (which should mean most code improves by 10-15%, and as a result the compiler is also faster)

The full release notes are at:

• http://haskell.org/ghc/docs/6.8.1/html/users_guide/release-6-8-1.html

Last weekend I did a huge rewrite of HBURG's backend. Besides many simplifications and optimizations I finally found some time to replace code that passed around state explicitly with Haskell Monad Transformers. The following is an incomplete list of other fixes and improvements:

• Rewrite rule costs can now include arbitrary expressions
• Context sensitive analysis is fixed now since it was too restrictive and rejecting even correctly defined specifications
• The Gen.Tiling module has been complete removed and replaced by much simpler code
• ...

You can either get the new version from The Hackage or from HBURG's home.

Well, as I thought I should probably keep you up to date about what I am doing and up to… After last week, my quite “crazy” Exam-Week I’m done will all of my exams. It’s awesome to be “free” again, although I should start doing my projects. Or let’s better say, I should finish them!

The Wire Tree My Visual Art project… it is going to be a sculpture, a tree out of wire. It is supposed to reflect the impact we have on the environment and all the issues through global warning and the questions and so on… I am going to put Coke Cans onto the tree, instead of real fruit. Wonder how it is going to turn out when it is all done, finished the stump today.. =D

Packaged Personality This project is for Visual Design… We have to create a package or bag or whatever that is reflecting our personality and of course I’m making a handbag. Let’s say I already made it – out of a T-Shirt. I am damn proud of it. It’s gorgeous! gg Just can’t help it… Now I just have to put stuff in there that reflects my character as well… let’s see how far I get. Wish me luck! =}

Well, I’ll try to keep you up to date. As I said. I will try. Not so much in the coming weeks, am not really going to be at home… Monday – Wednesday: Crossroads (it’s a school camp just for Year 11 – it’s gonna be awesome!) Friday – Monday: Camping with my friend Shanade =D Tuesday – Wednesday: Canberra and I can not wait! There’s this flower festival on and it’s going to be just BEAUTIFUL! Sunday – Sunday: Art School =D (am not sure about the date, I keep forgetting it…)

And would be nice if you drop by at cherryTREE my portfolio. thx already.

Ines <3