Just Ramblin' On

I've been juggling projects the last few days.  Aside from the two Android products I'm alternating between, there are (currently) two lisp projects.  The first is the Android Lisp I started a while ago and the second is a website I prototyped years ago for real estate that's finally getting some attention.  The website will also be a web-app or Android app and merge with the commercial app I wrote (with the circa 1995 manual-data-entry-UI.)  Maybe.  Hopefully.  Probably.

I'd like to be building iPhone apps, too, but I'm not there yet.  Maybe once I get organized enough to find a volunteer intern willing to work for experience, future possible stock options, and coffee.  One day.  Sooner rather than later would be great.

You know you're using Lisp "old-school" when you spend an hour or so writing some code, then you turn it loose on a computer and it runs forever.  I had a friend in the early 90's who was fond of saying, "Lisp is one of the best ways to abuse a computer."  He'd often describe writing small chunks of Lisp or Scheme code that would take minutes to write and hours or days to process as they brought computers and networks to a grinding halt.  Different times.  My scripts have been running for a while now and they're definitely pushing my tired old laptop into an overheated frenzy.  It's strangely gratifying, though I tend to prefer working on interfaces over large datasets, but haven't really minded either way.  It's all problem-solving.

In an effort to do something that wasn't programming, I started referring stuff on my backup Twitter account.  Mostly books for starters, but I'll probably expand into other areas.  Will be using it as an alternative to a website or blog until I get some of the software I'm working on into more doneness simply because it's quick and meaningful, though concise.  My first recommendation is a bit of nostalgia, mixed with practicality - a book I've owned forever (bought at Borders at the WTC in NYC somewhere around '97) & I still refer to often: ANSI Common Lisp by Paul Graham.  I've always appreciated how concise and approachable the book is.

Now it's back to juggling projects.  I just uploaded an apk for DangAlarm!, my Android alarm clock.  And the data to the database for the website is finally in and now I have to remember how SQL works so I can start putting a couple of web interfaces on top of it using Lisp.  I'm pretty sure things started as one website, but once I have the queries and views built, it'll probably morph into at least two.  Will share more detail soon.