Published: 2024-09-20 | Origin: Hacker News

AnySkin is a new tactile sensing solution designed to overcome challenges in versatility, replaceability, and data reusability that have limited the development of effective tactile sensors compared to modalities like vision and proprioception. It features a simplified design that separates sensing electronics from the interface, making installation as easy as putting on a phone case. AnySkin allows for cross-instance generalization of learned manipulation policies. The key contributions of this work include: 1. A streamlined fabrication process and design tool for an adhesive-free

Published: 2024-09-20 | Origin: /r/programming

The author discovers an unexpectedly intriguing C compiler manual from the 1980s among a collection of FM TOWNS books. This period saw significant competition among smaller companies, resulting in various vendor language extensions to enhance C's functionality beyond standard capabilities. The Phar Lap software's DOS extender was pivotal as it enabled 32-bit programming in the 16-bit MS-DOS environment, and they collaborated with MetaWare to port the High C Compiler, which later became the first-party C compiler for Fujitsu's

Published: 2024-09-20 | Origin: Hacker News

The document emphasizes the importance of user feedback and directs readers to available qualifiers in the documentation. It introduces an innovative method for visualizing weather forecasts through landscape imagery rather than raw numerical data from traditional weather stations, which can be overwhelming. The proposed approach uses a landscape image featuring a small house, where the horizontal axis represents a 24-hour timeline and the vertical axis symbolizes various weather conditions. The image is coded in Python using the Pillow library and is tailored for a 296x128 E-Ink display

Published: 2024-09-20 | Origin: /r/ruby

The content describes several design patterns used in software development: 1. **Factory Method**: Creates families of related objects without specifying their concrete classes. 2. **Builder**: Constructs complex objects step by step, allowing for different types of objects using the same construction code. 3. **Abstract Factory**: Provides an interface for creating objects in a superclass, enabling subclasses to alter object types. 4. **Prototype**: Allows copying of existing objects without depending on their classes. 5. **Singleton**

Published: 2024-09-20 | Origin: Hacker News

The user expresses a desire to transition from web development to developing basic graphics renderers, with an eventual goal of rendering scenes. They seek recommendations for resources to aid in this learning journey. Various replies suggest a mix of online courses, books, and tutorials that cover 3D graphics programming, including resources that require some knowledge of C++. Notable recommendations include courses from Pikuma, an introductory book on 3D game programming, and specific tutorial series such as "Ray Tracing in One Weekend."

Published: 2024-09-20 | Origin: Hacker News

CuPy is a library that provides a NumPy/SciPy-compatible array interface for GPU-accelerated computing with Python, allowing users to run existing NumPy/SciPy code on NVIDIA CUDA and AMD ROCm platforms. It supports low-level CUDA features, enabling integration with existing CUDA C/C++ applications. Binary packages for CuPy are available on PyPI and Conda-Forge for Linux and Windows, with options for slim installations and specific CUDA versions. Users are encouraged to report issues with the

Published: 2024-09-20 | Origin: /r/programming

CSV (Comma-Separated Values) is a highly resilient and enduring file format in data processing, often likened to a "cockroach" due to its simplicity and ubiquity. It emerged organically in the early computing days as a straightforward method for storing tabular data by separating values with commas and using new lines for rows. Its popularity soared in the 1980s with the advent of spreadsheet programs and its integration into business processes for sharing financial and customer data. With the rise of the internet

Published: 2024-09-20 | Origin: Hacker News

A user successfully booted Debian Linux on a 4-bit Intel 4004 microprocessor from 1971, marking a significant achievement in running a modern operating system on one of the earliest microprocessors. The video showcasing this feat is sped up to maintain viewer interest, with accurate clock and calendar displays. This follows a previous achievement from 2012, where the same user ran Linux on an 8-bit AVR microcontroller, establishing a world record for the lowest-end machine to do so. In

Published: 2024-09-20 | Origin: /r/programming

The QuestDB codebase has recently incorporated a notable amount of Rust code, despite being primarily a Java project. This integration is facilitated by their unique approach, which emphasizes zero garbage collection and efficient data access, making Rust a suitable fit. The author discusses the challenges of testing Rust code, particularly when it's accessed through Java Native Interface (JNI). In the provided blog post, they outline a method for integrating Rust into the CI/CD workflow, enabling test coverage reporting similar to Java's robust framework. The post

Published: 2024-09-20 | Origin: /r/programming

Timescale offers a range of products and services designed to enhance PostgreSQL capabilities, particularly for time-series data and AI applications. Key features include: 1. **Timeseries and Analytics**: Optimized PostgreSQL for fast data ingestion and querying of time-based data. 2. **AI and Vector Support**: Extensions like pgvector and pgai are provided for developing AI agents and performing high-recall searches on vector data. 3. **Dynamic PostgreSQL (Early Access)**: Managed PostgreSQL services

Published: 2024-09-20 | Origin: /r/programming

The content discusses the design of Facebook's News Feed, a feature that displays recent stories from users within a social network. It emphasizes a shift from bi-directional friendship relationships to uni-directional "follow" relationships. Key points to consider include: 1. **Core Requirements**: The design assumes users are authenticated, focusing on system performance requirements, as response speed influences architectural decisions. 2. **Fan Out Problem**: A significant challenge is managing users with many followers or those who follow numerous users,

Published: 2024-09-20 | Origin: /r/programming

The article by Cal Paterson discusses the overwhelming number of open source licenses, highlighting that the Software Package Data Exchange (SPDX) catalogs 665 different licenses, many of which may be unnecessary. It mentions specific examples, like the Nokia Open Source License, which is a modified version of the Mozilla Public License created to reflect Nokia's branding and jurisdiction. Another example is the BSD 3-Clause No Nuclear License, which includes a clause that makes it ineligible as an Open Source license due to its discriminatory

Published: 2024-09-20 | Origin: /r/programming

Terrance Craddock, an independent AI researcher, expresses skepticism about the capabilities of large language models, particularly those with 70 billion parameters. He argues that despite the widespread hype surrounding AI, the reality reveals these models only produce accurate responses about 10% of the time. The other 90% of the outputs tend to be flawed, irrelevant, or incorrect, which he believes undermines the field's credibility. Craddock highlights a simple experiment where he asks AI models how many 'r

Published: 2024-09-20 | Origin: /r/programming

In his talk at the First Round Capital CTO Summit, Greg Brockman, the founding engineer at Stripe, shares insights on optimizing the hiring pipeline to attract top talent. He emphasizes measuring the success of different recruitment channels based on the quality of hires rather than the volume of candidates, suggesting that efficiency is key in recruiting efforts. Brockman likens recruiting to marketing, noting that companies must make themselves appealing to high-demand talent. He encourages crafting engaging recruitment emails and suggests involving multiple perspectives in this process.

Published: 2024-09-20 | Origin: /r/programming

The content expresses the importance of user feedback and encourages users to consult the documentation for available qualifiers. It describes a Lua-based implementation of Conway's Game of Life, where a grid universe evolves based on rules of survival, reproduction, and death. Instructions for using the project include cloning the repository and running the script. The author notes that this project is a recreation of a previous project made in Go, aimed at learning Lua. A link to the original Go project is also provided.

Published: 2024-09-20 | Origin: Hacker News

The blog post on tinyapps.org discusses a method to disable the frequent prompt in Sequoia that requests permission to bypass the system's private window picker and access screen and audio. The prompt frequency has been reduced by Apple from daily to monthly. The suggested workaround involves quitting the app, setting the system date far into the future, opening the app to trigger the prompt, selecting "Allow For One Month," and then restoring the original date. The post humorously notes that this workaround resembles a "hack

Published: 2024-09-20 | Origin: Hacker News

LeanRL is a lightweight library derived from CleanRL, aimed at providing optimized implementations of popular Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithms using PyTorch. Its main objective is to significantly reduce training time by employing advanced PyTorch 2 features like `torch.compile` and `cudagraphs`. While the library lacks certain features such as detailed logging and checkpointing, it serves as a simplified resource for testing the runtime performance of various training scripts. The key speed improvements come from `torch.compile`, which enhances

Published: 2024-09-19 | Origin: Hacker News

The content discusses a security vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-45489 related to the Arc application, which primarily uses Firebase for user authentication. The author begins by analyzing Arc after downloading it, discovering that an account is required for use. Upon further investigation using a proxy tool (mitmproxy), they observe that while Arc utilizes Firebase for authentication, other functionalities remain untraceable through typical request monitoring. The author speculates that it might be using Firestore, Firebase's database service, which

Published: 2024-09-19 | Origin: Hacker News

The content is about a project that provides 3,198 free SVG icons for popular brands. Users can request missing icons or report outdated ones through GitHub, and contributions and corrections are welcome. The project is maintained by Simple Icons contributors and is supported by donations on Open Collective. It emphasizes community involvement and is created with care on GitHub.

Published: 2024-09-19 | Origin: Hacker News

The blog post discusses the importance of understanding port forwarding and tunneling, particularly through SSH, and shares practical experiences and tips. Key topics include use cases, SSH configurations like jumphosts, and local, remote, and dynamic port forwarding, with a primary focus on TCP ports. SSH tunneling allows forwarding TCP traffic over a secure connection between an SSH client and server. The post includes various command examples for setting up port forwarding using SSH, emphasizing the need to configure settings such as `GatewayPorts