Re: OT: Beauty of programming languages

[David Sumbler]

I guess I had better join in this "off"-topic.

I use Lilypond and Emacs on Ubuntu 12.04.  I previously use Score for
the flute-and-harp arrangements that my former partner and I used to
publish.  I found learning to use Lilypond effectively much harder to
than Score was.

It's always much easier to hear wrong notes than to spot them in a
printed score, so I use midi output for that purpose.

I am 68, and recently retired as an orchestral flautist.  I am mainly
using Lilypond to put all of the music I ever composed into printed
form.  This is not really a vanity project - I know that my compositions
are not great works, and a few of them are absolute rubbish! - but it
keeps me doing something musical which will occupy me for years to come.
Having said that, I was interested in Pete's mention of uploading things
to IMSLP.  I might consider putting some of my better pieces there.

My computing background starts with a BBC Micro in 1982.  I soon got
into writing programs using BBC BASIC, but also loved using assembly
language.  I wrote a disassembler and output the whole of the OS in
assembly language, on reams of fan-fold paper!  I also wrote an
interpreter (in assembler) for a language called Forth, which I was very
keen on.

After a few years away from computers, I came back to them in 1994.  I
have always enjoyed programming, and have dabbled with C, Perl, Java and
a few other languages.  I use Python for anything I seriously want to
do.  For many years I used Psion hand-held computers, and used its own
OPL language for programming.

Wanting to understand Scheme because of its use with Lilypond, I
indirectly came across the book "Structure and Interpretation of
Computer Programs" by Abelson & Sussman, and am slowly working my way
through this.  The disciplined approach to programming is something I
could really do with!

David