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Bill the Lizard
billthelizard.com · Personal blog · on HN since 2008
Bill the Lizard is a programmer who writes about software books, math visualizations, puzzles, and probability.
What HN saysHN links it for the visual proofs, the biased-coin fair toss, the open source license flowchart, and the post on books programmers claim to have read.
22HN people shared it
5linked it in comments
26stories submitted
1.1Kstory points
10 years agolast shared
2008people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1Books Programmers Don't Really Read (2008)6 people · 843 points · first shared 2008 · 159 comments on HN
- 2Why is [programming language] so...?3 people · 44 points · first shared 2014 · 47 comments on HN
- 3Getting a Fair Toss From a Biased Coin3 people · 41 points · first shared 2009 · 8 comments on HN
- 4Math visualization: (x + 1)^22 people · 66 points · first shared 2010 · 20 comments on HN
- 5Programming and Logic Puzzles2 people · 10 points · first shared 2009 · discussion on HN
- 6Number of squares on a chess board2 people · 4 points · first shared 2009 · 2 comments on HN
- 7Which Open Source License (flowchart)?2 people · 3 points · first shared 2012 · 1 comments on HN
- 8Six Visual Proofs1 people · 49 points · first shared 2009 · 14 comments on HN
- 912 (Really) Controversial Programming Opinions1 people · 31 points · first shared 2012 · 60 comments on HN
- 10DrScheme's Halloween "Easter Egg"1 people · 14 points · first shared 2009 · 1 comments on HN
- 11Euler1 people · 5 points · first shared 2009 · 1 comments on HN
- 12The Perfect Cuboid Problem1 people · 4 points · first shared 2009 · discussion on HN
- 13"Goes to" Considered Harmful1 people · 3 points · first shared 2010 · discussion on HN
- 14Interesting Miscellany1 people · 2 points · first shared 2009 · discussion on HN
- 15A Curiously Clever Chess Puzzle1 people · 2 points · first shared 2010 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
cruise02 · 2014-04-07
I love these. I posted several on my blog a few years ago.
Six Visual Proofs: http://www.billthelizard.com/2009/07/six-visual-proofs_25.html
Visualization of (X + 1)^2: http://www.billthelizard.com/2009/12/math-visualization-x-1-2.html
kaddar · 2010-01-15
This is a good list.
That said,
Why second edition intro to algs? Why not third? also, considering that intro to algs is one of the "Books Programmers Claim to Have Read" http://www.billthelizard.com/2008/12/books-programmers-dont-really-rea… , so those planning to read it, note that it is best learned in a classroom setting where you are forced to work through the problems.
Finally, interesting that he does amazon reference links to all these books, hopefully profit opportunities didn't taint the items on his list!
sireat · 2014-10-07
Ahh, the Peanut Butter Hula Hoops crazy licence: http://www.billthelizard.com/2012/05/which-open-source-license.html
The more I think about it the more I like this dual licencing setup which seems a realistic way to ensure those working on OS get paid.
It lets everyone experimenting enjoy the code, whether they are a destitute student or an aspiring startup.
Meanwhile, if you are someone who wants to actually make money from this AND want to hide your own code, you've got to pay the piper.
Otherwise you end up in BSD land (or is it MIT land) where everyone takes from your project and give nothing back.
hyperbovine · 2010-08-28
My experience mirrored this guy's:
I often hear TAOCP described as the series of programming books "that every programmer should read." I think this is simply untrue ... TAOCP was not written to be read from cover to cover ... It's very dense and academic, and the examples are all in assembly language.
(From http://www.billthelizard.com/2008/12/books-programmers-dont-really-rea…
shaddi · 2009-10-18
If you've taken a basic probability class, then you probably know the solution to this issue of obtaining a fair toss with a biased coin. Flip the coin twice. If both are heads, or both are tails, discard the pair of tosses and try again. If the first flip is a heads and the second is a tails, then count the pair as a "heads". If the first is a tails and the second is heads, count the pair as "tails". Even with a bias, the probability of getting a heads-tail pair equals the probability of getting a tails-heads pair.
Here's a blog post that explains this in more detail: http://www.billthelizard.com/2009/09/getting-fair-toss-from-biased-coi…
You can be sure all future coin tosses I do will use this technique!