Go has re-popularized the idea of handlingall of your blocking waiting-for-things operations by using CSP -likecommunication channels instead of select() (in Go, using goroutinesand channels). However, it's my firm belief that this isn't good enough;despite what some people think, you cannot replace select() in mostcommon CSP-like implementations.

The crucial ability that select() gives you is the ability to stopwaiting for something in response to some external event

One of the things that has struck me lately is that spam has becomean implicit tax on publicly participating in various open sourceprojects. The mechanisms of this are fairly simple: if you have asufficiently popular open source project, the spammers are sittingthere mining the project mailing lists and their web spinoffs for emailaddresses and then spamming the heck out of them. There's probablyalso spammers mining web-based bug trackers too, where bug trackersexpose this information.

(Actually, this is probably a simplification.

Since I wrote about my first reactions , I feel likewriting a retrospective of the season. I wound up regularly watchingfive fall shows this season, and this time around this list isdefinitely in order:

• Star Driver : if pressed, I would have to summarize this as anUtena-oid magical girls show except with giant robots and boys(mostly). It's the clear standout of the season for me, partlybecause it is so novel and unusual instead of being yet anotherretread. I like seeing