My Lecturer The Linux Zellot

So I have a Linux zellot as a Compilers Lecturer and for an assignment he wants us to program a compression table algorithm or a program demonstrating several algorithms. Anyway he is adding marks for anybody who use difficult and time consuming programming languages like Haskel, assembler, C etc and so not going to be giving me any extra marks for using VB.Net.

To try and boost my marks I want to try creating a project using multiple programming languages. Can anybody give me a link to something that could help give me a starting block?

koorb wrote:

Anyway he is adding marks for anybody who use difficult and time consuming programming languages like Haskel, assembler, C etc and so not going to be giving me any extra marks for using VB.Net.

koorb wrote:

To try and boost my marks I want to try creating a project using multiple programming languages. Can anybody give me a link to something that could help give me a starting block?

W3bbo wrote:

koorb wrote: Anyway he is adding marks for anybody who use difficult and time consuming programming languages like Haskel, assembler, C etc and so not going to be giving me any extra marks for using VB.Net.

Well, VB.NET vs. Assembler, one is a LOT harder than the other

koorb wrote: To try and boost my marks I want to try creating a project using multiple programming languages. Can anybody give me a link to something that could help give me a starting block?

Compile your VB.NET stuff, run it through Lutz Roeder's Reflector and disassemble it back into C#, Delphi, and MSIL.

Voila

Is C# on the list of approved extra credit languages?

Brian Kelley wrote:

Is C# on the list of approved extra credit languages?

If it were me, I'd be sure to turn in at least one project in VB.Net and them make smug remarks in class. Something along the lines of, "Gee, VB project of mine was my easiest yet. VB Express 2005 just makes everything so accessible. Maybe someday Linux will have programming tools that productive..." Not that I necessarily think that there aren't good tools for Linux (there are), but just to toy with his mind. Then again, rumor has it that I don't take my studies seriously, so don't take my advice.

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BryanF wrote:

If it were me, I'd be sure to turn in at least one project in VB.Net and them make smug remarks in class. Something along the lines of, "Gee, VB project of mine was my easiest yet. VB Express 2005 just makes everything so accessible. Maybe someday Linux will have programming tools that productive..." Not that I necessarily think that there aren't good tools for Linux (there are), but just to toy with his mind. Then again, rumor has it that I don't take my studies seriously, so don't take my advice.

[6]

Write a version in "whitespace"

http://compsoc.dur.ac.uk/whitespace/index.php

A sad state of ivory tower thinking. "Build it the more difficult way, and you'll be extra special"

If you can build it easier, then do it that way. Extra points for speed, accuracy, and reusability. Of course, I am not affected by your resulting grade, but I agree with your inclination to rebel against this ridiculous insistence on unnecessary complexity. You will be hired and paid in the real world for the opposite of what your prof is suggesting.

It reminds me of a time I saw James Gosling give a speech, and he was snickering pridefully at the techs who were trying to use his laptop to prepare the presentation slides. He was laughing because they couldn't get it to work. This seemed to him to be a bonus point; an operating system so mired in command lines they're too stupid to use it. A presentation application so rare, they don't have a version of it on their computer.  If he had had his slides on powerpoint - because that's what everyone uses to be productive - then they could have used their own machine and shown his presentation without effort.

Being capable of complexity in software is good. Insisting on it to get a job done -  that can be done another way - is wasteful.

For a quite different approach, how about using SQL?

gabe19 wrote:

A sad state of ivory tower thinking. "Build it the more difficult way, and you'll be extra special"

If you can build it easier, then do it that way. Extra points for speed, accuracy, and reusability. Of course, I am not affected by your resulting grade, but I agree with your inclination to rebel against this ridiculous insistence on unnecessary complexity. You will be hired and paid in the real world for the opposite of what your prof is suggesting.

It reminds me of a time I saw James Gosling give a speech, and he was snickering pridefully at the techs who were trying to use his laptop to prepare the presentation slides. He was laughing because they couldn't get it to work. This seemed to him to be a bonus point; an operating system so mired in command lines they're too stupid to use it. A presentation application so rare, they don't have a version of it on their computer.  If he had had his slides on powerpoint - because that's what everyone uses to be productive - then they could have used their own machine and shown his presentation without effort.

Being capable of complexity in software is good. Insisting on it to get a job done -  that can be done another way - is wasteful.

Hint: You'll probably get far more credit from your prof for choosing a language that requires a different type of thinking. Prolog would be a good choice, as would a functional language like Miranda or Haskell.

You'll also learn a lot more that way than by just using a few variations of imperative languages like VB, C# etc.

cyber_rigger wrote:

Write a version in "whitespace"

http://compsoc.dur.ac.uk/whitespace/index.php

Got it working. You have to create two separate projects. Then go:
File -> Add -> Existing Project...
And that will give you both projects in the same interface and allow you to work with multiple languages.

I don't like the look of Whitespace, but I do think F# (Haskel.Net) deserves a look see. And maybe Iron Python too. My lecturer loves Python so that should give him a nice shock.

I was joking about whitespace.

Here are some more Obfuscated languages.

http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Programming/Languages/Obfuscated/

andokai wrote:

gabe19 wrote: A sad state of ivory tower thinking. "Build it the more difficult way, and you'll be extra special" If you can build it easier, then do it that way. Extra points for speed, accuracy, and reusability. Of course, I am not affected by your resulting grade, but I agree with your inclination to rebel against this ridiculous insistence on unnecessary complexity. You will be hired and paid in the real world for the opposite of what your prof is suggesting. It reminds me of a time I saw James Gosling give a speech, and he was snickering pridefully at the techs who were trying to use his laptop to prepare the presentation slides. He was laughing because they couldn't get it to work. This seemed to him to be a bonus point; an operating system so mired in command lines they're too stupid to use it. A presentation application so rare, they don't have a version of it on their computer.  If he had had his slides on powerpoint - because that's what everyone uses to be productive - then they could have used their own machine and shown his presentation without effort. Being capable of complexity in software is good. Insisting on it to get a job done -  that can be done another way - is wasteful.

I'd have to disagree with you there. If projects don't force a student to think then they're pointless.

Students need to be prepared for the real world where they won't be able to operate within their comfort zone all the time. They should be exposed to as many languages as they can handle so they can pick the best tools for the job rather than the best solution with the familiar tools and understand programming concepts rather than language constructs.

To be honest I don't mind him giving extra marks to people programming in Assembler because they will spend far more time programming and debugging than I will. It just means that my program will have to be more innovative than just a basic implementation.

Anyway don't you all hate it when something you have spent weeks on gets a lesser mark than someone who did the same thing in an hour!?

d00d, it's spelled zealot, not zellot