English Words Used In Programming Languages

When it comes to talking about programming, it seems that the closer the programming language is to English, the tougher it can be to talk about it sometimes.

Case in point in class right now: You have words like "this" built into the Java programming language. We're writing a method that refers to "whatever object we're working with" as "this". Someone spoke the word "this" to refer to the method we are working on. The person he was talking to thought he was referring to the word "this" in the code.

Another example: In my previous post about my homework, I disambiguated the word "class".

I am all in favor of a language such as Python that is extremely English-like. That having been said, I suspect some programming languages look convoluted and non-English partly for this reason.

Preparations

I have all but one thing.

I have a capsule-toy vending machine to randomly dispense static film window clings, coupons for free t-shirts, free memberships to various Michigan conventions, and so forth.

I have fliers. I have a huge box of t-shirts. I have our photo album. I have an unfoldable origami penguin centerpiece. I have foam-core signs on cardboard easels. I have our vinyl banner. I have four boxes of Cafe Penguicon supplies. I have blue painter's tape.

I do not have an actual hall table reserved at Capricon. DOH!

I have now put in the request to Capricon, at least to be on a waiting list, but their convention starts tomorrow. I hold out very little hope. Given that I cannot afford an actual membership, for a moment there I was not sure what I was going to do with myself for four days in between running Cafe Penguicon.

The answer is simple. Volunteer. Volunteer like mad. That's where I'm happiest anyway.

You Slew The Vending Golem for 16 GP

I somehow convinced the Ann Arbor Science Fiction Association to pay for a capsule toy vending machine for use by local fandom in southeast Michigan. Sometimes it is known as the Chaos Dispenser or the Vending Golem. Various groups use it to dispense things at conventions. We sometimes glue quarters into the machine's slot to reduce the price. Someday I hope we will come up with a permanent price-reduction solution.

I currently have this machine open in front of me because at Capricon this weekend in Chicago, I will be vending static film window clings, t-shirts, and weekend passes to Michigan conventions: Penguicon, ConFusion, U*Con, and ConVocation. So I am filling the machine's capsules with folded slips of paper.

There is sixteen dollars worth of quarters in this vending machine, and apparently there has been for almost a year. The ones that we superglued into the slot were in the bin, having fallen out. Apparently people just went on using it to play the Morton's List game (the last usage of the machine that I know of) after the superglue came loose. What do you know.