News Nug
Bus Number – The GitHub plugin my coworkers asked me not to write

Published: 2024-11-11 | Origin: Hacker News

The blog post, co-authored with mclare, discusses the concept of "bus factor," which refers to the number of team members who need to leave a project for it to become stalled due to a lack of knowledge. It recalls a previous experience where layoffs affected a crucial contributor, prompting the author to create a GitHub plugin that identifies team members whose absence would be detrimental. After presenting the idea at work, coworkers cautioned that it could be misused by management. The piece also references a

How I ship projects at big tech companies

Published: 2024-11-11 | Origin: Hacker News

The author, with nearly a decade of experience in tech project management, emphasizes the unique skill set required for successfully shipping projects, which differs from simply writing code. They highlight a common misstep: the misconception that shipping is an easy process that happens automatically once the code is complete or tasks are checked off. In reality, projects often fail to ship unless someone prioritizes and actively manages the shipping process. The author argues that shipping should be the primary focus for project leaders, rather than getting lost in polishing

I Don't Have Spotify

Published: 2024-11-11 | Origin: Hacker News

The content emphasizes that feedback is carefully considered, encourages users to check documentation for available qualifiers, and mentions the ease of converting Spotify links to other streaming services.

Improving Steam Client Stability on Linux

Published: 2024-11-11 | Origin: Hacker News

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Debian Junior Desktop live image

Published: 2024-11-11 | Origin: Hacker News

The content provides information about live images for the Debian GNU/Linux operating system specifically designed for the amd64 architecture. It includes multiple complete ISO images corresponding to different desktop environments, which users can download and write to writable DVDs or USB sticks. The package includes checksum files for verifying the integrity of the downloaded images. The Debian images primarily include Free Software but also contain non-free firmware needed for certain hardware to function. Users are advised to check the Debian Wiki for more details on non-free firmware. Due

Testing the Z80 Chip with a 1970s Beauty

Published: 2024-11-11 | Origin: Hacker News

The article, originally published by Micro Technology Services, Inc. (MTSI), discusses the historical significance of the Fairchild Sentry 610 test system at Mostek in the 1980s. Mostek was a leading DRAM producer, and many Z80 microprocessors, including Zilog-branded ones, were tested using this system. The Sentry 610 was notably versatile, testing various chips including the Fairchild F-8 CPU and Magnavox T.V. tuner chips.

emiT - a Time Travelling Programming language.

Published: 2024-11-11 | Origin: /r/programming

The content describes "emiT," a time-traveling programming language that allows users to manipulate variables across parallel timelines. Users can send variables back in time to change past outcomes, creating new timelines and potential paradoxes. The language is a hobby project, primarily developed in a single afternoon, and the creator invites feedback and contributions from users. The documentation includes a comprehensive list of features, examples of code, and syntax highlighting resources. Key features include "time warping," which lets variables alter earlier points

8 Steps in Writing Analytical SQL Queries

Published: 2024-11-11 | Origin: /r/programming

Christopher Winslett discusses the challenges of transitioning from simple to complex SQL queries, emphasizing the risk of returning incorrect data due to miscalculations. He highlights a common pitfall involving inflated values in aggregate calculations resulting from joining tables improperly. Winslett uses an example to demonstrate how joining invoices to teams after team members can lead to duplicate counts in sums. To build a complex query effectively, he suggests following a systematic approach: start with a clear description of the intended outcome, be prepared for adjustments during data exploration

Optimizing a WebGPU Matmul Kernel for 1 TFLOP

Published: 2024-11-11 | Origin: Hacker News

The author works at Nomic, where they and their colleagues tackle the challenges of creating large TSNE-like visualizations in the browser, specifically handling tens of millions of data points efficiently. They note discussions among colleagues about scaling solutions like Deepscatter and the benefits of WebGPU and TypeScript. In an effort to learn more about these technologies, the author developed Surfgrad, a WebGPU-enabled autograd library for tensor operations in the browser that achieves over 1 TFLOPS arithmetic intensity in

Short Ruby Newsletter - edition 113

Published: 2024-11-11 | Origin: /r/ruby

The newsletter by Lucian Ghinda on November 11, 2024, highlights various updates and launches in the Ruby development community. Key points include: - Codeium, an AI coding assistant, is introduced as a secure tool for development teams, reportedly helping Fortune 50 companies generate about 50% of their accepted code. - Ruby Cademy has launched presales for its 1st Edition cards, and Rails Simple Auth was introduced for Rails 8 authentication. - Brighton Ruby shared that

Are AI Assistants Making Us Worse Programmers?

Published: 2024-11-11 | Origin: /r/programming

The rise of AI in programming, exemplified by tools like Copilot and Cursor, has become integral to modern coding practices, making it nearly impossible for programmers to avoid using AI assistants. With over a decade of programming experience, the author reflects on whether these tools are making programmers less skilled. Drawing an analogy to Ayrton Senna, a legendary racing driver, the author compares past and present approaches to performance, highlighting a debate on whether the automation in both racing and programming detracts from the essential skills

TL;DR of my best software architecture reads of the week | Architecture Nugget

Published: 2024-11-11 | Origin: /r/programming

Architecture Nugget provides insights into software and system architecture, focusing this week on several key topics. It examines scaling GraphQL subscriptions using an event-driven approach in Go, highlighting a challenge with memory consumption due to excessive goroutines and how a new architecture with controlled concurrency and memory pooling improved efficiency. The discussion also covers the Liskov Substitution Principle (LSP) for cleaner mobile architecture, and situations where microservices may not be optimal. Additionally, it addresses misconceptions around Event-Driven Architecture, presents

When to Use Cosmos DB? Going deep with Azure's distributed document database.

Published: 2024-11-11 | Origin: /r/programming

The article discusses when to use Azure Cosmos DB, highlighting its complexity and the need for understanding its functionality, cost implications, and trade-offs. It suggests using Cosmos DB when one needs a cloud-specific solution with automatic scalability, akin to when one would use DynamoDB on AWS. Cosmos DB, a high-availability distributed database that evolved from DocumentDB, supports multiple models and APIs, making it versatile yet potentially confusing. At its core, it operates on a document-based storage layer with features like tunable

Voyager 1 Breaks Its Silence with NASA via Radio Transmitter Not Used Since 1981

Published: 2024-11-11 | Origin: Hacker News

Recently, NASA's Voyager 1, the farthest spacecraft from Earth, briefly lost communication before reconnecting using an inactive backup radio transmitter from 1981. Launched in 1977 alongside Voyager 2, both probes have been exploring the outer planets and sending vital scientific data back to Earth for 47 years. In mid-October, Voyager 1 experienced a communication issue after a command to turn on a heater activated its fault protection system, which autonomously shuts down nonessential functions to conserve

Rocky Mountain Ruby 2024: DragonRuby Game Toolkit Lessons Learned (16 minute presentation, followed by some code exploration and QnA)

Published: 2024-11-11 | Origin: /r/ruby

Of course! Please provide the content you'd like me to summarize.

Use blank? and present? in Rails

Published: 2024-11-11 | Origin: /r/ruby

In Ruby on Rails, particularly through Active Support, the methods `blank?` and `present?` are provided to check if a value contains meaningful data or is empty. These methods simplify and consolidate multiple checks (like `nil?` and `empty?`) into straightforward calls, enhancing code readability. They work uniformly across various object types, such as strings, arrays, and hashes, including cases where strings contain only whitespace. However, there are situations where one might opt not to use them.

Week 45 - Hotwire Live Reload, Alpine.js as an alternative, and more!

Published: 2024-11-11 | Origin: /r/ruby

In this issue of Hotwire Weekly, several articles provide insights into enhancing Rails applications with modern JavaScript frameworks and tools: 1. **Alpine.js as a Stimulus Alternative** - Felipe Vogel examines Alpine.js as a viable option for adding JavaScript to server-rendered pages, emphasizing its ability to work with separate JavaScript files and manage content security policies. 2. **Setting Up View Components in Rails** - Ken Greeff offers a detailed guide on implementing ViewComponents in Rails, focusing on

Understanding LLMs from Scratch Using Middle School Math

Published: 2024-11-11 | Origin: /r/programming

The article by Rohit Patel on Towards Data Science explains how Large Language Models (LLMs) work, starting from basic arithmetic concepts like addition and multiplication. It aims to provide a straightforward, self-contained understanding of modern LLMs and the Transformer architecture without the extensive jargon typically associated with machine learning. The author plans to guide readers through constructing a simple Generative AI, emphasizing a numerical approach to data input and output. The article stresses that neural networks process only numbers and discusses how to interpret these outputs

Visual Basic 6 rebuilt in C# - complete with form designer and IDE, runs directly in browser (WASM)

Published: 2024-11-11 | Origin: /r/programming

Sure! Please provide the content you'd like me to summarize.

Virtual Windows 3.11 Computer

Published: 2024-11-11 | Origin: Hacker News

The homepage welcomes visitors and showcases various online projects by the creator, Pieter Mouthaan. Highlights include a Minecraft survival server (mc.pieter.com:25565) with a community named LEVELS TOWN, an IRC chat server (irc.pieter.com:6667), and an Anonymous FTP server (ftp.pieter.com) for file downloads. The site aims to host hacky projects and internet experiments, and it has been recently moved to its own VPS for enhanced capabilities. The creator reflects on starting