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Migrate the old jekyll posts to org-mode

org
Sameer Rahmani 5 months ago
parent
1fb1d6e4bb
commit
65faf5bc00
17 changed files with 2149 additions and 33 deletions
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  1. +3
    -0
      .gitignore
  2. +1178
    -0
      assets/js/highlight.pack.js
  3. +73
    -0
      assets/styles/arta.css
  4. +27
    -9
      build.el
  5. +0
    -1
      lisp/ox-template.el
  6. +83
    -0
      orgs/coh.org
  7. +180
    -0
      orgs/essays/choosing-the-target-platform.org
  8. +49
    -0
      orgs/essays/my-new-programming-language.org
  9. +52
    -0
      orgs/essays/rational-and-a-name.org
  10. +257
    -0
      orgs/essays/serene-simple-version.org
  11. +116
    -0
      orgs/essays/transaction-variants.org
  12. +63
    -0
      orgs/faq.org
  13. +15
    -0
      orgs/gpg.org
  14. +17
    -11
      orgs/index.org
  15. +12
    -2
      orgs/sitemap.inc
  16. +12
    -1
      templates/blog.html
  17. +12
    -9
      templates/index.org

+ 3
- 0
.gitignore View File

@@ -8,3 +8,6 @@ _tmp/
build/
orgs/categories/
orgs/tags/
\#*
*.tex
*.pdf

+ 1178
- 0
assets/js/highlight.pack.js
File diff suppressed because it is too large
View File


+ 73
- 0
assets/styles/arta.css View File

@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
/*
Date: 17.V.2011
Author: pumbur <pumbur@pumbur.net>
*/

.hljs {
display: block;
overflow-x: auto;
padding: 0.5em;
background: #222;
}

.hljs,
.hljs-subst {
color: #aaa;
}

.hljs-section {
color: #fff;
}

.hljs-comment,
.hljs-quote,
.hljs-meta {
color: #666;
}

.hljs-string,
.hljs-symbol,
.hljs-bullet,
.hljs-regexp {
color: #ffcc33;
}

.hljs-number,
.hljs-addition {
color: #00cc66;
}

.hljs-built_in,
.hljs-builtin-name,
.hljs-literal,
.hljs-type,
.hljs-template-variable,
.hljs-attribute,
.hljs-link {
color: #32aaee;
}

.hljs-keyword,
.hljs-selector-tag,
.hljs-name,
.hljs-selector-id,
.hljs-selector-class {
color: #8866cc;
}

.hljs-title,
.hljs-variable,
.hljs-deletion,
.hljs-template-tag {
color: #bb1166;
}

.hljs-section,
.hljs-doctag,
.hljs-strong {
font-weight: bold;
}

.hljs-emphasis {
font-style: italic;
}

+ 27
- 9
build.el View File

@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ Not pages."

(sort
(mapcar #'pair-file-with-date files)
(lambda (x y) (< (car x) (car y))))
(lambda (x y) (> (car x) (car y))))
"\n")
tag)))
(car tags))))
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ Not pages."

(sort
(mapcar #'pair-file-with-date files)
(lambda (x y) (< (car x) (car y))))
(lambda (x y) (> (car x) (car y))))
"\n")
tag)))
(car tags))))
@@ -261,6 +261,23 @@ Not pages."
(setf org-html-link-home "")
(setf org-html-scripts "")

;; (org-babel-do-load-languages
;; 'org-babel-load-languages
;; '(
;; (emacs-lisp . t)
;; (org . t)
;; (shell . t)
;; (C . t)
;; (python . t)
;; (clojure .t)
;; (lisp . t)
;; (js . t)
;; (awk . t)))

;; ;; Never export the code block evaluation
;; (setq org-babel-default-header-args '((:eval . "never-export")))
;; (setq org-src-fontify-natively t)

(let ((build-dir (from-root "/build/"))
(base-url (if (prod-p) "https://lxsameer.com" "http://localhost:3003")))
(copy-template (from-root "/templates/index.org")
@@ -279,7 +296,8 @@ Not pages."
(create-category-pages project-root)

(setq org-html-preamble #'preamble-fn)

(setq org-html-htmlize-output-type nil)
(setq org-latex-listings t)

(setq org-publish-project-alist
`(("lxsameer.com"
@@ -307,7 +325,7 @@ Not pages."
:html-tags-template ,(from-root "/templates/tags.html")
:publishing-function org-html-publish-to-templated-html
:auto-sitemap t
:htmlized-source t
:htmlized-source nil
:sitemap-folders ignore
:sitemap-style list
:sitemap-title "lxsameer's nest"
@@ -332,12 +350,13 @@ Not pages."
:makeindex nil)

("pdfs"
:base-directory ,(from-root "/orgs")
:base-directory ,(from-root "/orgs/essays")
:root-directory ,project-root
;;:publishing-directory ,(concat build-dir "/essays/")
:recursive t
:base-extension "org"
:publishing-directory ,build-dir
:publishing-function)
:publishing-function org-latex-publish-to-pdf)


("statics"
@@ -348,9 +367,8 @@ Not pages."
:publishing-function org-publish-attachment)
("build" :components ("lxsameer.com" "statics"))))

(org-publish-project "build" t nil))

(message "Build complete."))
(org-publish-project "build" t nil)
(message "Build complete.")))


(provide 'build)


+ 0
- 1
lisp/ox-template.el View File

@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@
(require 'seq)
(require 'ox-publish)
(require 'mustache)
(require 'htmlize)
(require 'pp)
(require 'ht)
(require 'lisp/utils)


+ 83
- 0
orgs/coh.org View File

@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
#+SETUPFILE: ../config.org
#+OPTIONS: toc:nil
#+EXPORT_FILE_NAME: coh.html
#+DATE: 2021-02-11
#+TITLE: Code of Honor
#+PAGE: true

I always try to live by my code of honor. A man is nothing without his honor. “A sin is to betray your beliefs”.

* Honorable life
- Don’t betray your code of honor.
- Defend your Bushido way.
- Live life as a Honorable Man.
- Don’t lie.
- Honesty takes courage.
- Don’t talk without a knowledge to support it.
- “Don’t argue with the crazy guy”.
- Always follow your sense of Justice
- Feel the pain of others.
- Always put your self in people’s shoe before making any decision.
- A simple smile goes a long way.
- There’s no honor in winning by cheating.
- “If you fall down 7 times make sure to get up 8 times.”
- Protect your promises.
- “For a samurai everywhere is Japan.”
- Holding back is disrespectful to your opponent.
- Live life in your way.
- “Respect is earned, not given”, So earn it.
- “A man is much more than the job he holds and clothes he wears.”

* Science

#+BEGIN_QUOTE
Truth is sought for its own sake … Finding the truth is difficult, and the road to it is rough.
For the truths are plunged in obscurity … God, however, has not preserved the scientist from error
and has not safeguarded science from shortcomings and faults. If this had been the case,
scientists would not have disagreed upon any point of science… Therefore, the seeker after the
truth is not one who studies the writings of the ancients and, following his natural disposition,
puts his trust in them, but rather the one who suspects his faith in them and questions what he
gathers from them, the one who submits to argument and demonstration, and not to the sayings
of a human being whose nature is fraught with all kinds of imperfection and deficiency.
Thus the duty of the man who investigates the writings of scientists, if learning the truth is his
goal, is to make himself an enemy of all that he reads, and, applying his mind to the core and margins
of its content, attack it from every side. He should also suspect himself as he performs his critical
examination of it, so that he may avoid falling into either prejudice or leniency.

–- [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_al-Haytham][Ibn al-Haytham]]
#+END_QUOTE

* Software Engineering

- Simplicity over Complexity
- Simple first, then Easy
- Abstraction, Abstraction, Abstraction
- Put your conventions layer on top of a well written abstraction
- Always choose a name for your variables which implies the variable content or usage.
- Never ever use variable names such as x, a, b, etc.
- Bugs before new features
- Docs before new features

** Library design
Major releases can contain backward incompatible changes. It’s better to use a different code name
instead of a major version number change to indicate that there going to be backward incompatible changes.
Minor releases shouldn’t break the dependency versions. E.g: X(0.6.0) depends on Python(3.5.x), X(0.7.0)
should depends on the same version python

** New Feature Checklist
- Is it easy to extend the feature ?
- Is it scalable ?
- Is it easy to maintain ?
- Is it well documented ?
- Does it have the best possible performance ?
- What about tests ?
- Is it following the correct coding style ?

** Resiliency Checklist

- Things that might fail:
+ Dependent systems
+ Network
+ External storage
+ Database
+ “The Cloud”

+ 180
- 0
orgs/essays/choosing-the-target-platform.org View File

@@ -0,0 +1,180 @@
#+SETUPFILE: ../../config.org
#+TAGS: Serene(s) Languages(l)
#+CATEGORY: Engineering
#+DATE: 2019-12-07
#+TITLE: Choosing the target platform

After wrapping my head around the [[file:rational-and-a-name.org][rational]] of [[file:my-new-programming-language.org][My new programming language]], I have
a big decision to make. Choose a platform.

As programmers, we have a tough life when it comes to making a decision that
has direct impact on our product. I'm pretty sure you went through this process
at least once. From choosing a semantically great name for a variable to choosing
a right technology for your next billion dollar startup. It is always hard to
pick a tech stack for a new project. Especially when the new product happens to be
a new programming language. If I get my hands dirty with a wrong tech stack for
a simple web application, no big deal. I still can rewrite the whole thing and
pay a penalty. But in the case of programming languages that's not the case. Wrong
platform can easily destroy you. From the dawn of computers, many smart people
created tons of languages. But only few of them made it to the top. While there
are so many reasons for their success, going with the right platform is one
the most important ones.

The obvious question that comes to mind when we're talking about "The platform"
is, should we build a platform from scratch or should we piggyback on others?
Creating a programming language and a virtual machine from scratch is gigantic and
bone crushing task. It needs a crazy set of skills and knowledge. Even with such
wisdom and experience people who went through it has made many mistakes and had to
constantly iterate to come up with the right implementation. The evolution of
programming languages such as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheme_%28programming_language%29][Scheme]] is a good example of it (for more information
take a look at [[http://www.r6rs.org/][R6R5]].

Building a VM is hard and Building a fast VM is even harder. While I think creating
a programming language and a VM from scratch is really fun, but it can be really
frustrating as well. I don't want to get annoyed with myself during the process and
abandon my goal. I should ride on the shoulders of the giants to gain benefit from
their great work. I should choose a platform that helps me to move faster and iterate
through different ideas quicker.

From a technical perspective, Starting from scratch means that I have to write a
program that includes at least a parser and a compiler. Building a compiler
is no joke. Hypothetically let's say we have a working compiler and parser, What
about use libraries and ecosystem ?? It would be really hard to convince people
to use a programming language that does not have any useful library and they have
to build everything by themselves. It might have been the case 30 years ago but
it is not the case in the modern age of programming languages anymore.

So the idea of creating [[https://serene-lang.org][Serene]] from scratch is out of the picture. We need to find a good
platform for it. But what are the options ???

* Racket :Serene:Languages:
#+BEGIN_QUOTE
Racket is a general-purpose programming language as well as the world’s first ecosystem
for language-oriented programming. Make your dream language, or use one of the dozens
already available.
#+END_QUOTE

[[http://racket-lang.org][Racket]]is a dialect of Lisp which allows us to build our own language by extending it. While
Racket is really cool and have a long list of pros and [[https://beautifulracket.com/appendix/why-racket-why-lisp.html][many reasons why to use it]]
(It's Lisp after all), it has the disadvantage that forced me to stop thinking about it
for *Serene*. As I mentioned in the [[file:rational-and-a-name.org][rational]] I'm not trying to build a toy language or
a domain specific one and Racket's ecosystem isn't as great as a battle tested and well-known
ecosystem like Java or Python (or other popular ecosystems).

* Javascript
We're living in the age of Web and one of the big players in this era is Javascript. The number
of the programming languages that compile to Javascript is increasing rapidly. Javascript
as a language [[https://whydoesitsuck.com/why-does-javascript-suck/][sucks]] but as platform it is amazing. Lots of money and engineering effort has
been spent on improving Javascript engines. As a result Javascript is a crappy language with
well engineered engines such as [[https://v8.dev/][V8]].

Creating a language based on Javascript platform means that I have to be involved with the whole
transpiling scenario and deal with the fact that this new language can be used on different
browsers or on the backend. Or even on IE6 (Just kidding). I don't want to deal with all this.
I think Javascript platform can't be a good fit for what I need. So I won't go into details about
it

* Python
Python is another famous platform form creating programming languages. Many people have built
programming languages on top of Python (Checkout [[http://norvig.com/lispy.html][Lispy]] if you're a Python fan). Python is super
popular these days and you'll see it everywhere. Creating a language on top of Python (just
like Javascript) gives me access to a rich ecosystem with huge number of libraries and a robust
ecosystem.

But as I mentioned in the [[file:rational-and-a-name.org][rational]] I want support for built-in concurrency and parallelism.
Python isn't even good when it comes to parallelism and concurrency. I'm using python for more
than 10 years now and I'm very familiar with it. I know about all the effort to create useful
concurrency and parallelism such as asyncIO. But the fact is Python is not designed for this job.
*The GIL* is a huge problem in Python that literally prevents us from Running two pieces of code
in parallel in two kernel space thread. It is a problem for me. If you can't do a decent concurrency
and parallel execution you have no chance against modern languages like Clojure, Go, Elixir and others.
Python is fine now despite of its problems because it is good at other stuff and people accepted it
for what it is. Python is out there for about 25 years now and it has established a big community. If
Guido van Rossum created Python a year ago, I'm pretty sure that it would've failed because
it can't compete with modern languages. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to trash Python.
It is great and it has many good qualities but a good Concurrency and parallel execution model
ain't one of them.

* BEAM
Erlang ecosystem is amazing, Robust and well tested. I have read a lot about it and when
ever I'm studying anything around computer science that can be related to Erlang, I ask
myself "How is Erlang doing it?". Erlang ecosystem truly had a huge impact on the world
today.

The problem with Erlang ecosystem for me is that I always read about it and my knowledge
around it is only theoretical. Building a language on top a platform needs a good level
of practical experience on the platform as well which I don't have that. So it's obvious
that I have to pass.

* The JVM
As much as I dislike Java (Mostly because of the syntax and the fact that it is an object
oriented language), I like JVM a lot. The JVM is battle tested, well design (Well, sort of.
But it's certainly evolving.) and fast VM. It should be the most popular VM in the world
(I'm just guessing). It is one of the world's most heavily-optimized pieces of software.
Plenty of researches have been made to make it better and better.

The JVM has a mature ecosystem and a massive community of developers that resulted in an
unbelievable number of libraries (not the largest though, NPM is the largest artifact
repository. But it has a huge amount of useless BS as well). By targeting the JVM,
users will have an easy time adopting the new languages because of the rich tools set
provided by the Java ecosystem and all the languages that targeted JVM as well. For example,
it will be possible to use libraries written in Scala or Clojure as well.

Long story short, I think the JVM is the right platform for me. The fact that many languages
have chosen it as their base platform shows how useful it can be. But there is a problem.
Targeting a higher level virtual machines like the JVM means that I'll have an easier job to
create a compiler. But I still have to write one. A compiler that takes the code and produces
JVM bytecode. As I mentioned earlier, writing a compiler is an enormous task and the chance
of doing it wrong with someone like me who has never built a compiler before is very high.

* One VM to rule them all
Luckily there is a solution. I can write an interpreter in a VM that is designed to optimize
my interpreter with all that wonderful JIT compilation magic. Oracle has released a new VM
that hopes to make writing language interpreters both easy and fast. It can also leverage
the huge ecosystem of the JVM. It is an enhanced JVM that contains a new JIT compiler which
can speed up interpreters to near Java speed. The new JIT compiler is called Graal. To use
the Graal’s JIT magic we can use the Truffle library to create the interpreter. We will
annotate the interpreter and give Graal some hints on invariants and type information.
According to Graal's documents, By doing this integration effort we get significant speedups
in out interpreter without having to resort to writing a bytecode compiler.

[[https://www.graalvm.org/][GraalVM]] is a Java VM and JDK based on HotSpot/OpenJDK,
implemented in Java. It supports different execution modes, like ahead-of-time compilation
of Java applications for fast startup and low memory footprint.

#+BEGIN_QUOTE
GraalVM is a universal virtual machine for running applications written in JavaScript,
Python, Ruby, R, JVM-based languages like Java, Scala, Groovy, Kotlin, Clojure, and
LLVM-based languages such as C and C++.

GraalVM removes the isolation between programming languages and enables
interoperability in a shared runtime. It can run either standalone or in
the context of OpenJDK, Node.js or Oracle Database.
#+END_QUOTE

I copied the above paragraph from GraalVM's official website. It is truly a VM to rule
them all.

[[https://github.com/oracle/graal/tree/master/truffle][Truffle]] library is one the key players in GraalVM. The initial results of Truffle are
super exciting. Implementations of Ruby in Truffle has a performance on the same order
of magnitude as the much bigger projects of JRuby. Just checkout [[https://chrisseaton.com/truffleruby/][Truffle Ruby]]'s
website to get amazed by it. There is a [[https://github.com/graalvm/graaljs][javascript implementation]] as well which showed
great progress as well. Lots of research has been dedicated to this topic and the result
is mind blowing. The interesting thing is that these Truffle implementations were done with
fewer people in a shorter period of time. This means you can create your own language on the JVM that
takes advantage of all it’s existing libraries, native threading, JIT compiler without
having to write your own compiler, and you get speeds that took other languages years
to achieve.

Using GraalVM as the platform for my new language will help me to be much faster because
All I need to do is to build an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_syntax_tree][AST]] interpreter and Graal will handle the rest. It means
that I can start by building what is important and use a very well engineered toolkit in
my advantage to get to my goal quicker and then later on replace any part that I like with
my own implementation. How cool is that???

But as an engineer and a wannabe scientist I'd like to see the proof with my own eyes. Not
because I don't trust academic work, Just because it feels good to experience the proof.

So to begin with I'm going to create a dead simple Serene interpreter in Java and OpenJDK
and then build the same interpreter using Java on GraalVM using Truffle library and
compare the results and prove myself that choosing GraalVM is the right choice.

+ 49
- 0
orgs/essays/my-new-programming-language.org View File

@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
#+SETUPFILE: ../../config.org
#+TAGS: Serene Languages
#+CATEGORY: Engineering
#+DATE: 2019-11-25
#+TITLE: My new programming language

As a software engineer, one of my joys in life is to learn new things. I can't describe the
pleasure of learning a new technology or stepping forward in the world of science. If you experienced
such a delight, you would know that how addictive it is. I can't satisfy my hunger for knowledge and
it might sounds like a gloat but it's truly joyful (ok mate, you love to "read", get on with it).

Programming languages are the most common tool among programmers and software engineers (Duh!).
I believe that learning new programming languages helps us to widen our vision as engineers and
help us improve our mentality about software architecture and design. So clearly I never say "No"
to learning a new programming language and because of that I have lots of experience with different
languages. Each language taught me tons of new things and helped me enhance my skills. I've studied
many languages and have a long list of them as my "To Learn" list.

Approximately a year ago, I was frustrated with Python and nagging to my wife about it (She always listens to
my gibberish). All of a sudden she suggested to me that "Why don't you write your own programming language ?".
That got me thinking, "Is it a good idea to do so ????".

* My way of learning :Languages:Serene:
People have different routines for learning. I'm one of those people who likes to learn new
things by understanding how it works first. I'd like to start my learning process by understanding
the laws of the universe. In this case, "universe" is the implementation and theory behind
the thing I'm trying to learn. It might seem like crazy idea but that's how I learn better.
For instance, when I was a teenager and was learning about how to use Gnu/Linux, I was so
obsessed with internal of a Linux distribution to a degree that I decided to build my own
distribution. Of course as a teenager I was naive and dreamed about my distro ( Which I used
to call Liniera ) to become a well-known and popular distribution. Aside from my childhood dreams
I learned a lot by creating a distribution. Learned about Linux kernel, boot process, bootloaders
and tons of other complicated pieces that normally people don't get to know at first (I was using
LFS and Debian tools). So after that delightful but tough experience, I always try to build a minimal
prototype of whatever I'm trying to learn to comprehend the universe of that thing which
helped me a lot to this day.

Based on my history, routines and the question that my wife has planted in my mind and after about a year
researching and thinking about it, Finally I realized it can be a good idea to create a new
programming language. To be honest it is not a task to be taken lightly. Whenever I created something
that wasn't out of my needs, I just failed. But this time I think creating a programming language can
massively help me to gain a better grasp of "the universe". Trying to overcome this challenge will help
me to grow and be a better engineer despite the fact that this new language may not even make it to the
list of known programming languages. I'm fine with that as long as it pushes me a step forward in my way
of life and brings me joy of wondering around in the world of science and engineering.

I'm going to write more blog posts about my journey through this humongous task as a journal for myself and other
enthusiastic people. After all it will be a hobby of mine and not my day to day job. So I'll take my time and
move slowly but steady.

+ 52
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orgs/essays/rational-and-a-name.org View File

@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
#+SETUPFILE: ../../config.org
#+TAGS: Serene Languages
#+CATEGORY: Engineering
#+DATE: 2019-12-01
#+TITLE: Rational and a name

*This post is a draft and I'll finish it gradually*

As I mentioned in [[./my-new-programming-language.org][My new programming language]], I'm creating a new programming language.
I'll try to pick up good points of different programming languages and avoid the cons
of them. One of the most important aspects of any project is to have a rational for it.
It's what I learned from [[http://clojure.org][Clojure]]'s culture. Rationals are a big deal in any clojure
developers world. As fan I'd like to start my new programming language by writing down
the rational of what I'm trying to achieve.

* Rational (Take 1) and goals :Languages:Serene:
So far, the main reason to create a new language for me is to *learn more and
educate myself*. But it doesn't mean that I'm aiming for a toy language. I want
to create a general purpose language that solves some problems. Here is a list of
reasons that made me consider the idea of creating a new language (in no specific order):

** Lisp is superior
I think the world needs more and more dialects of Lisp. It's the second oldest
programming language in the world and as far as I know the oldest one that is
still active. **Lisp** is elegant and amazing, but unfortunately not so many
programmers know about it. Even most of the those people who heard the name
are distracted by the "parenthesis". But they're missing the fact that there
is a good reason for all those parenthesis. Lisp is the simplest language I
know, its programs are written in its own datatypes. How simple is that???

You might hear that [[https://twobithistory.org/2018/10/14/lisp.html][God has created the universe in Lisp]].
Lisp is amazing and I consider a programmer who has understood *the Lisp way*, the
[[https://twitter.com/lxsameer/status/1172220581992980480][luckiest]].

I'd my new language to be Lisp, because just being a Lisp brings a huge deal to the
table.

** Simplicity
** FP is the future
** Development process
** Better core development
** Built-in Concurrency and parallelism

* A Name
If you're a programmer, I'm pretty sure that you already experienced the terror
of trying to find a name for your project. Frankly, It's even hard to find a good
name for your variable.

After about 10 days of searching finally my wife came up with a good name. *Serene*.
Calm and peaceful. I like it. It's simple and beautiful with a great meaning.

I can't wait to start working on it. :P

+ 257
- 0
orgs/essays/serene-simple-version.org View File

@@ -0,0 +1,257 @@
#+SETUPFILE: ../../config.org
#+TAGS: Serene(s) Languages(l)
#+CATEGORY: Engineering
#+DATE: 2020-01-03
#+TITLE: Serene (simple versoin)

As you might already know I'm working on [[file:my-new-programming-language.org][my own programming language]]
for a while now. I'm still on early stages and working on [[file:choosing-the-target-platform.org][choosing the right platform]]
for [[https://serene-lang.org][Serene]] and trying to spend time on doing enough research and make decision based
on facts, scientific papers and collected data from experiments
rather than rushing into things and end up with a mess.
I believe those languages that take their time and move slowly
but with great research, plan and design are more successful in
the long term (Thanks to *Pouya* for pointing it out). Take *Clojure*
as an example. They are taking their time, experimenting and validating
their hypothesis. As a result, Clojure is a well designed, stable
and highly backward compatible language with amazing and productive
pace. However, some other languages like Python are extremely
popular and consequently has more contributors. Dealing with all
those contributors caused Python to move faster than it should and
they ended up with some bad choices and horrible designs that
fixing them requires an humongous effort. Gradually, it becomes
harder and harder to fix those and move away from them. GIL is a good example,
instead of fixing the issue and removing the GIL, they are introducing
(at the of writing this article they added some basic support to latest
python release but far from what they want) [[https://lwn.net/Articles/754162/][something else]] to fix the original
problem but it might become a pain point itself. In order to avoid these kind
of problem as much as possible I'm trying to take my time and do as
many as experiments as I need.

As I mentioned [[file:choosing-the-target-platform.org][earlier]] I think *GraalVM* and *Truffle* is the right answer for
Serene. But to verify my initial Idea I decided to run an experiment.
The experiment is all about implementing a Lisp in two environments.
A pure Java implementation vs a *Truffle* implementation.

I spent several days and implementing the pure java version. The repository
of the simple version is available in the [[https://devheroes.codes/Serene/serene-simple][repo]]
This is a dummy version, but good enough lisp that I didn't paid too much attention
to the details and just created a very simple lisp with the following specification.

#+BEGIN_QUOTE
Note: In this post whereever I use the name **Serene** for the implementation,
I'm referring to the simple version.
#+END_QUOTE

* Data structures :Serene:Languages:
Since I tried to avoid unnecessary work, I didn't do much and implemented
just one collection type which is the most important and essential data
structure in any Lisp, the mighty List. While my final goal is to have functional
data structures, this List is not a functional one and is a simple linked
list. You can find the implementation under =serene.simple.ListNode=.

For the number types I just added support for =Long= and =Double=
via `serene.simple.SNumber` class which acts as a dispatcher between two inner
classes.

For Strings, boolean types and =nil=, I just used the equivalent Java data
structures directly.

* Reader/Parser
Instead of using a parser generator or a sophisticated parser, I just created
a simple read ahead of position based parser that reads two chars and calls the
appropriate method to create the corresponding =Node=. the =serene.simple.Node=
is an abstract class that has just one important method, =eval=. The whole
purpose of the reader is to parse the code and create an AST like data structure
which each node extends the =Node= class (I should've create the interface for
it but too lazy to change it now). The =eval= method of `ListNode` is a bit
special. It calls the =eval= method on all the elements on the list
and then calls the first element as a function and pass the rest of the elements
as the arguments to that function. First rule of lisp :))

The =eval= method of =ListNode= contains lots more details regarding to java
interop as well which I leave it out of this blog post.

* Scope
Scopes are simply a mapping between symbol names and values. Serene consists of two
different scopes, both implemented in =serene.simple.IScope= and extend
=serene.simple.AScope= abstract class that contains the logic for symbol
lookup and insertion. These two classes are =serene.simple.Scope= which
is the general scope and it has a parent/child type of relationship with
other instances of the same class or =serene.simple.RootScope= that is
the top level scope. Beside that, =RootScope= is pre-populated with all
the built-in functions and types.

* Special forms
Serene's [[https://courses.cs.northwestern.edu/325/readings/special-forms.php][special forms]] are pretty limited. All of them all classes which extend
=serene.simple.SpecialForm= abstract class and inherit from =Node= indirectly. The
difference between special form evaluation and function evaluation is that in case
of special forms, Serene does not evaluate the arguments and leaves the evaluation
to the special form itself. Here is the list of Serene's special forms:

=def=: Creates a binding between a symbol name and the given value:

#+BEGIN_SRC lisp
(def name "serene")
#+END_SRC

=fn=: Creates an anonymous function:
#+BEGIN_SRC lisp
(def inc (fn (x) (+ 1 x)))
#+END_SRC

=quote=: Prevents the evaluation of the given argument and return it as it is:

#+BEGIN_SRC lisp
(quote (1 2 3 4)) ;; => (1 2 3 4)
#+END_SRC

=if=: Evaluates the body based on the return value of the given predicate.

#+BEGIN_SRC lisp
(if (= x 1)
(...) ;; if x is 1
(...)) ;; if x is not 1
#+END_SRC

=let=: Sets a local scope and runs its body using that scope.

#+BEGIN_SRC lisp
(let ((x 1)
(y 2))
(println x y))
#+END_SRC

=do=: Simply groups several expressions together.

#+BEGIN_SRC lisp
(do
(println ...)
(if ....))
#+END_SRC

=cond=: Gets several predicates and only evaluates the body corresponding
to the first truthy predicate.

#+BEGIN_SRC lisp
(cond
((= x 1) (body1...)
((= x 2) (body2...))
(true (else...))))
#+END_SRC

* Builtin Function
All the build in function are created by extending the =serene.simple.builtin.AFn=
abstract class and follow the same =Node= convention. Here is a list of the most
important built in functions:

=(println ....)=: Prints all the arguments on the stdout.

=(quit)=: Quits the program.

=(conj coll x...)=: Returns a new list by adding the given arguments.

=(count coll)=: Returns the number of elements in the given COLL.

=(reverse coll)=: Returns a new list which is the reverse of COLL.

=(list 1 2 3..)=: Creates a list from the given arguments.

=(first coll)=: Returns the first element of the given COLL.

=(rest coll)=: Returns all the elements beside the first element of the given COLL.

=(doc fn)=: Returns the documentation for the given symbol if any.

=(reduce f coll initial)=: Reduces the COLL by applying F to its elements with the
INITIAL as the default value. F takes two arguments 1) the accumulation 2) the element.

=(new Class arg1 arg2...)=: Create a new instance of the given CLASS by passing the given
arguments to its constructor.

** Example program
Here is an example program in Serene simple version (=benchmarks/fib.srns= in the repo):

#+BEGIN_SRC scheme
;; We have a reduce function but just in case...
(def reduce1
(fn (f xs initial-value)
(cond
((first xs) (reduce f (rest xs) (f initial-value (first xs))))
(true initial-value))))

;; A simple map function implementation in serene
(def map
(fn (f xs)
(reduce (fn (acc x) (cons acc (f x))) xs (list))))

(def range-list
(fn (x y init)
(if (< y x)
(do
(conj (range-list x (+ y 1) init) y))
init)))

(def range
(fn (x)
(range-list x 0 (list))))

(def fib
(fn (n)
(def fib-iter
(fn (x y z)
(if (= x 0)
z
(fib-iter (- x 1)
z
(+ y z)))))
(fib-iter n 0 1)))

(def benchmark-fn
(fn (x)
(let ((start (now)))
(println (fib x))
(- (now) start))))


(def run-benchmark
(fn (times)
(map (fn (x)
(println "Benchmark: " x)
(println "Took: " (benchmark-fn 500)))
(range times))))

(run-benchmark 20)
#+END_SRC


* What is missing ?
Since Serene (simple) is an experimental language and I'll abandon it eventually.
I didn't want to fall into the rabbit hole and just tried to get to the point as soon as possible.
So I sacrificed lots of details. Here is a list of the most important missing
details:

- A namespace functionality. Because creating and compiling dynamic classes
is a massive task and needs tons of work which doesn't make sense for a toy
project.
- Unified function interface.
- Requiring different namespaces.
- A sophisticated parser. My Reader implementation is really cheap that
suits a toy project. It might worth investigating on different solutions
including using a parser generator or ahead of time read implementation.
- Primitive functions in Serene. I used lots of primitive functions
from java rather than implementing them inSerene itself, mostly because
of two reasons. Lack of
macros and namespaces.
- Decent [functional] data structures. The only data structure I implemented
is list.
- Quality code. The general quality of this implementation is not great, I
sacrificed quality for time.

* Conclusion
I'm not going to improve the simple version anymore at this stage. I'm going to run
some benchmarks and measure different aspects of the current implementation and then
I'll move to the *Truffle* version and continue experimenting.

Please let me know if you have any comments or questions on this topic. As always
I'm available throw social media and email.

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#+SETUPFILE: ../../config.org
#+TAGS: Databases
#+OPTIONS: toc:2
#+CATEGORY: Engineering
#+DATE: 2019-04-26
#+TITLE: Transaction Variants

In this post I want to talk about different variants of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database_transaction][database transactions]], I assume you already
know about database transactions. So, let's cut to the chase.

* Flat Transaction :Databases:
Flat transaction are those regular transactions we know about and are the most common transactions
in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database#Database_management_system][DBMS]]s Flat transactions are simple but they can not address two problems:

- Multi stage transactions
For example, Let's say we want to book flight from City C1 to C2. Since there is no direct fly we
have to book 4 flights from, =C1 -> CA -> CB -> C2=. The process of booking each of these flights
is a transaction by itself and the whole process is a transaction too.

- Bulk updates
Let's say we want to update billion tuples. What if the very last tuple fails to update and cause
the transaction to abort. Then we need to revert the changes made by the transaction and revert
a billion tuples which obviously is a huge task.

* Transaction Savepoints
These transactions are similar to flat transaction with addition of one extra thing which is
save points. So any where in there transaction users case ask for a save point and again they can
rollback to a save point or rollback the entire transaction.

#+BEGIN_SRC sql
BEGIN
READ(A)
WRITE(A)
SAVEPOINT 1
WRITE(B)
SAVEPOINT 2
ROLLBACK TO 1
COMMIT
#+END_SRC

#+BEGIN_QUOTE
Note: *These transactions only solve the multi stage transaction problem.*
#+END_QUOTE

* Nested transactions
Nested transactions are similar to save points transactions, but instead save points these
transactions break down to smaller flat transactions. Each transaction commits separately from
other transactions. But result of the parent transaction rule them all, so if the parent
transaction fails all the nested transactions have to rollback.

#+BEGIN_SRC sql
BEGIN
BEGIN T1
...
COMMIT T1
BEGIN T2
...
COMMIT T2
COMMIT
#+END_SRC

#+BEGIN_QUOTE
Note: *These transactions only solve the multi stage transaction problem.*
#+END_QUOTE

* Chained transactions
In these kind of transactions, smaller flat transaction can be applied in a chain in the way that
the result of each of them is not visible to the outside world until the end of the chain.

In theory chained transactions should be applied in sequence but in practice in some cases we can
interleave their operations. Also Between T1 and T2 of a chained transaction, No other thread of
code shouldn't be able to make changes to those resources which T2 will operates on.

If any transaction in the chain fails, it has nothing to do with the previous transactions in the
chain. For example:

#+BEGIN_SRC
T1 -> T2 -> T3
S -> S -> F
#+END_SRC

In the chained transaction above only T3 failed and T1 and T2 are successfully committed to storage.
We don't have to roll them back.

While chained transactions can break big transactions into smaller pieces for better parallelism but
*they only solve the multi stage transaction problem* Not the bulk update problem.

* Compensating transactions
This type of transactions are special transactions which are designed to semantically reverse the
effect of another transaction which already committed.

One important thing to remember about compensating transactions is that they know how to revert
the /logical/ effect of other transactions /NOT the physical/ effect. For example, If a transaction
increase a counter by one. The physical revert would be to changes the binary data that inserted
for that counter to what it was before the transaction, but the logical revert would be to
decrease the counter by one when needed.

So basically these kind of transactions know about how to put the database in correct state before
the other transaction.

* Saga Transactions
A saga transaction is a sequence of chained transactions =T1 - Tn= and compensating transaction
=C1 - C(n-1)= where the following guaranteed:

- The transactions will commit in the order =T1...Tj=, =Cj...C1= (where =j < n=).

So basically this means that a saga transaction is a seq of chained transactions which applies the
smaller transactions in order with their corresponding compensating transactions.

In a chained transaction when ever transaction Tn aborts, the transactions before Tn stay committed,
but in saga transactions they will be rollback using compensating transactions that know how to
roll them back *logically*.

So Saga transactions can be fix both multi-staging and bulk update problems. But the issue here is
that the compensating transactions are something that requires application level understanding of
the use case so most of the time they are implemented in the application frameworks instead of DBMSs.

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#+SETUPFILE: ../config.org
#+OPTIONS: toc:2
#+EXPORT_FILE_NAME: faq.html
#+DATE: 2021-02-11
#+TITLE: FAQ
#+PAGE: true

Here is a list of questions people usually ask me.

* General
** Why your website is like this ?
I value simplicity. The purpose of this website is to share my thoughts and research with others and not
to impress them with a shiny and heavy good looking website.
** Where can I find your CV ?
You can find my CV [[https://dl.lxsameer.com/CV/SameerRahmani.pdf][Here]], I try to keep it up to date ( Not always though :D ).
** How do you keep up with your work and research ?
I use [[https://orgmode.org/][org-mode]] to manage my life mostly, But beside that I have priorities in my life and when things come to
my way I process them based on my priorities. For example I love to play the Guitar but as long as I have time for
it and it doesn't interfier with my priorities.

I usually partition my days into chunks of two days time and dedicate the main goal of each chunks to a cetain
project that I have to work on. It makes the context switch less painfull. BTW I use [[https://orgmode.org/][org-mode]] to take notes and
track my progress in my research and project and also when I read books.
** What do you do for fun ?
Usually video games, Anime music and sports.

* Engineering

** What GNU/Linux distro do you use ?
I used to use Debian unstable for 14 years. But I moved to Gentoo just because I care about my security and I
hate Systemd.

** What editor/IDE do you use ?
I use my own editor, [[https://devheroes.codes/FG42/FG42][FG42]] which is based on on the mighty [[https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/][GNU/Emacs]] and publicly available under GPLv2 license.

** What desktop environment/window manager do you use?
Again, I use editor [[https://devheroes.codes/FG42/FG42][FG42]] for that purpose as well. I boot directly into my editor and manage everything from there.

** What's your favorite programming language ?
I don't have any bias toward any specific language, But I've found the Lisp family to be really good.

** Have you studied Software engineering in college ?
No

** How can I improve as an engineer ?
I'm not an advisor and frankly I'm somewhere in my own journey and far from the end. But I can give one piece of
advise. Whatever you do, try to be scientificly literate.

** Where is your hang out place up on the internet ?
I'm an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat][IRC]] user and I usually hang out in the irc://freenode.net/#5hit channel.


* Science
** What do you do in Science ?
Physics
** What is your field of study ?
Quantum field theory
** I though you're an engineer, What's your deal?
Well, I love physics. Simply I want to know more. The universe baffles me.
** What do you suggest to those who want to start in science ?
I'm not an advisor and even not a top notch scientist, So I can't give you any good advise, But I share my own
experience with you. The most important thing is to keep an open mind, always think like us humans are not
the center of universe and finally learn algebra.

+ 15
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#+SETUPFILE: ../config.org
#+OPTIONS: toc:nil
#+EXPORT_FILE_NAME: gpg.html
#+DATE: 2021-02-11
#+TITLE: GPG Information
#+PAGE: true

I use GPG heavily. There might be some expired or fake keys of mine on key servers but here is [[https://dl.lxsameer.com/lxsameer.pub.gpg][My Current Key:]]

#+BEGIN_SRC
pub rsa4096 2020-01-03 [SC] [expires: 2022-01-02]
75B126C50711BF7F4816D451B775967058BB835C
uid [ unknown] Sameer Rahmani (For more info refer to: lxsameer.com) <lxsameer@gnu.org>
sub rsa4096 2020-01-03 [E] [expires: 2022-01-02]
#+END_SRC

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@@ -1,17 +1,23 @@
#+SETUPFILE: ../config.org
#+OPTIONS: toc:nil
#+EXPORT_FILE_NAME: index.html
#+TAGS: ABD(a) BD(c) ASDK(k)
#+DATE: 2021-02-11
#+CATEGORY: blah
#+TITLE: blah
#+TITLE: The little nest of mine
#+PAGE: true

* Welcome :ABD:BD:
:PROPERTIES:
:BLAH: s
:END:
blha bbasd asds asd a asd =asdasd= somer `asdasd` sadasd *asdasD* asdasd /asdasd/ asdasd.
ads ad asd asd as dasd asd
- [[http://localhost:3003/essays/serene-blah.html][Serene blah]]
- [[http://localhost:3003/essays/javascript-blah.html][javascript blah]]
Welcome to my little piece of the world. I'm a software engineer by day and an armature scientist by night
who lives by his [[./coh.org][Code of Honor]]. I write about my thoughts and researches. The views expressed here are my
personal views and not of those organizations that I might be associated with. Most of my time goes to developing
free software either by contributing to other projects or by working on my own stuff which you can find
them on [[https://devheroes.codes][devheroes]].

If you're interested in my work and research feel free to contact me to have a friendly chat Or share you thoughts
with me via email (check my [[./gpg.org][GPG]] info page). If you have a question for me, you might be able to find the answer to it
in the [[./faq.org][FAQs]] page.

* Recent updates:
- [[http://localhost:3003/essays/serene-simple-version.html][Serene (simple versoin)]]
- [[http://localhost:3003/essays/choosing-the-target-platform.html][Choosing the target platform]]
- [[http://localhost:3003/essays/rational-and-a-name.html][Rational and a name]]
- [[http://localhost:3003/essays/my-new-programming-language.html][My new programming language]]
- [[http://localhost:3003/essays/transaction-variants.html][Transaction Variants]]

+ 12
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@@ -1,12 +1,22 @@
#+TITLE: lxsameer's nest

- [[file:essays/serene-simple-version.org][Serene (simple versoin)]]
- [[file:essays/choosing-the-target-platform.org][Choosing the target platform]]
- [[file:essays/rational-and-a-name.org][Rational and a name]]
- [[file:tags/Serene.org][Serene]]
- [[file:tags/Languages.org][Languages]]
- [[file:essays/my-new-programming-language.org][My new programming language]]
- [[file:categories/Engineering.org][Engineering]]
- [[file:tags/Databases.org][Databases]]
- [[file:essays/transaction-variants.org][Transaction Variants]]
- [[file:faq.org][FAQ]]
- [[file:gpg.org][Code of Honor]]
- [[file:coh.org][Code of Honor]]
- [[file:categories/nil.org][<<<title>>>]]
- [[file:categories/SLA.org][SLA]]
- [[file:tags/ASDK.org][ASDK]]
- [[file:tags/BD.org][BD]]
- [[file:tags/ABD.org][ABD]]
- [[file:essays/javascript-blah.org][javascript blah]]
- [[file:tags/index.org][index]]
- [[file:categories/index.org][index]]
- [[file:essays/serene-blah.org][Serene blah]]
- [[file:index.org][blah]]

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@@ -4,12 +4,13 @@
{{{head}}}
<link rel="stylesheet" href="{{base-url}}/assets/styles/dark.css?1">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="{{base-url}}/assets/styles/main.css?1">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="{{base-url}}/assets/styles/arta.css?1">
</head>
<body>

<header>
<nav style="text-align: center;">
<a href="/">HOME</a> | <a href="/categories/">Categories</a> | <a href="/tags/">Tags</a> | <a href="#">Code of Honor</a> | <a href="#">RSS</a>
<a href="/">HOME</a> | <a href="/categories/">Categories</a> | <a href="/tags/">Tags</a> | <a href="/coh.html">Code of Honor</a> | <a href="#">RSS</a>
</nav>
<hr/>
</header>
@@ -28,5 +29,15 @@
<span><a href="https://devheroes.codes/lxsameer/lxhome">https://devheroes.codes/lxsameer/lxhome</a></span>
</footer>
</div>
<script src="{{base-url}}/assets/js/highlight.pack.js"></script>
<script>
document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', (event) => {
hljs.configure({languageDetectRe: /\bsrc-([\w-]+)\b/i})
document.querySelectorAll('pre.src').forEach((block) => {
console.dir(block);
hljs.highlightBlock(block);
});
});
</script>
</body>
</html>

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@@ -1,16 +1,19 @@
#+SETUPFILE: ../config.org
#+OPTIONS: toc:nil
#+EXPORT_FILE_NAME: index.html
#+TAGS: ABD(a) BD(c) ASDK(k)
#+DATE: 2021-02-11
#+CATEGORY: blah
#+TITLE: blah
#+TITLE: The little nest of mine
#+PAGE: true

* Welcome :ABD:BD:
:PROPERTIES:
:BLAH: s
:END:
blha bbasd asds asd a asd =asdasd= somer `asdasd` sadasd *asdasD* asdasd /asdasd/ asdasd.
ads ad asd asd as dasd asd
Welcome to my little piece of the world. I'm a software engineer by day and an armature scientist by night
who lives by his [[./coh.org][Code of Honor]]. I write about my thoughts and researches. The views expressed here are my
personal views and not of those organizations that I might be associated with. Most of my time goes to developing
free software either by contributing to other projects or by working on my own stuff which you can find
them on [[https://devheroes.codes][devheroes]].

If you're interested in my work and research feel free to contact me to have a friendly chat Or share you thoughts
with me via email (check my [[./gpg.org][GPG]] info page). If you have a question for me, you might be able to find the answer to it
in the [[./faq.org][FAQs]] page.

* Recent updates:
<<<links>>>

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