Comments on: NASA gone open source? http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2006/03/11/nasa-gone-open-source/ I am an astronomer, writer, and skeptic. I likes reality the way it is, and I aims to keep it that way. My real name is Phil Plait, and I run the Bad Astronomy blog. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:00:08 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: SFwriter http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2006/03/11/nasa-gone-open-source/comment-page-1/#comment-12670 SFwriter Mon, 13 Mar 2006 18:32:53 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2006/03/11/nasa-gone-open-source/#comment-12670 Mary: I'm not so interested in craters extant, but rather craters "potentially"... http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/ ;-) Mary:
I’m not so interested in craters extant, but rather craters “potentially”…
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/ ;-)

]]> By: PK http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2006/03/11/nasa-gone-open-source/comment-page-1/#comment-12669 PK Mon, 13 Mar 2006 18:06:09 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2006/03/11/nasa-gone-open-source/#comment-12669 "God wrote everything in Lisp" Hahaha. But wouldn't He have to be a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computer" rel="nofollow">quantum programmer</a>? “God wrote everything in Lisp”

Hahaha. But wouldn’t He have to be a quantum programmer?

]]> By: Arto http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2006/03/11/nasa-gone-open-source/comment-page-1/#comment-12668 Arto Mon, 13 Mar 2006 17:11:19 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2006/03/11/nasa-gone-open-source/#comment-12668 @WWWWolf: yes, there does seem to be a widespread acceptance regarding this point ;-) http://lispers.org/ “The language God would have used to implement the Universe.” — Svein Ove Aas “Programming in Lisp is like playing with the primordial forces of the universe. It feels like lightning between your fingertips. No other language even feels close.” — Glenn Ehrlich http://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/eternal-flame.html "And God wrote in Lisp code Every creature great and small. Don't search the disk drive for man.c, When the listing's on the wall. And when I watch the lightning burn Unbelievers to a crisp, I know God had six days to work, So he wrote it all in Lisp. Yes, God had a deadline. So he wrote it all in Lisp." @WWWWolf: yes, there does seem to be a widespread acceptance regarding this point ;-)

http://lispers.org/

“The language God would have used to implement the Universe.” — Svein Ove Aas

“Programming in Lisp is like playing with the primordial forces of the universe. It feels like lightning between your fingertips. No other language even feels close.” — Glenn Ehrlich

http://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/eternal-flame.html

“And God wrote in Lisp code
Every creature great and small.
Don’t search the disk drive for man.c,
When the listing’s on the wall.
And when I watch the lightning burn
Unbelievers to a crisp,
I know God had six days to work,
So he wrote it all in Lisp.

Yes, God had a deadline.
So he wrote it all in Lisp.”

]]> By: Irishman http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2006/03/11/nasa-gone-open-source/comment-page-1/#comment-12667 Irishman Mon, 13 Mar 2006 16:48:14 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2006/03/11/nasa-gone-open-source/#comment-12667 I thought he programmed in Binary? I thought he programmed in Binary?

]]> By: WWWWolf http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2006/03/11/nasa-gone-open-source/comment-page-1/#comment-12666 WWWWolf Mon, 13 Mar 2006 13:42:43 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2006/03/11/nasa-gone-open-source/#comment-12666 "If God were a programmer, would He write OSS? I think not! ;)" Actually God wrote everything in Lisp, which is evident because we can easily examine the code, data structures and at least the bytecode of the very existence of everything. (Okay, according to Roman Catholic tradition He wrote in Haskell, and Protestants insist it's Common Lisp, and some radical offshoots suggest OCaml or even Scheme, but at least no one's claiming anything else besides functional programming languages.) “If God were a programmer, would He write OSS? I think not! ;) ”

Actually God wrote everything in Lisp, which is evident because we can easily examine the code, data structures and at least the bytecode of the very existence of everything.

(Okay, according to Roman Catholic tradition He wrote in Haskell, and Protestants insist it’s Common Lisp, and some radical offshoots suggest OCaml or even Scheme, but at least no one’s claiming anything else besides functional programming languages.)

]]> By: Arto http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2006/03/11/nasa-gone-open-source/comment-page-1/#comment-12665 Arto Mon, 13 Mar 2006 12:42:25 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2006/03/11/nasa-gone-open-source/#comment-12665 I second Apu, Celestia is a truly great piece of software. Definitely worth checking out for any astronomy geek! As for Mr. Gates - since he *is* funding the Discovery Institute, to the tune of almost $10 million, he deserves all the bad press he can get. He's certainly had enough previous experience with negative publicity to know what funding them entails, no matter what the overt objective may be given as. I second Apu, Celestia is a truly great piece of software. Definitely worth checking out for any astronomy geek!

As for Mr. Gates – since he *is* funding the Discovery Institute, to the tune of almost $10 million, he deserves all the bad press he can get. He’s certainly had enough previous experience with negative publicity to know what funding them entails, no matter what the overt objective may be given as.

]]> By: Apu http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2006/03/11/nasa-gone-open-source/comment-page-1/#comment-12664 Apu Mon, 13 Mar 2006 10:41:58 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2006/03/11/nasa-gone-open-source/#comment-12664 Speaking of free, multi-platform, astronomy-related software: I have the feeling some of you (including the BA himself, judging by a posts search) don't know about Celestia: http://www.shatters.net/celestia/index.html Or is it just that my lack of understanding of how things really are in this universe made me overrate that particular piece of software? If you got 30 minutes to spare, please try it and leave a note here. Small quote from the front page so you get an idea before clicking on... " Welcome to Celestia... The free space simulation that lets you explore our universe in three dimensions. Celestia runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. [...] You can travel throughout the solar system, to any of over 100,000 stars, or even beyond the galaxy." Speaking of free, multi-platform, astronomy-related software: I have the feeling some of you (including the BA himself, judging by a posts search) don’t know about Celestia:
http://www.shatters.net/celestia/index.html
Or is it just that my lack of understanding of how things really are in this universe made me overrate that particular piece of software? If you got 30 minutes to spare, please try it and leave a note here.
Small quote from the front page so you get an idea before clicking on…
” Welcome to Celestia… The free space simulation that lets you explore our universe in three dimensions. Celestia runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. [...] You can travel throughout the solar system, to any of over 100,000 stars, or even beyond the galaxy.”

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