1/4/90 ;;Quote: a data object is a named set of data objects; empty sets are references or value; non-empty are attributes

1/8/90 ;;Quote: want to distinguish functions from objects because their shapes are so different; long and stringy vs. compact and regular

2/14/90 ;;Quote: evaluate code by number of copies and memory-based arguments

5/18/90 ;;Quote: can generate code in-line for frequent use or as function calls for low-use

6/6/90 ;;Quote: perturbed inputs tracked round-off error degradation fairly closely

6/11/90 ;;Quote: system is an emergent property of language; opposite to normal view

9/24/90 ;;Quote: represent a convex hull by slabs of coplanar vertices for each face

10/12/90 ;;Quote: if numbers are abstractions for counting then numbers in different bases are different numbers

10/28/90 ;;Quote: all names of an object are equally good; should display all and allow renames of any

11/28/90 ;;Quote: a number is an ordered sequence of objects selected from 10 set-theoretic ones

11/28/90 ;;Quote: decimal notation is vivid because it mirrors the structure it is meant to denote

11/28/90 ;;Quote: can count in letter numerals, e.g., fhiza, but they are not numbers

11/28/90 ;;Quote: if we know a number in any base, multiplication and exponentiation is trivial

11/30/90 ;;Quote: a number is a unique name in a naming universe; a large enough set of names

11/30/90 ;;Quote: the vivid representation of huge numbers is a puzzle for the definition of number just as unary/set theoretic numbers are a puzzle

11/30/90+;;Quote: a data object is a number since it is part of the initial state of a computation

11/30/90 ;;Quote: a digit is a named empty set

11/30/90 ;;Quote: a number is a named set of numbers; a naming function from names to naming functions

12/1/90 ;;Quote: a name in a naming universe is a number whose set is empty

12/1/90 ;;Quote: can consistently identify number systems because rules define the names and structure of a number

12/1/90 ;;Quote: a number system is a set of numbers whose names/sets are generated by rules

7/14/91 ;;Quote: a natural language for very large numbers

11/1/91 ;;Quote: do not lose information

8/10/92 ;;Quote: naming provides a pidgin language for design and a file system for data storage

8/10/92+;;Quote: keyword search is not precise and programming languages do not communicate

8/10/92+;;Quote: natural languages fail because computers do not think and languages are poor at describing large numbers

9/14/92 ;;Note: build a system by keyword, hierarchy, naming, or natural language; e.g., Roman vs. decimal numerals

2/13/93 ;;Note: Thesa's programming language is its numeric opcodes; a machine language for high-level languages

9/12/93 ;;Note: want tight inner loops and space-efficient, low frequency code; for overall space and time efficiency

10/14/93 ;;Note: every value has a unique name; it is in certain places at certain times

10/17/93 ;;Note: a name can be a literal to use, a location to find, a value to track, or a function to execute

11/11/93 ;;Note: formalism tries to make programs tightly structured, but it just isn't so; programs are loosely structured because applications are loosely structured

6/9/94 ;;Note: there are two kinds of rules: formal rules and regularities; Turing machines and words in a natural language

6/9/94+;;Note: a vivid huge number is a rule based on a fixed set of primitives and a regularity based on naming

6/11/94 ;;Note: numbers are transition tables of Turing machines and vice versa; numbers and programs are the same

8/7/94 ;;Note: a number is what we exactly agree about; what we exactly agree about can be represented by named sets; i.e., Church's thesis

2/16/95 ;;Note: a number is a bit string while memory is at a location and has a size

8/2/95 ;;Note: information is language and hence public; not private as in object-oriented programming

8/5/95 ;;Note: classes provide a way to program with global state that is localized to its use

9/13/95 ;;Note: want a rich language for expressing program+data, i.e., bits; both programs and data are easy, it is the rich language that is hard

10/15/95 ;;Note: use inc/dec for cheap synchronization under the normal case; may be cheap enough to use everywhere

12/5/95 ;;Note: science contains many facts and a few basic concepts; the later is hard to teach

3/4/96 ;;Note: type represents what doesn't change; e.g., a boolean is 1 bit; allows temporaries of some type

4/1/96 ;;Note: a programming language should minimize conditional code; e.g., Turing machines are all conditional

4/1/96 ;;Note: a state is a location in a program, i.e., a transition; avoids a circular definition from storing the state

5/17/96 ;;Note: data type provides parameterization, property sheets, attribute-values that specialize things

7/31/96 ;;Note: the key to memory is that it has a unique address

8/10/96 ;;Note: access control and visibility tend to be either too limited or too liberal; hard to make them work

8/27/97 ;;Note: perhaps physics is math, math is computation, and computation is naming

9/27/96 ;;Note: a state variable is a radio button

10/1/96 ;;Note: nothing should happen at an upgrade; everything should work as before despite many changes

10/5/96 ;;Note: Thesa is a high-level representation of assembly language code

1/17/97 ;;Note: a tool is evaluated by its use: its fit to the task and the user

1/17/97+;;Note: the goals of a programming system are size, speed, cycle time, and understandability

1/17/97+;;Note: vivid huge numbers combine the advantages of natural language with those of assembly code

1/27/97 ;;Note: opcodes define a language; a portability layer

5/24/97 ;;Note: changing the bit-width of a data type changes "infinity" or adds overflow checking

1997-06-14 ;;Note: initial conversion of Thesa's editor to Windows

1997-06-25 ;;Note: a modern programming language is really a large language and a large API; Thesa separates the language from everything else

1997-11-15 ;;Note: object-oriented programming converts case statements into procedure calls, organized by data

1998-03-18 ;;Note: information is numbers, what everyone can agree on; the problem is a vivid language for numbers

1998-04-12 ;;Note: goal is a radical improvement in code generation using a publicly developed database

1998-04-13 ;;Note: a type is a record, including its field names

1998-04-13 ;;Note: how to capture the internal structure of a program, irregardless of space

1998-06-06 ;;Note: joggled input allows a simple implementation of geometric algorithms

1999-03-18 ;;Note: the field concept is fundamental; name (the field), memory (its memory base), definition (the offset), and type (size of field); so long at an offset

1999-03-19 ;;Note: a field has no existence independent of an object or record; type is independent

1999-04-08 ;;Note: type is either primitive, without substructure, or a memory pointer, size, offset; memory is any resource

1999-04-11 ;;Note: is type part of value?

1999-04-11 ;;Note: a value is a type ID (a name) and 0 or more fields; field names belong to the type

1999-04-14 ;;Note: a type Turing machine selects transition table by type; allows decomposition

1999-04-16 ;;Note: need 6 instructions to implement a Turing machine's Next and Previous transitions

1999-04-17 ;;Note: the primitive concept is the natural numbers, everything else is convention

1999-04-17 ;;Note: an object is a sequence of pointers to objects; an object can have a name and use names to refer to objects; an object can point to its type

1999-04-17 ;;Note: a procedure is a parameterized sequence of rules; assignment and test statements

1999-04-17 ;;Note: type may be temporarily inconsistent; at 'return', can guarantee anything about a type

1999-04-17 ;;Note: only need get, set, and test pointer

1999-04-21 ;;Note: parameters are objects with type and nothing else

1999-04-21 ;;Note: type acts like a limited state of a Turing machine; defines offsets; same type if same label

1999-04-26 ;;Note: pointer machines will work; end up with a convoluted memory structure equivalent to the textual representation; found my primitives

1999-04-30 ;;Note: a program is a frozen set of modules as identified by a call

1999-04-30 ;;Note: compiling a type determines offsets and referenced modules; cached in memory by date

1999-05-01 ;;Note: named pointers provide a strongly typed model for computing

1999-05-07 ;;Note: should access to a None object always create one?

1999-05-07 ;;Note: call by copying parameters at initiation and termination; copy as needed

1999-05-07 ;;Note: any type defines an interface; those functions that use it as a parameter

1999-05-07 ;;Note: allow [], {}, and () for grouping

1999-05-07 ;;Note: use a table for tabular definitions (e.g., case or switch)

1999-05-28 ;;Note: type lets you substitute like for like

1999-06-18 ;;Note: a call is a stylized use of rules, like a list is a stylized use of objects; allows many kinds of calls

1999-07-10 ;;Note: use compiled code as disk format; IDs expanded to text as needed

1999-12-03 ;;Note: a parameter is an object field, a reference to a pointer; value semantics is an optimization

1999-12-15 ;;Note: literals need an ID just like objects