I haven't been keeping up with this blog, but I have been keeping busy. A few things I've learned recently:

• Although JavaScript has a typeof command, it doesn't produce very useful output. In particular, it yields object no matter whether the structure in question is a Map, an Array, a Set, or an Object. Apparently, x.constructor is how to find out what type something actually is.

• On bash, which is a program, not a builtin. So it's not aware of aliases, like python='python3'. Neither is sudo. So you can check python --version >= 3 but that's no guarantee that sudo pip install or sudo python -m pip install will be python3. It makes me rethink the utility of aliases, and possibly virtualenvs.

• Python lists are not implemented with pointers like Lisp lists! Per Peter Norvig, Python list access is O(1); per the Python Design and History FAQ, they are contiguous memory chunks with a head pointer and length value stored up front.

Three things make a post, plus it's dinnertime: fried tofu w/ bbq sauce, risotto, and Sichuan dry-fried mushrooms & peppers.