[ prog / sol / mona ]

prog


Improving

1 2020-02-22 06:14

Let's discuss the ways of becoming a better programmer!

2 2020-02-22 12:28

Wake up early. Take care of your diet. Work instead of procrastinating.

3 2020-02-22 16:50 *

Use Microsoft VS Code.

4 2020-02-25 08:17 *

Read SICP.

5 2020-02-25 19:45

I feel like I've hit a plateau and have no idea how to proceed. The usual advice is to read more books and write more programs. But what book is to be read and what program is to be written? I don't even feel like I know what I am good at and what needs to be improved. What are even the ``subskills'' of programming and how could they be measured? Please help me /prog/!

6 2020-02-25 21:32

What kinds of books have you been reading? What kind of programs have you been programming?

You might need to learn stuff that you aren't directly interested in, so better yourself indirectly in the fields you are interested in. Arguably, that's also the point of universities.

7 2020-02-26 01:55

>>5

I feel like I've hit a plateau and have no idea how to proceed. The usual advice is to read more books and write more programs. But ...

Sounds like you feel inured. Perhaps you should try something different---even wildly different, seemingly unrelated to your work. You might learn something that noone else considered, that might apply, somehow, to your work.

I don't even feel like I know what I am good at and what needs to be improved. What are even the ``subskills'' of programming and how could they be measured?

Sounds like you oughtta review the fundamentals. Have you read Donald Knuth's The Art Of Computer Programming? By the way, literate programming <http://literateprogramming.com/> seems to be where the future of software developement is gonna be. Maybe not soon, but the basic idea---keeping all sources, including documentation, together as one file, written for human consumption, and, additionally, computer parsing---is quite compelling, and pramatically sound.

8 2020-02-26 01:55

>>2

Wake up early. Take care of your diet. Work instead of procrastinating.

Well, really, it's about having the proper exercise, rest, nutritional, hygiene,, programmes. The problem is that what is proper for one is not necessarily proper for another. There may be similarities among some individuals, and some individuals might be near the ``average advice'' about when to go to bed, how often to do what sorts of exercises, when to eat what sorts of foods, water,, how often to bathe, brush teeth, do laundry, clean/organize your rooms,,. It might be worth trying the average advice, but if that's very different to how you are doing things now, it might not turn out too well. (It might even be your proper programme, but there might be some shock, which might lessen, perhaps negate, it's salutary effects.)
Another strategy might be to try some small change, and wait a few weeks to see the difference in your activity; repeating this until you get to something that works well for you. This can get you to a local maximum, but that's not necessarily your proper programme.
Another strategy might be to choose an arbitrary programme (checking to make sure that you won't die because of it) and then just try it for a few weeks; repeating until the programmes that you have tried are spread around the space of possible programmes, sufficiently close together that it's unlikely that there is any interesting variants between them. Then, based on the best of the programmes in that spread, you should try minor variants, each with it's own trial period, to find your proper programme.
It's best to start with a good idea of the sorts of aspects of your life that might be factors in your well-being, and construct a space of possible programmes based on these potential factors. You can apply some empirical results and basic reasoning to have a basic conception of how the programmes might be related.
For one, your overall movement should correspond with your overall nutritional intake. So, if you keep your movement the same, and experiment with different nutritional intake, or keep your nutritional intake the same, and experiment with your movement, you should get a decent idea of the relation between movement and nutritional intake.
Another example is that, based on the principle of entropy, things get dirtier over time. Also, dirtier things are more difficult to work with, becuase of the greater complexity. (And there's a greater risk involved with things going wrong.) So this is where hygiene comes it. Since things get dirtier over time, you know that, e.g. bathing once a day is cleaner than bathing once every few days. Is the extra cleanliness worth the extra bathing effort? Generally, how much extra cleanliness of that sort is worth the extra hygienic effort of that sort? That something for you to try to figure out or notice. (For all we know, this may differ depending on the person, so there's no reason to be a cleanliness snob, snubbing any less clean, nor to condemn someone cleanlier-than-thou as obsessive about cleanliness.)
So, to start, learn about what the possible factors might be, and learn about the possible factors, then, based on them, construct the space of potential programmes. Then, the goal is to find the measure function on that space of potential programmes. How you go about doing that is up to you, but I've mentioned, above, one way that you might do this. Perhaps there is another way. Perhaps there is a better way.

9 2020-02-28 19:05

>>5,7

Sounds like you oughtta review the fundamentals. Have you read Donald Knuth's The Art Of Computer Programming?

I'd suggest you start with Concrete Mathematics by Knuth. It truly is enlightening.

10 2020-03-07 09:47

>>9
I have no idea how to study mathematics on my own.

11 2020-03-07 09:57

>>10
They're concrete mathematics (continuous and discrete). Just read the book, at your pace. Donald will take you by the hand. It's entertaining too.

12 2020-03-07 10:00 *

No handholding before marriage.

13 2020-03-08 09:31 *

Forgive.

14 2020-03-10 21:44 *

Read SICP.

15 2020-03-22 20:38

In How do we tell truths that might hurt?, Dijkstra lists the following as an uncomfortable truth:

Besides a mathematical inclination, an exceptionally good mastery of one's native tongue is the most vital asset of a competent programmer.

Does this still hold today? What if we replace ``native tongue'' with the English language?
https://www.cs.virginia.edu/~evans/cs655/readings/ewd498.html

16 2020-03-24 13:55

>>15

Besides a mathematical inclination, an exceptionally good mastery of one's native tongue is the most vital asset of a competent programmer.

My native tongue is a heavily-onomatopoeic anglesque. Yes it does hold. ``Native tongue'' was not meant to refer, metaphorically, to his preferred computer language, but to the psychical system by which he holds, durably, his thoughts. (This is distinct from ``native language,'' which is the psychical system by which he thinks. OK, it was probably meant the language by which he communicates naturally to other persons; but my interpretation is better. It is, naturally, better to too master one's communicative skills.

>https://www.cs.virginia.edu/~evans/cs655/readings/ewd498.html
Vide Galileo Galilei

Uh, no. His crime was being an asshole about how he told the truth. There were plenty of Scientists (majuscule initial, representing ``real'' e.g. rigorous, empirical,, science) who were not prosecuted, because they kept the (sometimes exceedingly thin) veil of churchliness.

The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offence.

The exclusive use of any particular language cripples the mind, especially premature use.

The problems of business administration in general and data base management in particular are much too difficult for people that think in IBMerese, compounded with sloppy English.

It's plain decent sense: no jargon, should be among the first rules of intelligents. Jargon cripples the mind. Ever read TV Tropes? Use compositional, rigorous, monosemic constructions. Ignore whatever isn't (e.g. opaquety, vaguety,, velcetera).

Projects promoting programming in "natural language" are intrinsically doomed to fail.

Unless you're Donald Knuth. (cf. Literate Programming)

The tools we use have a profound (and devious!) influence on our thinking habits, and, therefore, on our thinking abilities.

Unless you're Donald Knuth. (cf. The Art Of Computer Programming)

Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. [Handwritten annotation]

Unless you're Donald Knuth. (cf., excuse SVP it's poorly typeset, \TeX)
>>10 >I have no idea how to study mathematics on my own.
Read synoptically (Mortimer Adler) a shortlist of modern classics. (e.g. Generally: Bourbaki, Serge Lang, ProofWiki, nLab, Loeve Probability, Knuth,,)

17 2020-07-05 21:36

>>1
>>5
Reverse engineering. Discover vulnerabilities and disclose them on the web. There are plenty of services which know about their's, many even placed it there themselves, as backdoors. These won't be closed unless somebody pressures them to.

CPU vulnerabilities have been the most fun on recent years, but there is plenty more to come.

18 2020-07-06 17:51 *

>>17
I used to play around with that back when I could still stomach touching proprietary software.

19 2020-07-08 00:21

>>18
You're still touching it, just involuntarily. That's why it is import to unwrap these boxes.

20 2020-11-01 13:27

Do you guys have any C++ book recommendations? I did have a course about it in university, but that was ages ago and before C++11 and other niceties, therefore I am mostly looking for something that covers all the modern stuff but does not bore me out of my mind by repeating the very basics for a millionth time.

21 2020-11-01 15:02

>>20

C++ moves too fast for books. If you want current information you should keep up with the standards committee and run your own tests/experiments. Go through each part of the standard library.

22 2020-11-01 15:35

Stackoverflow is the only book you really need.
The standard papers are theoretical boring stuff that doesn't correspond to what compilers do(and how).
Writing C++CurrentYear functional code and then discovering how its not optimized and debugging is too arcane, as compiler writers implemented it a few weeks ago and never actually tested it in depth.

23 2020-11-01 15:37

>>22

Stackoverflow is the only book you really need

Oh my...

24 2020-11-01 15:55

>>23
Try debugging complex C++ code without referencing Stackoverflow.

25 2020-11-01 16:10

>>24

Notice the poster who believes C++ is too complex to comprehend is the same poster who uses Stack Overflow as an exclusive reference source. Coincidence?

26 2020-11-01 16:21

>>25
Explain how you would use a C++ book to debug C++ code.
I want to see the thought process of a person that relies on books with C++.

27 2020-11-01 16:25

>>26

If it is impossible to understand C++ without using Stack Overflow as an exclusive reference source, how do posters on Stack Overflow come up with answers to questions?

28 2020-11-01 16:32

>>27
Actual programming, debugging and lots of experience dealing with C++. Stuff you can't put into a book, because its either too specific or implementation-dependent.
Books are for normies seeking to "understand" C++ without actually writing code and getting their hands dirty.

29 2020-11-01 16:43

>>28

In your Stack Overflow addled mind people simply sit down and start writing code without any prior education? Seems unlikely.

30 2020-11-01 16:47

>>29 Imagine telling people they're stupid for not paying for a book.
https://en.cppreference.com/
https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/
https://www.gnu.org/software/libc/manual/html_mono/libc.html

31 2020-11-01 16:52

>>30
If you really need something book-like and want everything explained slowly and persuasively, there is C++ propoganda for that.
https://isocpp.org/wiki/faq

32 2020-11-01 16:53

>>31 Its mostly half-baked lies and omissions, reading C++ library headers and source code is much better for understanding how C++ works.

33 2020-11-01 16:53

>>30

You seem to have abandoned your position that Stack Overflow should be used as an exclusive source of information.

Where do you think the information on cppreference.com comes from? I'll make this a multiple choice question for you:

A) Stack Overflow
B) The C++ Standard

34 2020-11-01 16:56

>>31

propoganda

How surprising this poster doesn't like books.

35 2020-11-01 17:03

Imagine paying for a book to "understand C++ internals" where everything is explain in detail for free.
https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/libstdc++/latest-doxygen/modules.html

36 2020-11-01 17:09

>>33
Stackoverflow is the place where you search for solving actual problems.
Documentation online is where want to reference something.
The C++ Standard is when you want to write a C++ compiler.
I don't read 'programming books'.

37 2020-11-01 17:15

>>36

Documentation online is where want to reference something

This poster does not read books.

38 2020-11-01 17:22

>>37
Last book i read was back in 2002, its a russian translation of Sherlock Holmes stories. Its still there collecting dust, because every book is online for free.

39 2020-11-01 17:24

>>38

How do you know online books are free if you've never read any of them?

40 2020-11-01 17:32

>>39
I don't read physical books, i can download pdf/ebook files which are electronic copies of them.
There dozens of large online libraries for any books, some in html format. Pirated books, free books, etc scanned, OCRed and proofread. Its dying media format replaced by online manuals and webpages.

41 2020-11-01 17:39

The virgin book-reader: must buy physical copies of a book, destroying more trees and polluting the planet. Like "the feel of book reading"(often suffers from papercuts).
Unsatisfied when paying for an e-book, feels betrayed when DRM denies him reading or copying. Books are mostly stale propoganda for a vague ideology or method which booker tries unsuccessfully apply, but results in need for more books to better 'understand' the subject.

The chad web surfer: the entire information super-highway with search engines is at his fingertips, as well as everything that was written in books or by people.
Terabytes of manuals, pages and forum threads where every subject is discussed in detail. Also the medium is interactive and you can ask/answer questions yourself, unlike the virgin book-reader who is limited to static book content.

42 2020-11-01 18:11

Question for book fans:
Do you use sci-hub or pay for downloading scientific papers?

43 2020-11-01 18:13 *

>>36

I don't read 'programming books'.

It shows.

44 2020-11-01 18:14

>>40

You don't read books except for when you read books. Makes sense.

This is a pretty good troll, really. Pop into an existing thread. Claim Stack Overflow is the one true source of knowledge. When someone disagrees start whining about paying for books. Repeat. Probably quite fruitful for someone distributing malicious PDF files.

45 2020-11-01 18:17

The only way to truly learn C++ is to run your PDF viewer as root user.

46 2020-11-01 18:24

>>44 I have the capability of reading books, but why would i
Pay for a book or e-book,when alternative and free sources of information exist,which are thousands times more relevant and useful that any book - and if i really need to read something (not a programming book) i could download or read it online.
Such a complex concept might evade binary thinkers who think you either "buy books and read them" or "be a neaderthal savage who cannot read"

>>45
Makes sense. Probably quite fruitful for book industry to make everyone fear pirated PDF files.

47 2020-11-01 18:31

>>46

The fellow who doesn't read books(except when he does) thinks the book industry invented malicious PDF files. Amazing what a mind can come up with when freed from the shackles of reason and sense.

48 2020-11-01 18:43

Bibliophiles defending their dying media format are merely pawns of book industry PR which tries to elevate books into an intellectual art form.
They think the book is some sacred vestige of past intellectual civilization, while in reality its a poor data container that
has outgrown its usefulness in a digital age, like vinyl music "analog sound".
Books are inferior to e-books, which are inferior in turn to free hypertext. The resources required to create a physical book dwarfs file production costs by many orders of magnitude, its incredibly wasteful format for storing and distributing data.
E-books are attempt by old media companies to black box the
data into a format that is crippled by DRM and ensure profits from 'intellectual majority' of 'book readers' who have to purchase such 'book files' that are limited in functionality to viewing content through a digital straw(denying copying).

49 2020-11-01 18:52

>>47
Book industry uses fear of "malicious files" to promote their official, safe e-books with DRM that deny access to underlying data - they don't have to create such files, only promote the idea. In reality some shitty software interprets embedded JavaScript in PDFs wrong, not some great exploit that roots your device.

50 2020-11-01 19:00

>>44

We are currently in the "Repeat" stage of the troll.

51 2020-11-01 19:07

>>49

Hey look... The poster who refuses to read doesn't understand malicious PDF files.

52 2020-11-01 19:10

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883035512001127

Main findings show that students who read texts in print scored significantly better on the reading comprehension test than students who read the texts digitally.

The evil book industry overlords are so desperate they're creating fake scientific studies to sell their evil analog data containers.

53 2020-11-01 19:12

>>50 Determine your stage:

Denial – "Books are great source of information. Those new-fangled forums and interactive web-sights are inferior and unrealiable sources, even worse than Wikipedia. "
Anger – "What do you mean, you don't read books? Are you some savage? You have to read ${my_favorite_books} to understand all the references i make. Books are the only valid way to learn, bet your simpleton mind cannot comprehend me on any level. Read some books!"
Bargaining – "Ok, Physical books are bad for environment, but E-Books are fine. I only buy the E-book to support the author. Books are great way to consolidate content."
Depression – "E-Books are vastly inferior to hypertext and DRM-free files. How come the pirates get everything for free?"
Acceptance – "Books are shitty and outdated model of information distribution. I was duped by the book industry trying to extend its reach into the Digital age. Books are inherently manipulative devices sold for profit or promotion of something else."

54 2020-11-01 19:15

>>53

Looks like we're still in the "Repeat" stage.

Maybe you should ask Stack Overflow how to troll more effectively.

55 2020-11-01 19:17

>>51
Just how do you think "malicious PDFs" work?

56 2020-11-01 19:20

>>55

Please wait while I go ask Stack Overflow.

57 2020-11-01 19:20

What happens if Stack Overflow tells me to read books?

58 2020-11-01 19:25

>>54
Nah, you should buy hardcover Trolling 2020: The Definitive Edition plus DVD bundle with E-Book and video lectures, it has the latest trends and guides you for the entire trolling process - with complete terminology reference and start-of-art trolling algorithms. Plus if you subscribe, professional trolls will provide phone-based tech support for all your needs, with optional premium Online Troll Training course for the low price of 160$/month.

59 2020-11-01 19:38

Heres a book >>55:
Defeating the PDF menace:The Complete Solution on Avoiding Malicious PDFs and being Pwned.
1.Don't use PDF software that has embedded javascript.
2.Don't run PDF software as root.
Book end.
Now a payment of 10$ per copy is requested from fellow book enthusiasts.

60 2020-11-01 19:48

>>59

Troll retracts previous statements regarding malicious PDFs being a creation of the evil book industry. Now recommends taking active measures against malicious PDFs. But only if you read them, which he doesn't, except when he does. Still not sure how malicious PDFs work.

61 2020-11-01 19:52

>>59
You can also preorder "Converting PDF to HTML:The Security Experts weight on new technique to combat PDF malware"
for the low price of 20$.

62 2020-11-01 19:54

>>60
Adobe Reader users deserve to be exploited.
Its incredibly shitty bloatware.

63 2020-11-01 19:55

>>52

"Cricket Noises" by I.M. Trollin

64 2020-11-01 20:07

Seriously you think this entire textboard with tons of PDF links lives in paranoia from malicious PDFs?
Do you use Adobe Reader? On Windows? Or running it as root on linux? I'd like to see why you fear PDFs.

65 2020-11-01 20:21

https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvekey.cgi?keyword=Adobe%20Reader
Amazing. 1772 cves vs 2k for Internet Explorer.
https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvekey.cgi?keyword=internet%20explorer

66 2020-11-01 20:35

>>64

No one ever got pwned by an evil analog paper book. Just sayin'.

67 2020-11-01 20:43

>>66
1.Chemicals used in the production, creation and transportation of the book and its materials are pwning your body.
2.The book industry pwned your wallet.
3.The book pwned your limited physical space, by occupying it.
4.The book pwned your limited mental space, by being a limited static data container - depriving you from interactive content by time exclusion.
5.The book pwned your mental security system:
whats the last time you fact-checked or researched a book subject? You believe your books as some authoritative source.

68 2020-11-01 21:22

>>67

Anti-literacy advocate not sure how books work.

69 2020-11-01 21:39

>>68
Newsflash: Literacy no longer requires books.

70 2020-11-01 21:44

>>68
American education requires buying overpriced books, so its ingrained in the minds of these 'educated people' that books are the cornerstone of all education, as well as learning inside a prison complex with other scam victims to earn a piece of paper certifying one as valuable worker drone.

71 2020-11-01 22:07

>>70

Anti-literacy advocate believes books were invented by America.

72 2020-11-01 22:46

>>71
Predatory book industry was invented in America to capture the education market. Imagine buying this crap:
https://www.amazon.com/b/?node=4011

73 2020-11-01 22:51

>>72

Anti-literacy advocate not sure what predatory means.

74 2020-11-01 22:53

Book-worshippers explain this:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/11/opinion/textbook-prices-college.html
If SICP was sold for 200$, will you be defending its value with same vigor?

75 2020-11-01 22:59

>>73 in context of education, its exploiting a captive market:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captive_market

76 2020-11-01 23:00

Anti-literacy advocate believes all books are college textbooks.

77 2020-11-01 23:06

>>75

Seems like your problem is with captive markets, not books.

78 2020-11-01 23:14

>>76
College textbooks represent most blatant, predatory form of book industry that is evident to every victim of this system(US education). More evidence:

1.Scientific publishing(mention with sci-hub >>42, not a single book-worshipper answered this).
These publishers deny scientific collaboration and consequently progress of science for profit.

2.E-Book DRM is also a form of exploitation: it creates artificial value from file copies. You're paying DRM "protection money" to access books and this access can be revoked at publisher's whims.

3.Pirated electronic copies of books are treated as some sort of 'criminal product'
which is absurd, since these books can be electronically copied with zero cost.
Its ridiculous how much the book(and media) industry has invested in promoting copyright regimes to limit information.
In supporting books vs files, you're supporting the tyranny of publishers over the common man.
For example, you're brainwashed that only 'legit content' comes from a publisher-approved, censored paper container signed and mass-produced to be sold at hefty prices to proles instead of zero-cost files. This is the essence of book industry at the digital age.

79 2020-11-01 23:24

Anti-literacy advocate now complaining about anything and everything except actual books. So I guess actual books are ok again.

80 2020-11-01 23:57

you're the luddite holding on dead-tree data container industry, while calling people who moved on superior data formats "Anti-literacy", since in the luddite's mind literacy requires dead-tree data containers, otherwise its not 'real literacy'. The luddite mind(damaged from continuous exposure to typographical chemicals) hastily throws empty arguments that try to rationalize their sacred cow, consisting of sophistry and semantics-juggling avoiding the inconvenient picture of book industry as whole - the predatory gatekeeping, price-gouging and science-retarding forces that keep data bound and locked under copyright. Yes, thats what book represent now.

81 2020-11-02 00:12

Anti-literacy advocate now engaged in masturbatory rage directed at nothing in particular.

82 2020-11-02 00:15

Imagine there's no copyright
It's easy if you try
No DRM in data
Just hypertext and files
Imagine all the people
Sharing files today...

Imagine there's no printers
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to print or scan for
And no e-readers, too
Imagine all the people
Sharing files today...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the web will be as one

Imagine there's no 'publishers'
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hierarchy
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing files today...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the web will be as one

83 2020-11-02 00:40

Lets instead view the idea of book-only media.
Lets pretend Wikipedia was converted to paper encyclopedia:
What kind of overhead would occur for correcting a single article? How many books Wikipedia will have to print to spread its data, and how much it would cost to replace internet wiki pages with mail delivery of wikipedia books?
How much trees would be required to supply 100M readers with copies of wikipedia?
Of course such blatant waste of resources would be absurd, yet you can see the entire book industry as just that..and continue buying books.

84 2020-11-02 00:52

There is subtle irony reading books about environment, climate and forest conservation printed on dead tree parts, however there is more obvious humor when people try to debate the merits of books vs files: How much space would 1 terabyte of data in book form take and how much time would it take to search inside this 'library'? (4TB harddrives and SSDs are common now).

85 2020-11-02 06:42

https://imgflip.com/i/4kou8o

86 2020-11-02 06:51

Books vs PDFs:
The warm analog sound of vinyl vs soulless digital .flac

87 2020-11-02 07:00

Books are deeply inferior to stone inscriptions.
Why are you trusting flawed, cheap and combustible paper,
when real data is inscribed on stone and lasts millenia?
Protip: Real literacy starts with
clay tablets, then buying your own stela for real work.
You don't want to remain an ignorant papyrus pleb?
Start mining granite slabs.

88 2020-11-02 07:06

Research showed children who read from papyrus are easily distracted and often play with scrolls instead of learning, while children reading from a stela remain focused and remember the content better.

89 2020-11-02 07:08

There are also many risks with malicious scrolls containing poisonous bugs, snakes and toxic ink.
No one has died from reading a stela inscriptions.
Just saying.

90 2020-11-02 07:25

How anyone can trust mass-produced garbage like scrolls?
Its easily copied and can be filled with lies and heresy.
The truth is always inscribed in stone. You don't just buy a stela to promote some false belief or inscribe non-sense, stone is the noble medium that requires respect and reverence.
Inscriptions don't have space for opinion, only fact.

91 2020-11-02 07:43

I will only read SICP(the wizard book) in Elder Futhark inscribed in granite, where can i buy a copy? I need it to study spirits of computation.
Please reply with scroll containing prices and locations of such inscriptions, so we can arrange a deal, fellow wizards.

92 2020-11-02 07:45 *

I regret posting my question. I just wanted some recommendations, I did not mean to turn this thread into pure garbage.

93 2020-11-02 08:04

Why are you using soulless 'mail system' instead of analog smoke signals and good old carrier pigeons?
Letters mail is fast, but this dependence on mail systems is a single point of failure:
training pigeons(henceforth referred as 'Avian carriers') is fairly cheap and provides a long distance alternative to mail.
To provide redundancy, several avian carriers can be sent with duplicate letters from different routes.
Smoke signals are actually faster than mail but require exclusive access, a trained smoke signal repeater needs only a minute to send a message forth,
with high places commanding a greater range for transmission. The skills are invaluable for sending quick messages while your mail is snails pace.
Avian carriers are the better solution: not as fast, but have a greater bandwidth capacity in single letter.
Plus you can't bribe them, unlike people.

94 2020-11-02 08:11

>>92
Just buy a manuscript on summoning computer spirits, you want the real deal knowledge not some mass-produced garbage from the bazaar of ideas. This place isn't for intellectually gifted man, only copycats and charlatans.

95 2020-11-02 13:01 *

I have the feeling this thread should be on /sol/...

96 2020-11-02 13:04

Don't preach about saving the trees. Despite the digital revolution, paper consumption has > doubled in the last 30 years.

97 2020-11-02 14:44

>>96
This has nothing to do with "digital revolution" but with masses of luddites hanging on dead tree data formats, as hecking elegant and valid(Sponsored by Book Industry).

98 2020-11-02 16:09

Buying physical books is essential boomercore. The feeling of fresh paper and the smell. Best enjoyed with gas-powered vinyl player, while shooting squirrels from the porch.

99 2020-11-02 17:46

Ever notice how much the rampant anti-literacy/anti-boomer trolling resembles the Four Olds? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Olds

The Four Olds was a term used during the Cultural Revolution by the Red Guards in the People's Republic of China in reference to the pre-communist elements of Chinese culture they attempted to destroy. The Four Olds were: Old Ideas, Old Culture, Old Habits, and Old Customs. The campaign to destroy the Four Olds began in Beijing on August 19, 1966 shortly after the launch of the Cultural Revolution.

100 2020-11-02 18:35

>>99
The Great Digital Cultural Revolution (LIVESTREAM)
The revolutionary idea is this:
books belong to 20th century, just like coal-powered trains and asbestos.

101 2020-11-02 18:48

>>100

Yes, comrade! Destroy your books! Ignore the works of pioneers! Report to Xinjiang training center to learn the REAL truth!

102 2020-11-03 08:13

>>101
Books have a huge ecological(woodcutting,toxic chemicals in book production/transportation), economic(production/transportation/storage) and social(cost/copyright/DRM) impact vs free PDFs files which can be exchanged,copied and shared at near-zero cost.

Destroying the Book Industry with E-book File Sharing will create a positive impact(similar in principle to switching away from(more ecologically intensive) animal product production to plant-centric agriculture). Pirating PDFs/E-books is a revolutionary act that slowly destroys the book industry from within, removing incentives to turning trees into paper. Also remember to use Sci-Hub at every opportunity to read free scientific papers.

103 2020-11-03 10:03

>>102
I have my doubts how huge it really is. For one, the wood doesn't have to be fresh, and it's not like all books are printed in China or something, so you could get your books "locally". I get that Ebooks are nice, I also read them a lot, but when I'm serious about reading a book, the real thing is just better.

104 2020-11-03 11:06

>>103

I have my doubts how huge it really is

Its not just books, the paper-producing industry.
Think magazines,newspapers, printed media, print-on-demand, etc.
The whole printer/scanner/fax technology exists solely because of paper. The "paperless office" seems never materialize because of Luddites like you who 'like it just better'.

105 2020-11-03 11:10

Educate yourself, Luddites.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_paper

106 2020-11-03 12:45

>>103
Parchment is just miles better than paper.
The hand feel and smell, you can also bet its more durable than some flimsy "paper" mass-produced for plebs.

107 2020-11-03 16:34

Not sure who is the worst troll here. The Knuth advocate or the anti-literacy advocate.

108 2020-11-03 19:22

>>107
Who seriously advocates anti-literacy?

109 2020-11-03 19:42

>>108

Trolls, disinformation specialists, etc.

110 2020-11-03 19:56

>>109
Which of the posts in the thread advocates anti-literacy?

111 2020-11-03 21:02 *

>>110
See.
>>109

Trolls serious.

112 2020-11-03 21:20

>>111
So you think mentioning anti-literacy is trolling by itself, and not reliance on systems that promote copyright(books, scientific publishing,etc) which reduce literacy by denying cheap electronic means of data dissemination that lowers barriers to knowledge significantly?

113 2020-11-03 21:32

Books, Scientific Publishing,Paid Newspapers/Magazines all are media formats that inherently promote exclusive access systems that denies 'literacy' in subject of "published content" without paying the copyright owner the fee(such fee could be for physical data container or access/subscription to electronic files).
This is contrasted with File Sharing, where cooperation leaves no room for personal profit and no barriers to entry('literacy in subject') exist.

The Anti-literacy crowd are the Luddites buying expensive books, relying on subscriptions and paid files/e-books/articles which fuel this anti-literacy anti-knowledge anti-egalitarian system holding knowledge in dark until the victims pay for it. Your stubborn Ludditic worship of ancient data formats is the anti-literacy in its purest form: back when books were expensive such "book literacy" was kept to the rich. We are living in an age of "Electronic Literacy" where knowledge is free, only copyright merchants are keeping us in the dark ages.

114 2020-11-03 21:40 *

>>112

Not bait I swear.

So by trolls you meant copyright trolls? Those are serious, I think.

115 2020-11-03 21:41

Neo-Luddites thinking literacy comes from buying books, is it
more of broad rejection of modern technology(
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technophobia )
?
What do you feel about internet/computers/electronic devices in general?

116 2020-11-03 22:48 *

I like the smell of new books :)

117 2020-11-05 21:45

Books store information for a lot longer that digital media. I have books in my house from the 19th century and can still read them. The cost of their storage over time is near-zero.
Digital media 'rots' very quickly, and you need to continually expend power on keeping bits fresh (i.e. copying backups to new media)

118 2020-11-06 08:41

>>117
You intend to archive data for centuries and never Change the Book?
The approach doesn't scale. You can have ~1000 books but a single website will dwarf this 'data archive'. Do you have a copy of wikipedia in print form? Arguably most useful archival target, yet i don't see "10 year old" wikipedia books, because in ten years its outdated, however the book-worshipper's book's magically stay fresh for centuries. The real data rot is in your head - your ancient rotting information is no longer relevant,obsolete or supersedes by newer version of it.

119 2020-11-06 08:45

If you want real staying power, inscribe it in stone.
Stela inscriptions last for millenia, 'Written in stone'.
Why are you settling for some flimsy, flammable material that easily gets wet and rots away?

120 2020-11-07 15:44

Read code! Pick some code that is widely used and just read it. You can try to figure out how some particular feature works. How does the Linux kernel load an ELF binary? There is a definite answer to this question and the answer is in the git repository. How does musl implement printf and how is it different from GNU libc? Maybe these don't interest you, but there is a lot of code out there. How does nasm represent instructions? What opcodes are used by GNU Emacs, how are they different from the ones in Guile? How does zlib or libjpeg work? So many questions, just pick something that you wondered about and go find out how it works. Having seen many examples of real things that work, you will remember them when you run into similar problems in your own work.

121 2020-11-08 09:42

>>120
This doesn't work for C++. Try reading any glibc++ headers or any heavy template code(esp. functional headers).
You have to read documentation >>30 and then write some test cases to decipher what is actually run.

122 2020-11-09 13:15

>>15

>replace ``native'' tongue with English

Like >>16 said ``psychical system'' would have more weight of fact.
To increase awareness of linguistic relativity, we should encourage all people,
by way of memes, to translate one work of sentimental merit to Esperanto,
following only Fundamento de Esperanto for guidance.

Organically, programmer interest will divert to lojban,
then a subset will surely experiment with more directly psychical systems.

You should note one side effect would turn out more opaque social abstraction.
Meme culture hadn't received Esperanto well in previous periods,
because skilled information format'ers hadn't emphasized
excluding all guides other than Fundamento de Esperanto.

123 2021-10-02 20:06

How do you decide what to study next?

124 2021-10-02 22:21

>>123
It should always center around the mission of the software project that you're doing. If your mission is to support the progress of GNU Hurd into a practical system, then you'd study driver development and OS development. If your mission is to write computer games for desktop machines, then you'd study game programming techniques and various mathematical subjects.

I go my university library and spend time looking at the different subjects. OS design is an interest for me so I've spent my time studying OS design.

125 2021-10-03 14:49

Read and write code every day. I used to use github's flamegraph to help motivate the writing part.
Going through software you use and fixing things you don't like (or just answering your own questions that you can't find docs for by reading it) is a *very* good way to do this once you get far enough along.

126 2021-10-04 05:12

At some point you just stop caring. What does "good" even mean in this context anyways?

127 2021-10-04 13:12

I want to become an expert programmer.

128 2021-10-06 17:00

>>125
What kind of code do you write everyday?

129 2021-10-06 17:46

>>126
the only correct answer in this thread

130 2021-10-07 17:46

>>126
Good is better than you were yesterday. The motivations for being good are various: Perhaps people value it because computers control so much of our lives and they want some of that back. Perhaps they value it because they know others value it. Perhaps they really want to learn more math but don't know it.

131 2021-10-15 16:42

Programming is the only thing that I have ever been somewhat good at, so my sense of self-worth is tightly linked to my programming abilities.

132 2021-10-17 01:23

Just don't. Not worth it. Believe me.

133 2022-02-05 20:46

Scheme programmers have no ambition. No wonder nobody takes your toy language seriously.

134 2022-02-05 23:50

>>133
Update your schemes https://github.com/nanopass/nanopass-framework-scheme

135


VIP:

do not edit these