Was "New rendering test" or something like that

[James Hurley]

Richard, Alejandro, Ken, et. al.,

I thank you for your kind words, but RunRev and this list provides a whole body of specialists. I speak a foreign language, Math--and I'm not the only one. 

I ought to have mastered a bit of math after 40 years teaching mathematical physics. (In retirement I have had trouble weaning myself from teaching and research , and so you have become my occasional outlet.)

But we are a body of specialists, all versatile within our areas of expertise. 

To put expertise into perspective, let me say that I have the greatest admiration for the 5 year old little Chinese child. He can speak Chinese for heaven's sake! How does he do it?  It's all Greek to me--as math is to some others

As some have learned from me, I have learned from so many others. It is hard to remember but somewhere along the line I learned how to extract information from a list:

repeat for each line tLine in tList 
  if tLine... then
    put tLine & cr after results
   end if
end repeat

This seems mundane now, but I have picked up a vast storehouse of such tricks and techniques from others on this list, ideas that were as alien to me as a Fourier transform might seem to others. Among many other I have learned from Richard, our essayist, in response to the broader issues and provider of 4Wprops (where I learned that controls have more properties than Bank of America has in foreclosure); from Alejandro I have been introduced to the beautiful mathematics behind the Bezier curve and the utility of ExportToIllustrator" (I can't imagine what must have gone into that) and Ken's StackRunner and Stykz and answers to all matters on user interface.

And the hundreds of others who have shared their particular expertise with us. Their name is legion.


Not only is this list the source of wisdom but it may be the most civilized list in the computer world.  And with so many who have a right to a considerable ego. Astonishing. It is so easy to be misinterpreted in communication without accompanying body language. There are about 45 muscles in the human face, most for the purpose to presenting emotion. How many emoticons are their? 

So, though 80, I am unwilling to accept Job's tribute to death as "the single best invention of life." That's a hard sell. To me, as I believe it was to Jobs, the best part of life is the pursuit of goals that excite.  (As an aside, when I retired from teaching and research, I moved to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and built my own house. Every bit. By myself. I am so proud. The worst part was being finished.) 

But I digress. Needless to say, I deeply appreciate being well thought of. Thank you.

Jim 

And now, back to Earth and breakfast.


> Alejandro Tejada wrote:
> 
>> James Hurley wrote:
>>> 
>>> My cup already runneth over. I'm 80 years old now, but still manage to
>>> keep busy.
>>> Only my memory is shot. But there are advantages to that as well.
>>> There is a lot I won't mind losing track of.
>>> 
>> 
>> Well, your activity in this platform suggest that your
>> mental age is several decades younger.
>> Your generation is a witness of the rising of
>> the modern world. Hopefully, all your wisdoms
>> and insights will be available in the future for
>> those who want to learn from them.
> 
> Indeed it has:
> 
> For as long as I've been working with xTalks, most of the cool stuff any 
> of us writes that involves math has been influenced if not written by 
> Mr. Hurley.
> 
> From HyperCard and SuperCard to LiveCode, Hurley's influence has been 
> felt far and wide.
> 
> He is a math god, and more than that one of the best teachers I've ever 
> known, able to not just possess valuable knowledge but also has the gift 
> of being able to transfer that knowledge to others.
> 
> Damn, if he was my high school physics teacher I'd probably be working 
> at NASA today.
> 
> He may get mad at me for writing this because he's also one of the more 
> humble souls I've come across.  But it's the plain truth, as anyone here 
> who's used his code will attest.
> 
> Thankfully, he lives a couple thousand miles from me so he can't come 
> over here to punch me for my comments. :)
> 
> So I stand by them, with a career's worth of gratitude.
> 
> One of the very best moments I've ever had at a conference was at 
> RevLive in Vegas when Jim showed me his rainbow simulator.  Ultra-cool 
> stuff, as is just about everything he turns out.
> 
> --
>  Richard Gaskin
>  Fourth World
>  LiveCode training and consulting: http://www.fourthworld.com
>  Webzine for LiveCode developers: http://www.LiveCodeJournal.com
>  LiveCode Journal blog: http://LiveCodejournal.com/blog.irv
>