Two N-of-1 self-trials on readability differences between anonymous inner classes (AICs) and lambda expressions (LEs) on Java code snippets

In Java, lambda expressions (LEs) were introduced at a time where the similar language construct anonymous inner class (AIC) already existed for years. But while LEs became quite popular in mainstream programming languages in general, their usability is hardly studied. From the Java perspective the need to study the relationship between LEs and AICs was and is quite obvious, because both language constructs co-exist. However, it is quite usual that new language constructs are introduced although they are not or hardly studied using scientific methods – and an often heard argument from programming language designers is that the effort or the costs for the application of the scientific method on language constructs is too high. The present paper contributes in two different ways. First, with respect to LEs in comparison to AICs, this paper presents two N-of-1 studies (i.e. randomized control trials executed on a single subject) where LEs and AICs are used as listeners in Java code. Both experiments had two similar and rather simple tasks (“count the number of parameters”, respectively “count the number of used parameters”) with the dependent variable being reaction time. The first experiment used the number of parameters, the second the number of used parameters as the controlled, independent variable (in addition to the technique LE and AIC). Other variables (LOC, etc.) were randomly generated within given boundaries. The main result of both experiments is that LEs without type annotations require less reading time (p hs .2, reduction of reaction time of at most 35%). The results are based on 9,600 observations (one N-of-1 trial with eight replications). This gives evidence that the readability of LEs without type annotations improves the readability of code. However, the effect seems to be so small, that we do not expect this to have a larger impact on daily programming. Second, we see the contribution of this paper in the application of N-of-1 trials. Such experiments require relatively low effort in the data selection but still permit to analyze results in a non-subjective way using commonly accepted analysis techniques. Additionally, they permit to increase the number of selected data points in comparison to traditional multi–subject experiments. We think that researchers should take such experiments into account before planning and executing larger experiments.

Generative Pre-Training from Molecules

SMILES is a line notation for entering and representing molecules. Being inherently a language construct, it allows estimating molecular data in a self-supervised fashion by employing machine learning methods for natural language processing (NLP). The recent success of attention-based neural networks in NLP has made large-corpora transformer pretraining a de facto standard for learning representations and transferring knowledge to downstream tasks. In this work, we attempt to adapt transformer capabilities to a large SMILES corpus by constructing a GPT-2-like language model. We experimentally show that a pretrained causal transformer captures general knowledge that can be successfully transferred to such downstream tasks as focused molecule generation and single-/multi-output molecular-property prediction. For each task, we freeze model parameters and attach trainable lightweight networks between attention blocks—adapters—as alternative to fine-tuning. With a relatively modest setup, our transformer outperforms the recently proposed ChemBERTa transformer and approaches state-of-the-art MoleculeNet and Chemprop results. Overall, transformers pretrained on SMILES corpora are promising alternatives that do not require handcrafted feature engineering, make few assumptions about structure of data, and scale well with the pretraining data size.

The Roles of Familiarity and Context in Processing Chinese Xiehouyu: An ERP Study

This study conducts an ERP experiment to explore the online processing mechanism of Chinese xiehouyu, a subcategory of Chinese idiomatic expressions with a metaphorical two-part allegorical saying, regarded as a non-literal language construct. Using a 2 × 2 design, (high familiarity (HF)/low familiarity (LF)) × (literally-biasing context (LC)/metaphorically-biasing context (MC)), the researchers have obtained the following findings: (1) familiarity plays an important role in Chinese xiehouyu processing, i.e. the metaphorical meaning of a HF Chinese xiehouyu can be directly activated while that of a LF one has to be derived from its literal meaning first; (2) contextual information also weighs in the process, i.e. the metaphorical meaning of a Chinese xiehouyu can be promoted in MC condition but suppressed in LC condition; (3) the interactive effect of familiarity and contextual information can be explained by the career of metaphor hypothesis; and (4) the Standard Pragmatic Model (SPM) of non-literal languages can explain the processing of LF xiehouyu, and the Direct Access Model (DAM) may to some extent account for the mechanism of HF one but fails to explain the case of LF one, while the Graded Salience Hypothesis (GSH) can provide an acceptable explanation for the processing mechanism of Chinese xiehouyus of varied familiarity.

Elaborating dependent (co)pattern matching: No pattern left behind

In a dependently typed language, we can guarantee correctness of our programmes by providing formal proofs. To check them, the typechecker elaborates these programs and proofs into a low-level core language. However, this core language is by nature hard to understand by mere humans, so how can we know we proved the right thing? This question occurs in particular for dependent copattern matching, a powerful language construct for writing programmes and proofs by dependent case analysis and mixed induction/coinduction. A definition by copattern matching consists of a list of clauses that are elaborated to a case tree, which can be further translated to primitive eliminators. In previous work this second step has received a lot of attention, but the first step has been mostly ignored so far. We present an algorithm elaborating definitions by dependent copattern matching to a core language with inductive data types, coinductive record types, an identity type, and constants defined by well-typed case trees. To ensure correctness, we prove that elaboration preserves the first-match semantics of the user clauses. Based on this theoretical work, we reimplement the algorithm used by Agda to check left-hand sides of definitions by pattern matching. The new implementation is at the same time more general and less complex, and fixes a number of bugs and usability issues with the old version. Thus, we take another step towards the formally verified implementation of a practical dependently typed language.

Children as Commodities: Conflicting Discourses of Protection and Abuse of Children

In modern society children are valued and nurtured, and it is often stated in media discourses across a variety of platforms and via the press and elsewhere, particularly by politicians, that “Children are our future”. Thus, they deserve the best education and a safe and secure environment in order to thrive and become a part of society. To this end, this study looks at how the media and its language construct children as a commodity in the economy who are used by media as a barometer for society and its commitment to decency and community. However, on closer inspection, a disturbing discourse of division emerges showing the community is split on how best to care and protect our children so that they may partake of that future. Children are used to promote viewpoints (or even ideologies) by celebrities who use their children as exemplars of their parenting style. In addition, children are used by media as a measure of whether a modern democracy is fair or decent in its application of law. From issues related to the pester power through which marketers use children to sell products to the lure of the internet, children are used to make money or seek access to it. Most modern legal frameworks actively support the maintenance of children within culture and kinship groups, yet thousands of children each year are deliberately separated from their parents who are encouraged by marketing ploys to send their children to other parts of the world for education or to seek a migration outcome. This study suggests that modern democratic societies are not consistent in their discourses which, on the one hand, seek to promote active support for the care and wellbeing of children and, on the other, continue a divisive discourse about appropriate responses. In this analysis and commentary, italics are used to give emphasis to keywords and phrases.

REFORMA ECLESIAL E RECEPÇÃO CONCILIAR: CRISE DA LINGUAGEM TEOLÓGICA E RECEPÇÃO ESTÉTICA DO VATICANO II

O presente trabalho procura analisar a questão da recepção conciliar do Vaticano II, proposta por Yves Congar, Bernard Sesboüe e Christoph Theobald, porém, a partir da teoria da recepção estética de Hans Robert Jauss, e como está presente na tarefa contínua de reforma eclesial. As recepções conciliares são processos de construções teológicas de linguagem e, inevitavelmente atingem momentos de inflexão, como é o caso entre o que ficou conhecido como estilo pastoral da teologia latino americana e a estética teológica de Hans Urs von Balthasar, que acentua o aspecto dogmático. Tais linguagens, que constituíram o terreno do debate teológico pós-conciliar, vão sendo recebidas e reelaboradas, especialmente nas Conferências Gerais do Episcopado Latino Americano e Caribenho.ABSTRACT: The aim of this paper is analyse the Council Vatican II reception, suggested by Yves Congar, Bernard Sesboüe and Christoph Theobald, however since the Hans Robert Jauss aesthetic reception theory. And how it is into the continuous labor of the Ecclesial reform. The council receptions are theological language construct processes that reaches turning points. This is the case between the pastoral style by Latin American Theology and the aesthetic theological, by Hans Urs von Balthasar, the turning point of the post-conciliar theological debates, that being received and reworked at the Latin American Espicopal General Conference and the Caribbean.