Published: 2024-10-30 | Origin: Hacker News

An editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation highlights recent discussions about detecting gravitons, the hypothetical particles responsible for gravity. Currently, conventional methods suggest that capturing a graviton is nearly impossible; for instance, an Earth-size apparatus would only detect one every billion years. However, a new proposal suggests a method that combines gravitational wave research and advancements in quantum technology, making graviton detection more feasible. While still a challenging endeavor, the proposed experiment could potentially be conducted in a modest laboratory setup over

Published: 2024-10-30 | Origin: /r/programming

The PACELC theorem is an extension of the CAP theorem, introduced by Daniel Abadi, which adds a second decision-making component to the original framework. PACELC stands for: - **P**: Partition - **A**: Availability - **C**: Consistency - **E**: Else (new aspect) - **L**: Latency (new aspect) - **C**: Consistency The PACELC theorem emphasizes two key questions: 1

Published: 2024-10-30 | Origin: Hacker News

OpenZFS 2.3.0 is set to be released soon, featuring a new "Fast Dedup" capability developed by the Klara team over the past 18 months. This improvement is seen as a significant upgrade over the older deduplication method. Despite some ongoing concerns expressed in community forums about high memory usage and performance issues—echoed from past experiences—the team stresses that these concerns are outdated and that Fast Dedup has addressed many of the previous challenges. Deduplication

Published: 2024-10-30 | Origin: Hacker News

arXivLabs is a platform enabling collaboration on new features for the arXiv website, emphasizing values such as openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. Only partners who share these values are involved. Individuals or organizations with potential project ideas that could benefit the arXiv community are encouraged to learn more about arXivLabs. Additionally, users can receive operational status notifications via email or Slack.

Published: 2024-10-30 | Origin: Hacker News

Valve has announced a new requirement for developers on Steam, mandating that they clearly specify any kernel-level anti-cheat software used in their games on their Steam store pages. This change comes in response to feedback from both developers, who want to share this information, and players, who seek greater transparency regarding anti-cheat measures and any additional software that may be installed. This requirement applies to both new releases and existing games on Steam, with Valve conducting checks to ensure compliance. While it is mandatory for kernel

Published: 2024-10-30 | Origin: /r/programming

Polipo is often labeled simply as a "code generator," which can lead to misunderstandings about its capabilities. While it does generate code, Polipo distinguishes itself from other AI-powered tools by functioning more like a compiler rather than just producing code for manual editing. This realization came slowly, as the concepts of "Figma," a design tool, and "compiler," typically associated with coding, appear vastly different. Ultimately, Polipo's unique role as the first Figma compiler means that it effectively transforms

Published: 2024-10-30 | Origin: /r/programming

The content discusses misconceptions about timezones and introduces an exploration of the most unusual timezones through the lens of the raw timezone files used by software. The author notes that rather than focusing on false beliefs about timezones, they will highlight their peculiarities. An aside is made regarding calendar systems, particularly the dominance of the Western Gregorian calendar, which is widely accepted and understood globally, including in countries that traditionally observe different calendars. The author touches on the minimal need for software adapting to other calendar systems, asserting

Published: 2024-10-30 | Origin: /r/programming

The HTTP Deprecation header is a mechanism for notifying clients about the deprecation status of an API endpoint, either already deprecated or set for future deprecation, with the date expressed in Unix time as per the latest draft proposal. Some API providers prefer using the RFC 7231 HTTP-date format instead due to its readability, though it may be harder for some tools to parse. An alternative is using a boolean value indicating whether the API is deprecated, but this has limitations, including the need for prior

Published: 2024-10-30 | Origin: /r/programming

The content introduces a Christmas-themed SQL advent calendar that offers daily SQL challenges via email from December 1st to Christmas Eve. Each day participants will receive a new challenge related to the holiday season, along with a database dump and instructions. The initiative is designed for individuals at an early intermediate level of SQL, and there's no cost to participate. Challenges will take approximately 10-20 minutes each day and are primarily based on Postgres, though they should be adaptable to other SQL databases. The program invites

Published: 2024-10-30 | Origin: Hacker News

The content, titled "Surfing Complexity," explores the dynamics of decision-making in software development through a dialogue in a meeting room. The participants discuss the feasibility of completing features by the end of Q2 while considering the concept of a "carefulness knob," a metaphor for the balance between thoroughness in testing and adherence to processes versus the need to expedite development. TL (Team Lead) explains that the team allocates effort based on perceived risks, acknowledging that they occasionally misjudge these risks. EM (

Published: 2024-10-30 | Origin: /r/programming

The content discusses the misconception that "sprints" are central to Agile methodologies, using the analogy of sprinting in athletics to illustrate the exhaustion and pressure that software teams often experience. It critiques the focus on strict adherence to processes over the Agile principles of valuing individuals, interactions, and responsiveness to change. The author highlights common issues faced by teams, such as prioritization of minor tasks over important features, pressure to complete sprint goals, and an overemphasis on velocity and metrics at the expense of

Published: 2024-10-30 | Origin: /r/ruby

DHNN is a prominent design agency in Argentina, collaborating with major companies like IBM and AVON. They partnered with a development team for a project centered on ChewChoo!, a subscription-based e-commerce service offering pet toys. The project faced three primary challenges: theming the product bundles, integrating third-party services, and time constraints. ChewChoo! planned to provide themed bundles (e.g., Halloween and Christmas) with fully customizable pages, which added complexity. The integration of immature

Published: 2024-10-30 | Origin: /r/ruby

Ayush Newatia discusses the importance of Rack in creating Ruby web applications as it standardizes the interface between Ruby applications and web servers. This allows any Rack-compliant server (like Puma or Unicorn) to work with any Rack-compliant framework (such as Rails or Sinatra). While this separation provides flexibility, it also imposed limitations, such as the lack of support for persistent connections like WebSockets in Rack 2. Rack 3 has addressed these limitations. A basic Rack application structure is introduced, consisting

Published: 2024-10-30 | Origin: Hacker News

The content discusses the concept of open source governance and the importance of trust within technology and communities, using the example of Ghost, a distributed non-profit foundation that operates under a permissive MIT license. Ghost has no owners or investors, and it has generated about $7.5 million in annual revenue over the past 12 years. The author reflects on their past experiences as a contributor to WordPress, expressing frustration with internal politics and conflicts of interest that detracted from the ideals of open source and

Published: 2024-10-30 | Origin: /r/ruby

In a Rails application, querying databases across associations can lead to performance issues. Julian Rubisch discusses efficient solutions, particularly emphasizing the importance of full-text search. For those using PostgreSQL, the pg_search gem offers a streamlined approach without adding significant operational complexity, unlike the PostgreSQL extension of the same name. After integrating the gem, developers can enable full-text search by including the PgSearch::Model module in relevant models. This involves setting up a global search index and defining searchable attributes with the multis

Published: 2024-10-30 | Origin: /r/ruby

In 2023, Jean Boussier discussed improvements made to Ruby's garbage collector (GC) for Shopify's monolith, specifically the implementation of out-of-band garbage collection to enhance latency. Although this approach significantly reduced latency, it still relied on average-based heuristics that compromised capacity and allowed major collections to occur during request cycles, albeit rarely. In December 2023, after discussions with Koichi Sasada, a new idea emerged to completely disable major GC during request cycles. By March

Published: 2024-10-30 | Origin: /r/programming

The article discusses the author's successful migration of a software project from C++ to Rust, completing the transition to a 100% Rust codebase while maintaining a stable public C API. The process was executed incrementally, allowing for the addition of new features during the transition without redundant work. The author notes that the new Rust code, while similarly sized to the old C++ code, ultimately turned out to be simpler and more manageable. The migration revealed opportunities to optimize performance, such as recognizing fixed-size data

Published: 2024-10-30 | Origin: /r/ruby

Ruby is appreciated for its ease of use and depth, featuring a standard library filled with hidden gems. One such gem is the command line utility "un," designed to provide portable UNIX commands when a UNIX environment isn't available. It's particularly useful in embedded systems. Notably, two standout tools are "httpd," which serves files over HTTP quickly, and "colorize," which highlights Ruby code syntax in terminal outputs, potentially serving as an alternative to the 'cat' command.

Published: 2024-10-30 | Origin: /r/programming

The article discusses the benefits of using memory arenas in programming, which involve grouping multiple allocations with the same lifetime into a single batch that is allocated and deallocated at once. This method, known for simplifying code and improving performance, avoids frequent deallocation during the program's operation and reduces complexity associated with pointer management. An arena typically requires a single request for a region of memory from the OS, allowing for consistent behavior across different operating systems since it bypasses standard allocation checks. The author shares a personal experience

Published: 2024-10-30 | Origin: /r/programming

The "Comprehensive Linux Basics" repository offers a thorough guide to foundational Linux concepts, essential commands, and best practices. It caters to both beginners and those looking to reinforce their Linux knowledge. Users can easily navigate the repository via a Table of Contents that links to detailed sections presented in Markdown format. Contributions and feedback are encouraged, and users are advised to star the repository for convenient future access. The project operates under the MIT License.