034: Adaptive Reasoning

[som-snytt]

When the compiler says drily, "This is unlikely to be what you want," you realize you have found someone you can talk to.

Your only other question is, Can he prescribe meds, or is he not that kind of doctor?

From the ML, the perils of adapting to Tuple0 aka Unit value.

[demobox]

@som-snytt Thoughts on this one..?

[som-snytt]

Almost got around to it yesterday. Having two in the queue is enervating, having one accepted is a kick in the pants. I think I used that word correctly.

I mailed the therapy joke to paulp, who suggested "ELIZA-fying" the REPL, and at some point I posted such a REPL session but got only crickets, so now I'm not sure whether to incorporate any joke at all here.

I think the crazed "I am Master of the Universe!" is funny, and maybe it's funnier in the context of someone who was finally pushed over the edge by puzzlers, except that scalac talked him down from the ledge.

Another idea suggested by my comment about misdirections: As you mouse-over parts of the puzzler, little thought balloons pop up, with hints and possibly misleading suggestions. "Is this implicit in scope here?" etc.

And teasing zingers like, "Um, would you like me to compile that for you? I won't tell anyone. [pause] Hey, it compiles!"

[demobox]

@som-snytt How do you feel about the following:

class Printer(labeller: =>Unit) {
  def print(message: =>String, labelled: Boolean = false) {
    if (labelled) labeller
    Console println s"$message  $message"  // repeat message to make sure it gets thru
  }   
}

var userName = "paulp"
def prompt() {
  Console print (if (userName == "root") "#admin> " else s"$userName$$ ")
}
val p = new Printer { prompt }
p print "I am Master of the Universe!"
userName = "root"
p.print("I am Master of the Universe!", true)

And do you think you could rebase and re-submit? Looks like we have some additional commits in the PR now, that probably occurred as a result of some "formatting fix" commits on trunk.

[som-snytt]

I think another process is needed for claiming filenames, otherwise you're prone to collisions as in the present case. Did I mention, Arggh? Somewhere in my verbose comments I noticed that you were changing numbering; so it really needs a githubbish framework.