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Unrealistic Deadlines In Software Engineering

Published: 2024-09-07 | Origin: /r/programming

The content addresses the issues engineers face when working under tight deadlines, leading them to cut corners in their processes such as testing and code reviews. This often results in bugs and technical debt that must be dealt with later. When failures inevitably occur, engineers are blamed, rather than the unrealistic timelines set by product managers and executives. The text emphasizes the importance of clear communication about expectations and feasibility from the outset to mitigate the risks associated with rushed projects. It advocates for engineers to push back against unreasonable deadlines to avoid

Jeremy Couillard's video games capture what it's like to be alive

Published: 2024-09-07 | Origin: Hacker News

New York artist Jeremy Couillard began his career as a high-school Spanish teacher before transitioning to the arts, where he created detailed comics and ink drawings. He pursued an MFA at Columbia University but found himself more engaged in discussions about technology than traditional painting. This led him to teach himself coding and explore animation using Unreal Engine, resulting in the creation of surreal video games with absurd narratives, such as "Escape from Lavender Island" (2023). This game is central to his current exhibition at the MIT List

My Architecture Drivers - Oskar Dudycz

Published: 2024-09-07 | Origin: /r/programming

Oskar Dudycz expresses a preference for viewing himself as a practitioner rather than an authority or expert in architecture, highlighting the need for more hands-on professionals in the industry. While initially reluctant to identify as an "Architect" due to its negative connotations, he has come to embrace the term, inspired by the idea that everyone is responsible for making systems function properly. Dudycz reflects on the challenges of software architecture, emphasizing the difficulty of providing a definitive checklist for good software, particularly given that

Combining function pointers, lambda expressions and switch statements to create pattern matching in my scripting language DeltaScript

Published: 2024-09-07 | Origin: /r/programming

The content discusses a minimal code representation for determining prime numbers using various control flow statements. It mentions that the omission of curly braces is a stylistic choice. The author expresses a preference for using a "when" expression to streamline checks on a variable called "to_check," suggesting that repeating its reference in conditions is unnecessary. The author invites feedback on the use of "when" in DeltaScript. There are links to additional examples, but they are not accessible due to an error message.

Engineering Principles for Building Financial Systems

Published: 2024-09-07 | Origin: /r/programming

The article discusses building software for financial systems, particularly accounting systems, emphasizing that while the fundamentals of accounting have remained unchanged for centuries, confusion persists in software development for these systems. The author shares insights from their experience at major tech companies, outlining essential components such as basic financial definitions, high-level goals for accounting systems, engineering principles, and best practices. Key concepts defined include: - **General Ledger (GL)**: The primary accounting record summarizing all financial transactions over a specified period, which aggregates detailed

An archiving tool with an IM-style interface, integrated with various archival services including Internet Archive, archive.today, Ghostarchive, IPFS, Telegraph, and file systems.

Published: 2024-09-07 | Origin: /r/programming

The content describes Wayback, a web archiving tool that features an IM-style interface focused on privacy and accessibility. It connects with various archival services, including Internet Archive and IPFS, to capture and preserve web content. Wayback is intended for web archivists and researchers, offering functionalities for searching and playback of archived pages. Detailed instructions for installation from GitHub, Bina, Snapcraft, APT, RPM, and Homebrew are provided. The tool allows for messaging integration with Telegram and supports

DevHub.app – Developer Utilities for macOS

Published: 2024-09-06 | Origin: Hacker News

The content highlights a feature-rich offline application designed for developers, focusing on daily task support and data security. The application, which requires macOS 14.0, is actively being developed with a goal of weekly updates and aims to offer over 100 utilities. The developer emphasizes a commitment to continuous improvement and user feedback. Additionally, the application integrates with other tools via a URL Scheme, allowing easy activation and integration with various apps and workflows.

Asking the Wrong Questions

Published: 2024-09-05 | Origin: Hacker News

The content describes a photograph of the author's grandfather, Will Jenkins, taken in 1909 when he was 13 years old. Jenkins built a glider with money gifted to him by a Civil War veteran after his essay on Robert E. Lee was published. He managed to fly the glider for distances of eight to forty feet before breaking it. By 1946, Jenkins had become a notable science fiction writer and published a story titled 'A Logic Named Joe,' which predicted the emergence of a

Creating a Git Commit: The Hard Way

Published: 2024-09-04 | Origin: Hacker News

The blog post discusses the process of creating a Git commit using low-level commands, referred to as "Plumbing commands," rather than the standard "Porcelain commands" like `git add` and `git commit` that are typically used. It begins by explaining the different states a file can be in within Git and the structure of a Git project, consisting of three main sections. A Git commit is identified as a Git object, of which there are various types including blob, tree, and commit

Pick Your Distributed Poison

Published: 2024-09-04 | Origin: Hacker News

The content discusses the complexities of handling distributed systems, particularly the concept of eventual consistency, which leads to eventual inconsistency. It emphasizes that inconsistencies are inevitable, and rather than eliminating them, one must accept and manage the types of inconsistencies that are tolerable. Different strategies for managing system stability and preventing issues like cycles and resource leaks are explored, including regular destruction and recreation of the system or maintaining both fresh and old systems simultaneously, leading to varying degrees of instability. The author expresses a personal preference