ANNOUNCING YADDA LAMBDA, a magazine for Lisp programmers
(Yadda Lambda is coming...)

- What is Yadda Lambda?

     Yadda Lambda is an online, free magazine for Lisp
     programmers.  That is, it's for programmers who use Lisp
     at work or at play.

- When?

     The first issue will be published on or about 1 April
     2002, & new issues will be published about fortnightly
     after that.

- Who will write the articles?

     Anyone who has something to say about Lisp or in Lisp!

     I'm soliciting articles.  I'm writing two or three for
     the first issue, but I expect people won't want to read
     just what I have to say.

     If you're interested in writing (and I hope you are),
     please read Yadda Lambda's guidelines for authors at
     (http://lisp-p.org/for-authors.html).  The first issue
     will be in April, so if you want to write, start today!

- What's the URL?

     http://lisp-p.org/

     As of Friday, 22 February 2002, the site is under
     construction.  It contains links to guidelines for
     authors & to this announcement.  And a hit counter to
     help me predict interest.

- If it's free, who pays for it?  Advertising?

     Yadda Lambda is financed by me (Gene Michael Stover) who
     will be publishing & editing the magazine as a hobby,
     mostly so I can read the articles in it.  (Well, okay.
     I guess I should admit that it's also so I can publish
     my own articles in it.)

- Why did you call it "Yadda Lambda"?

     The "lambda" is probably obvious to Lisp programmers.

     The "yadda" was originally an inside joke (and not an
     extremely funny one).  I've since read hearsay that
     yadda or yabba or some similar word is Yiddish or
     Australian(?!?) slang for "talk".  If true, "yadda
     lambda" suggests "talk about lisp"--an appropriate title
     if I ever heard one.  And it kind of grows on you.
     (Repeat after me: "yadda lambda... yadda lambda... yadda
     lambda...".)

  I thought "yadda, yadda, yadda" meant "blah, blah, blah".

| For that reason, even though I like the idea I hate the name.

  I quite agree.  I think lisp-p.org is good, though.

Edi.

--

Dr. Edmund Weitz
Hamburg
Germany

                         It seems like a bad choice for a name of a Lisp
    magazine, unless you're trying to be ironic.

Yadda might seem funny for a day or two.
But imagine having to look at the name every week.

Imagine telling a non lisper that you read it in the Lisp Journal as
opposed to in Yadda Lambda.

In any case, in the real world (TM) Lamda is a gay rights symbol
see:

" Yadda Lambda" might seem funny for a day or two.
But imagine having to look at the name every week.

Imagine telling a non lisper that you read it in the Lisp Journal as
opposed to in Yadda Lambda.

In any case, in the real world (TM) Lamda is a gay rights symbol
see:
http://www.lambda.org/
 http://www.lambda.org/Symbols.htm
http://www.lambdalegal.org/cgi-bin/iowa/index.html
http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/user/scotts/ftp/bulgarians/lambda.html
http://www.enqueue.com/ria/miscellaneous.html

I was a little early for the "a scheduled+shared limo," and had a nice
bit of a chat with the driver.  Limo drivers are human beings, too.
:-)

Apparently David Hasselhoff's wife had two interesting qualities:
 -> Packed stupendous quantities of luggage, and
 -> Didn't tip limo drivers worth beans.

I fixed the problem that some people reported by replacing
the broken CGI program with good old-fashioned hard-coded HTML.

Thanks to those who notified me of the problem.

I concur with the generic sentiment that yadda yadda is a hateful
name. To me, it connotes sloppiness, which the spirit of all
functional languages are against.  (to those unix/c/Perl brain-washed
morons, please understand that the term "sloppiness" does not mean
flexible, relaxed, fun loving, or very cool)

However, i do not think the term Lambda should be part of the name
either, for two reasons. Reason one is that lambda is too archaic for
a name. In the old days, abstruse Greek may signify knowledge and awe,
but in the modern days obscureness simply beget no attention. Unless
your publication is intended for few of the world-class scholars, i'd
think Lambda doesn't fit.

In my first reason, i'm pro-functional-programing thus support your
magazine. My second reason is from the standpoint of an advocate of
pure functional languages, thus anti-lisp. Here it is, in an essay
format.

The lambda character, always struck an awe in me, as with other
mathematical symbols. In my mind, i imagine that those obscure math
symbolism are etched in stone by god. A salient example is the book
cover _Discrete Mathematics_ by Ronald Graham et al. See it here:
 <http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0201558025.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg>
Here we see the summation sign etched in stone. The summation sign
happens to be my favorite math symbol.  (chosen as my website logo:
<http://xahlee.org/Icons_dir/icon_sum.gif>)

These symbols are not to be trifled with. If any one puff in as much
half a snicker, i wish god strike a thunder upon their disrespect.

The Greek lambda symbol is used to in a branch of
logic called lambda calculus,
<http://mathworld.wolfram.com/LambdaCalculus.html> The theories of
lambda calculus is what functional languages are based on, thus many
functional languages's logo features the lambda. Here are a few
samplings of the lambda logo:

MIT Scheme's logo features a recursive shield with lambda
http://www.swiss.ai.mit.edu/projects/scheme/
(btw, it features the equation:
(Y F) = (F (Y F))
does anyone know what it means exactly or origin?
)

Schemer.org's logo has a modernized look.
It is a simple lambda inside an O figure.
http://www.schemers.org/

PLT Scheme logo, notable is the red/white/blue color scheme.
http://www.plt-scheme.org/

MzScheme logo features a lambda besides a Chinese character that means
written language.
http://www.cs.rice.edu/CS/PLT/packages/mzscheme/

Common Lisp HTTP server logo. (middle)
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/doc/cl-http/home-page.html

Scheme shell scsh logo is a lamba inside a bivalve sea shell,
perhaps most beautiful of the bunch:
http://www.scsh.net/

Haskell language logo is a plain lambda:
http://haskell.org/

The Haskell interpreter Hugs98 features a 3D lambda with projected
shadow
http://www.haskell.org/hugs/

Yale Haskell project used a logo that features
 symbols in lambda calculus including the lambda,
and also a bullfrog head. Quite funny and beautiful.
(the bullfrog logo origin is explained at the bottom.
i.e. that of parody to Yale's bulldog logo)
http://web.archive.org/web/20000301023909/http://www.cs.yale.edu/hask...
(btw, what does the _|_ symbol mean?)

The book cover
Structure & Interpretation of Computer Programs by
Abelson & Sussman, features a wizard and witch talking
with prominent lambda, and a monster foot of the table showing:
http://xahlee.org/UnixResource_dir/sicp-cover.jpg

I love these lambda-featuring logos. However, i have a complaint.  As
most of you know, lisp languages are not purely functional
languages. Subroutines in lisps easily have side-effects, and
sometimes non-functional programing methodologies such as OOP are
actually encouraged in lisp. As most of you know, the lambda symbol
chosen by functional languages is to signify no side-effects. In this
respect, i find the lisp languages not totally deserving the use of
lambda in their logo. As i have expressed before, mathematical symbols
are not to be trifled with, and the Schemers has tainted my
mathematics, strickly speaking.

Likewise, i felt that Common Lisp magazine do not deserve using the
term lambda in its title.

Although i have these minor objections with lispers using the lambda
symbol, but overall i think the lispers and i share a more important
common goal. That is, to kill all imperative programing ignoramuses of
the world. Once the unix and c and perl and otherwise idiots are all
dead, then i'll formally raise my objection about Lisper's unfit
borrowing of the math symbol and term lambda.

(btw, i have no problem with traditional or imperative languages or
programers per se, but i do have problem with ignorance. In today's
world, imperative language programers are such not because they prefer
such methodology, but because they are utterly ignorant.)

--

(I started to casually collect computer related logos a year ago.
If you know other lambda logo, please let me know.
(there used to be a skull head with lambda as a parody of the
Greatful Dead's logo, by Rice University Scheme team, but i couldn't
find it.)
)

 Xah
 x...@xahlee.org
 http://xahlee.org/PageTwo_dir/more.html

    >> I've since read hearsay that
    >> yadda or yabba or some similar word is Yiddish or
    >> Australian(?!?) slang for "talk".  If true, "yadda
    >> lambda" suggests "talk about lisp"--an appropriate title
    >> if I ever heard one.  And it kind of grows on you.
    >> (Repeat after me: "yadda lambda... yadda lambda... yadda
    >> lambda...".)
    Thaddeus> The phrase is yadda, yadda, yadda like etc etc etc.
    Thaddeus> For that reason, even though I like the idea I hate the name.

How about "Lisp pointers", or does ACM (still) own that name?  The
name was a bit of a puzzle to me, however, as I always thought of Lisp
as _not_ dealing with pointers.  Anyway, if the intent is to make
something like that magazine, I'm looking forward to it.

  Sure, but perhaps those who would like to contribute to it would like to
  be a little proud of their work and where it has been published, too?

      Common
      Lisp
      Journal

(anywhere should be the important "()")
This is CLJ and does not mean Java, or ? But it could mean all Lisp
dialects, not only CL.
Is this online or paperprint ?

Whoever does a publication of this kind is taking the risk and is
entitled to the last say.  But at the same time, Lisp Pointers suffered
both from too few subscribers to make it economical for ACM and from too
few articles to get issues out regularly.  Was that due to its title?
Surely not.  But does it mean that a magazine about Lisp could realistically
expect an uphill battle getting enough submissions?  It's something worth
considering, even if the ultimate answer is no.

And while I personally think any old name is fine for me, I have to
agree with those who've raised issues about "Yadda" (which the
Seinfeld TV show has strongly poisoned in the US, to be part of "yadda
yadda yadda" and to mean "mindless jabber") and about the term
"Lambda" (which many people outside of Lisp don't associate as much
with Lisp as they do with the "gay" movement. Even the word "Lisp"
itself has a potential confusion factor for outsiders.

The real question isn't "are these words charged" but "does that matter".
If the goal of the magazine is to address people already in the community,
the name doesn't matter much.  If it's an outreach magazine, then picking
a name that sounds more like the "generic" topic of interest might have a
better effect.

Whatever you think about any of these considerations, I think it is
naive to think the name choice will have no effect at all.  There
might be a question of whose input is the right input to listen to,
but it seems unlikely to me that the right answer in this heading is
"you cannot possibly affect readership by a good name choice".  So if
people offer advice (which no one is obliged to take), it doesn't seem
mean-spirited to me.

On your website you write:

Also, TeX2page is the only converter that is
actually used by the TeX mascot.

tex2page.lsp works out-of-the-box in CLISP, and
possibly Allegro.  If you're interested but use another
CL dialect, please let me know.