David Ness
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Current

This section contains papers that are either objects of current discussion or new papers that just been written.

An Experiment for Random Notes
August 14, 2002 0713 UTC   

This represents a trial piece to see what it would be like to produce some `index cards' that could be moved around and played with.

The Top of the Heap
June 11, 2002 1631  [#1]

This is the current top of the papers that accumulated in Piled Higher and Deeper.

This one deals with Organizing as a work avoidance strategy.

Piled Higher and Deeper
May 23, 2002 0024  [#6]

This is a diary-oriented blog. While I generally prefer to write papers and have longer discussions, some material only requires short shrift. That material is, as an experiment, presented in this paper.

There are now six short papers. The most recent of these is There Ain't No Streets Mid-Ocean

Categorizing Web Services
November 20, 2002 1329  

This note represents an attempt to get a grip on how the world of web services is organized. It contains some very preliminary descriptions of the various pieces of software, and is probably wrong in lots of particular cases. It is published here so that we can improve it.

Old Web Page
December 11, 2001 2145  [#2]

My former home page index (Old Web Site) contains pointers to a number of the different papers and documents that have been distributed on the site over the past few years.

I am expecting to gradually convert these documents to this new format, but that will take a while. In the meantime, The Old Web Site can be scanned for the older documents.

J/K Experiments

I have written several papers that describe problem solving and coding in J and K. This section presents some of those papers.

Going to L: The Other Side of K
December 6, 2001 1757  [#2]

K is used in lots of important financial systems that deal with large data bases (particularly stock market trading data).

This is some new work describing K uses in non-financial problems.

J and K: One User's View
December 11, 2001 1139  [#3]

[J's charging scheme has been modified.]

J and K both qualify as descendants of APL. The purpose of this note is to compare and contrast the two languages from the viewpoint of one user who happens to be about equally expert at programming in each of the languages.

It should be noted that equally expert is not a claim of great expertise, but rather simply one meant to suggest that the usual prejudices associated with uneven knowledge (we often like things that we know better than those we don't) may have been mitigated if not avoided.

Hopefully that is the case with this note.

An Experiment in J and K
December 7, 2000 0003  [Draft #1]

This note reports the results of applying J and K to the problem of managing a simple data base that contains phone data.

An Experiment in J and K: Part II
February 11, 2001 0003  [Draft #1]

As the phone data base discussed in the first note of this series grew in size, performance began to decay markedly After a while this caused there to be some further consideration of how this problem could be solved in a fashion that would scale more sensibly.

This note presents the results of that investigation.

An Experiment in J and K: Associative Arrays via Hashing
February 26, 2001 1356  [Draft #1]

Associative arrays are very useful They are not implemented in the core of either J or K, but it is easy to add them.

Hopefully, it will prove instructive to see how this can be done.

Blogs and Online Journalism

Blogs and the topic of Online Journalism are subjects due for some comment.

What's in a Blog
February 15, 2002 1104  [#2]

This is a short paper that attempts to tell the story of what `Blogs' (Web Logs) are about. It assumes the reader is Net Knowledgeable but without much Blog experience.

Drafts

Drafts are documents where there is enough written material to make some points, but where major sections of the documents may still be incomplete.

A Collection of Benchmarks
January 26, 2002 0246  

The note collects a number of different benchmarks that are appropriate to understanding several different issues, It also presents some simple analytical models that attempt to help explain some of the results.

Among the dimensions studied are various different machines, different languages, J vs. K, and Apple vs. Intel.

Super-Literate Programming
December 7, 2001 0934  [Draft #1]

Super-Literate Programming expands on some notions introduced by Don Knuth in work that he first associated with his TeX project.

This paper expands on some of the ideas involved in Literate Programming by extending it to cover many other environments, Wikis, Blogs, Paper, Screens, ...

Sketches

Sketches are very early documents, and may well never see the `light of day' as I feel free to change my mind about the ideas expressed.

Text: De- and Re-Construction
February 19, 2002 0226  [Draft #0]

The relationship between text and the documents that contain it is not as simple as it might appear on the surface. As text is used for more and more purposes (different domains, different kinds of display, different media, just to name a few examples) this problem becomes more and more important.

MarkUp: Simpler is Better
February 19, 2002 0228  [Draft #0]

MarkUp defines something about how text is to be displayed. In simple circumstances the markup drives the display quite directly. However, if text is to be used for multiple purposes, then the problem is not so simple as the different domains may each require their own forms of markup.

This note considers how this problem can be dealt with in a general fashion.

Scripting: or Who does What and Where?
February 8, 2002 1348  [Draft #0]

I find myself bewildered by all of the options now available for blogs, wikis and other scripting environments. This short note attempts to sort out some of the details.

Mapping Roads with GPS Data
September 6, 2001 0127  [Draft #0]

It isn't trivial to convert GPS tracking data into reasonable representations of roads. This note discusses some of the problems.

Collaboration: City Desk, Rebol, Vanilla and Wikis
December 6, 2001 1524  [Draft #0]

This is a discussion of some of the newly emerging vehicles that can be used to effect various forms of collaboration on the Internet.

Past

Documents that have `time sensitivity' move from `Current' to `Past' with the beat of the clock.

City Desk: In-Sites
January 16, 2002 1414  [#2]

Fog Creek Software's City Desk is a piece of software that makes running a Web site nearly a pleasure. It represents a culmination of many of the insights that Joel Spolsky has earned, the hard way, by actually practicing the development of user oriented software.

The purpose of this note is to discuss both early impressions of City Desk, and possible extensions that might be productive.

Apple Fritters
January 8, 2002 1313  [#1]

I (used to) like the way Apples look. I have been looking for an excuse to buy one or two. First I visited an Apple Store. Then I listened to Steve Jobs' keynote at Apple World.

I think I'll put the idea of buying one on the back burner for a while longer.

FFF: 2002-1
January 6, 2002 2110  Final #2

FFF meetings are held whenever they are needed. These meetings do not typically have an agenda, but there are, from-time-to-time, topics where it proves to be useful to prepare a little documentation before the meeting.

The first FFF of 2002 was held on 9 January 2002. This note describes some of the items that were discussed, but as usual the discussion was wide-ranging and thought provoking.

Studio Evening: The Eye of the Beholder
December 12, 2001 1245  Final #3

`The Eye of the Beholder' is a Studio Evening. A diverse group of people came together to discuss a topic that is of interest to them. Since these people came from highly different backgrounds, the views were far ranging, and often both informed and informative.

This note contains a copy of the `charge' that is to set the theme of this event, and then has some outline notes of what are my preliminary thoughts on the subject.

A short epilogue has been added documenting the fact that this evening has now taken place.

Studio Evening: Through the Looking Glass
January 16, 2002 0108  Final #1

`Through the Looking Glass' is a Studio Evening. A diverse group of people comes together to discuss a topic that is of interest to them. Since these people came from highly different backgrounds, the views can be far ranging, and often both informed and informative.

Pooling of Interests

The focus of some of our current research interests deals with the problem associated with generating, expressing, and maintaining interest across both time and distance. The papers in this section deal with various aspects of that problem.

Paradigm Problems
February 12, 2002 0213  [Draft #0]

There are a number of problems we are trying to solve. This paper focusses on getting them stated in a straightforward way, relatively unencumbered by the complexities that usually surround them when they show up in real situations.

Text Data Bases
January 29, 2002 2248  [#1]

Text Data Bases are conveniently made up of elements that might usefully be described as Note Cards. These contain a title line and paragraphs of text.

In this discussion here, these structures obey one further constraint, namely the title lines taken by themselves form a proper hierarchical outline.

Pool Tasks: To Do and Being Done
January 30, 2002 1047  

This note contains outlines of tasks that have been identified, or are in the process of being worked on.

Preparing the Pool
January 30, 2002 2213  [#0]

This note concentrates on what modules that form the code base for the Pooling of Interests project.

Dinner at `The Tabula Rasa'
January 24, 2002 2053  [#0]

Dinner at `The Tabula Rasa' is a collection of thoughts, ideas, interests, speculations, and contemplations of a number of old friends and colleagues.

This document represents the work currently in process. It is organized into a number of separate areas of focus and interest.

Text Drupelets

This section contains some current research.

Very Short Papers
March 21, 2002 1610  [Draft #1]

Very Short Papers are brief notes intended to highlight issues currently under consideration in the TextDrupelets Project. These notes are intended to contain preliminary and incomplete thoughts rather than more refined considerations.

Diablog: Kimbrough and Ness
February 26, 2002 2358  

This paper contains the first Diablog between Kimbrough and Ness on the subject of Text Drupelets.

commentary
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a piece of k
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