Lily: Visual programming in JavaScript
I have an odd fascination with Visual Programming languages, and while I’ve gotten so far as sketching out some UI concepts and object models for a text-processing focused, web-mashing, visual programming environment, I’m a long way from having anything that works. Much to my surprise then when David Ascher dropped a link to the Lily project on his blog today. Holy cow this is sweet. Think PD or Max/MSP written in JavaScript, running in a browser, with modules for popular Web API’s and JavaScript frameworks (ex., “Amazon, Flickr, Wikipedia, Yahoo; UI modules that wrap widgets from YUI, Scriptaculous, JQuery, Google Maps….”)
Check out one of the demo’s here:
(Via: Lily: JavaScript, visual programming, fun.)
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Video: “Web 2.0… The Machine is Us/ing Us”
Here’s a great video on the evolution of the Web:
[Direct link, for the feed readers.]
(Via Gizmodo.)
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A few books I'm reading now:
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Practical Django Projects (Pratical Projects)
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Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People 2nd Edition
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The Sustainable Vegetable Garden: A Backyard Guide to Healthy Soil and Higher Yields
-- Sort of a cliff-notes version of "How to Grow More Vegetables and Fruits", but I thought I'd buy them both.
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How to Grow More Vegetables and Fruits: (And Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops)
A few books I'd recommend:
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Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science
by Charles Wheelan -- A fantastic overview of the field of Economics. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book.
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A Short History of Nearly Everything
by Bill Bryson -- a true tale of scientific thinking throughout history. You'll be amazed by how much we still don't know.
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Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner -- a fun read offering a somewhat different way of looking at society. Answers questions like "Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?", and what qualities in a parent matter for the success of a child later in life?
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Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
by David Allen. I'm a bit of a GTD freak since reading this, but productivity == $$ (whether you can simply get more work done in a given time, or work less by focusing on the right tasks.)