watch me code or ask me random tech or math questions.
Video Summary (Generated by AI, Edited by Human.)
This video features Xah Lee (0:02) as he works on his website, specifically on a project involving special plane curves and the Wolfram Language (1:02).
He begins by introducing his computer setup, including his UHK80 Ultimate Hacking Keyboard (0:21), a trackball (0:28), a Logitech mouse (0:33), and a drawing tablet (0:39).
Throughout the video, Xah Lee demonstrates the capabilities of the Wolfram Language (1:45), particularly his packages for plotting and generating plane curves (3:11).
He shares a personal anecdote about being contacted by Nobel Prize winner Donald Glaser (5:46) in the 1990s due to his work on the Transform 2D plot package (8:36).
A significant portion of the video is dedicated to Xah Lee's critique of code formatting conventions in the programming industry, particularly the 80-character line limit (16:15).
He argues that this convention is outdated, stemming from punch cards (17:26) and Unix's silent truncation of long lines (41:39).
He champions the Wolfram Language's automatic, real-time code formatting (17:00) as a superior alternative, highlighting that most industrial programmers are unaware of such features due to the proprietary nature of Wolfram Language (24:04).
He also discusses the ongoing debate between tabs and spaces in code (48:50), asserting that tabs are superior.
The video concludes with Xah Lee showing examples of his articles on code formatting and line truncation (33:54), some dating back to 2002 (48:20).
He also briefly discusses alternative web browsers (49:59) and encourages viewers to donate to support his work (52:56).