macournoyer

Fixnum values (numbers smaller than native one machine word minus 1 bit) are stored in an object pointer. When you do object.id it returns the address stored in that pointer.

For Ruby to know that the value in a pointer is a Fixnum (and not a pointer to an address), it will tag the first bit w/ 1 and shift the integer value by one bit. So storing the value 7 will be done like this:

  (7 << 1) + 1 # => 14

This is why 7.id == 14.

You can see where this is implemented right here: https://github.com/ruby/ruby/blob/trunk/include/ruby/ruby.h#...

For true, false and nil they are also stored right in the object pointer using special values defined here: https://github.com/ruby/ruby/blob/trunk/include/ruby/ruby.h#.... You'll notice that those 3 values in binary format all end with 0b...10. First bit to 1 means Fixnum, second bit to 1 means special value: true, false or nil.

Looks interested! But I find the function args syntax very confusing:

    greet =: user msg
      console log('hello #{user} #{msg}')

You're using whitespace as a message separator AND as an argument separator.

Also, I don't think it is possible to implement lazy arg eval (opt-in callee evaluated messages) in a VM. That's why IO is an ast walking interpreter.

Good luck!

I've been coding in my spare time in and out since I got my first computer. I didn't do it because I wanted to be a good programmer, but because I love creating stuff and programming is the easiest way I know to create stuff. I'm not happy if I'm not creating something.

Also, a few months ago I quit my job and I'm now making a living teaching people what I've learned during my "spare-time". I now have more free time than I could ever imagine, and the notion of spare-time is starting to disapear.

"free customers"? Leads or prospects perhaps.

FWIW, I A/B tested a "long" sales letter with a cleaner, shorter and nicer looking one (imo) for my info product targeted at programmers.

Long: http://createyourproglang.com/index2.html Short: http://createyourproglang.com/

I've let the experiment run for a few months and the results were never concluding, ~50% each the whole time.

My guess is that most of my buyers are pre-sold by affiliates, or via word of mouth, and don't read anything. Any other interpretation greatly appreciated.

Sorry Miles didn't mean it was a bad idea. I appreciate you posting it here.

I just hope nobody gets offended that there's not much to see atm.

Thanks for the pointers. It is indeed much more fun to work on an app that looks hot!

I've seen pilu's theme, but I'm aiming at having themes designed by professionals (no offense to pilu), with quality similar to http://www.woothemes.com/

Sign-up to the newsletter, that's how I'll let ppl know what's up.

This is my blog post. Not much to see atm. I'm only validating if there's enough interest at the moment. Didn't expects it to get posted to HN.

That being said, any feedback on the idea are greatly welcome :)

Similarly, I'm reading 50th Law of Power (http://www.amazon.com/50th-Law-50-Cent/dp/006177460X) How to be fearless, drawing some parallels w/ 50 cent life. Excellent book!

Hey Aaron, glad my book was helpful. What do you feel is missing from it? Now that I think about it, looking at instruction sets made it click for me too, so maybe it's something i should include. And nice work with your language!

If you're not looking for a homerun, I suggest you look at niche markets.

I'm making about 15k/yr w/ my niche product: http://createyourproglang.com/. Where I live it's not enought to replace my job, but it's a nice complementary income.

There was a nice thread recently on HN about ways to find & test a niche market: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1454221

I had a similar issue w/ Paypal, but one phone call w/ a very nice lady later, everthing was fixed.

I sure do take this as constructive criticism :) The idea of the book is to build a simple language not the strongest or more complete one ever. I'll add more details and change the copy on the site. Thx a lot for the suggestions!

Thanks for the comments, you're right, I'll definitely change the copy on the site.

Hey, I'm the author of the book. I agree the marketing site is not perfect, I'm still looking at ways to improve it, sorry if if it sounds like a scam.

Any tips on improving the copywriting or anything are greatly appreciated!