I have never, ever sent a JavaScript file to a person capable of reading JavaScript, who actually wanted or needed a JavaScript file sent to them via email. No one has ever requested such a thing from me.
In a world where email clients were maintained as actively as web browsers, this behavior would be a default feature, in the same way we have weird workarounds for HTTP proxies.
Kotlin's design was heavily influenced by Groovy. You can see it in the builder DSLs, the syntax, the fact that Gradle is adding support for Kotlin alongside Gradle, and comments by the Kotlin designers. The big difference of course is that Gradle is dynamically typed by default.
> Gradle is adding support for Kotlin alongside Gradle, and comments by the Kotlin designers. The big difference of course is that Gradle is dynamically typed by default.
You've fallen for the trap of mistaking Gradle to be Apache Groovy, perhaps because those 10-line build scripts for Gradle are the only encounter most programmers have with Groovy. Your comment should read "Gradle is adding support for Kotlin alongside Groovy, and comments by the Kotlin designers. The big difference of course is that Groovy is dynamically typed by default."
It's similar to Groovy, which I've worked with non extensively, but I think it adds a lot more. I've always found development in Groovy to be closer to Ruby or Python, while Kotlin feels more like Java (just better :-)
At some point, I had considered the idea that after the invention of the atomic bomb, the cabal of scientists surrounding its discovery were asked to obfuscate further advancements, and seclude practical findings behind classified restrictions.
Many of the scienctists of that post war era were hounded mercilessly for decades ever after, throughout the cold war.
If one were to try and obfuscate a scientific field, and introduce enough confusion such that whirlpools of disagreement ensnare the casual hobbyist, how would that take shape?
At some point, I had considered the idea that after the invention of the atomic bomb, the cabal of scientists surrounding its discovery were asked to obfuscate further advancements, and seclude practical findings behind classified restrictions.
Conspiracy theory: in the early days after the H-bomb, there was research into finding some way to make an H-bomb without needing an atomic bomb just to get the energy to start the thermonuclear reaction. This would have resulted in a "clean" H-bomb, and also the ability to make smaller ones. This research was unsuccessful.
Maybe it was really a success. Too much of a success, What if it became too easy to do? Perhaps progress in fusion is deliberately held up because there's a way to make an H-bomb that doesn't require an A-bomb.
Within the context of post 9/11 torture, one might wonder about the actual goal of such torture programs.
I've never been entirely clear about the information being searched for among supposed terrorists. Operating without state sponsors, terrorist cells are pretty threadbare, and don't have many valuable secrets. The secrets they might have are limited in use, and have a short shelf life.
Then we read in the article:
Here we have no direct data - after all,
there have never been controlled torture
trials that we know of...
Given that the government has a monopoly on violence, maybe the entire goal all along was to conduct exactly this research as a non-survival experiment in humans, under an opportunistic pretense such that the subjects being expended would be considered despicable enough to waste on such exploration?
Maybe doing so would fill in such knowlege gaps, and provide answers in the only way possible.
I'd be a lot more inclined to believe this if when the programs came to light the government de-classified the details that supported the theory you suggest.
Since they've said nothing I'm going to continue to use Occam's Razor and believe that they did it either as a form of revenge or because they mistakenly believed in cargo cult of that being how stuff was done (likely thanks to Hollywood).
Hollywood tends to focus on short, intense scenes of pain stimulus such as beating, electrocution, etc. with a tearful confession coming after a few minutes.
The torture program had much more to do with long-term engineering of a prisoner's environment with the goal of breaking down his humanity and spirit over a period of months and years: stress positions, sleep deprivation, loud music, extreme temperatures, and repeated fruitless water-boarding.
I don't think we get to blame Hollywood for this. More like the techniques that our "advisors" were refining and teaching to repressive anti-communist regimes throughout the 20th century, finally applied by us instead of by proxy.
When I was a child/teen, it was popular to wonder about the effects of TV violence, and now we know. It appears many people are unable to distinguish between TV and reality. Monkey see, monkey do.
Considering the direct parallels someone would draw between scientifically studied torture and nazi experiments, I'd be surprised if anyone was allowed to officially sign off on this.
I deeply enjoy these sorts of distinctions in decorum, and the undercurrents of what it all must imply. It's all this subliminal signaling that tunes the pitch of an atmosphere to cultivate ideas.
Consider the duality of U.S. Marines, contrasting dress blues against combat BDU's. Or any military subculture for that matter.
Snappy dressers are trying to send a message about the money they burn on dry cleaning, and how early they get up to look sharp for their morning cup of coffee. How new their razor is, how orderly their coiffure seems. They have the time for this sort of thing, and they might have the time to waste on you ...if you're lucky.
And then there's nerd signaling. The next twelve hours to be spent scanning text, perched atop a swivel chair in comfortable clothes. Waking up possibly before before noon, because yesterday's dose of caffeine and inspiration carried through until 4:30 AM, when someone got their head bitten off in a forum by some cranky sleep-deprived rage about abuse of notation.
Meanwhile, in a court room, lives are irrevocably altered. People being hauled before a judge, to have their lives taken away from them, because they were born under a bad sign. There can't be any flippant hairstyles among the insiders of such a system. The whole point of showing up is to impress upon outsiders that a stone faced institution housed within a forrest of doric columns shall weigh and adjucate a decision. Clear voices in respectable, classic outfits must deliver verbal pronoucements with the reverb of a cavern older than the dawn of humankind. Janitors have mopped blood off these floors. This isn't some cluttered bedroom filled with the detritus of decades old junk.
That is something that has never happened to me.