A Simple DL Parser

10 Wednesday Nov 2021

Posted by in Fun, Python

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Last time I introduced a general Definition Language (DL) I created for defining structured information. The end goal was an extension of DL, called Data Definition Language (DDL), intended for defining memory and file formats. It was intended for tools that examine that data, allowing them more knowledgeable output than a raw hex dump.

I mentioned that DL has been on my mind lately, and as it turns out I spent the day yesterday writing a DL parser in Python.

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Data Definition: DL and DDL

07 Sunday Nov 2021

Posted by in Stories

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A long, long time ago I came up with a simple something I called Definition Language (DL) and an extension of that I called Data Definition Language (DDL). This was before XML (let alone JSON) became popular, and DL and DDL turned out to be somewhat akin to those.

My intention was a configuration language that would allow a data-dumping tool that knew the structure of the data it was dumping. Debuggers can sometimes do that in context. I wanted a tool that could do that with any file format given some DDL config file. (These days I’d probably just use XML.)

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Always Implement toString

02 Tuesday Nov 2021

Posted by in CS101

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Although I’m categorizing this one as really good advice, rather than as a rule, I think it should be viewed as basically a rule. I think it should be a rule in any object-oriented language that supports it natively (Java and Python, for example).

The advice (rule of thumb, say) is to always create a useful implementation of toString when you create a class. It makes your development and maintenance life ever so much better.

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Playing with Polynomials

01 Monday Nov 2021

Posted by in Fun, Python

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I haven’t put nearly the energy into this blog as I have my main blog, Logos Con Carne. My intentions are good, but I never seem to get around to posting here. (It’s certainly not due to lack of interest.)

In an attempt to get more in the habit, I thought I’d write about some simple fun I had recently with a class for calculating polynomials. It was inspired by a lesson from a set of really fun Python tutorial YouTube videos.

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Tabs or Spaces?

19 Tuesday Oct 2021

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There are many issues that divide programmers: operating systems and editors being two huge ones. I’ve worked on too many platforms to care much about the first one, but I’m a lifelong gvim user.

One of the lesser dividing issues involves the crucial source coding choice: Tabs or Spaces? The issue is both less and more important these days. Less because editors are very capable; more because Python is popular.

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Multiplication Visualized

01 Tuesday Sep 2020

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On my regular blog I just posted about a Japanese visual multiplication method. It’s a cute trick that ties into the notion of grid multiplication techniques. (In general, multiplication techniques are of some interest due to the Mandelbrot set, which requires multiplying large numbers lots of times.)

It turns out code to generate the patterns was a lot easier than I thought it would be. The hardest part was generating the diagonal summing lines.

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