Web Review, Week 2022-42
Let’s go for my web review for the week 2022-42.
Stable Diffusion is a really big deal
Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, ethics
Not much new in this article regarding Stable Diffusion. That being said the section about ethics is spot on. This is the toughest part to grapple with regarding the latest batch of generative AIs. The legal traceability of the training set might end up being required (even though I doubt it will happen).
https://simonwillison.net/2022/Aug/29/stable-diffusion/#ai-vegan
GitHub Copilot investigation · Joseph Saveri Law Firm & Matthew Butterick
Tags: tech, law, copyright, foss, github, copilot, microsoft
Alright, this going to be interesting. Pass me the pop corn. It’s definitely a welcome move in any case.
https://githubcopilotinvestigation.com/
EasyList is in trouble and so are many ad blockers
Tags: tech, foss, community, browser
How a design flaw in some obscure browsers can put a community project to its knees.
https://adguard.com/en/blog/easylist-filter-problem-help.html
Why we’re leaving the cloud
Tags: tech, cloud, business, economics
Hear! Hear! No, moving your infrastructure to managed services doesn’t make sense in all cases. You need to be in the right place in term of complexity and traffic to really benefit from it. It’s less common than you’d think due to the marketing pressure.
https://world.hey.com/dhh/why-we-re-leaving-the-cloud-654b47e0
Feather – Simply beautiful open source icons
Tags: tech, icons, design
Nice little tool to easily produce icons in a cohesive style.
A simple static site generator
Tags: tech, blog, self-hosting
OK, super tiny and simple. This looks like a nice alternative for the big ones like Jekyll or Hugo.
A Real World React -> htmx Port
Tags: tech, htmx, html, javascript, frontend, django, webcomponents
Interesting data point about a service moving completely to the htmx and web components approaches. Not all applications are going to see such drastic improvements, that being said the change in team structure alone feels like a very good thing to me (and is more likely to be the constant in such moves).
https://htmx.org/essays/a-real-world-react-to-htmx-port/
Musings on Python Type Hints — samgeo.codes
Tags: tech, python, type-systems, mypy
Interesting examples where the Python type hints are used. This still needs improvements but it’s clearly improving.
https://samgeo.codes/blog/python-types/
Test smarter, not harder - lukeplant.me.uk
Tags: tech, tests, tdd, craftsmanship
Lots of very good points, I’m a proponent of TDD but I strongly agree with this. If it’s painful and not fun, find a way to do it differently. There’s likely a tool or some API you miss. Manage your effort.
https://lukeplant.me.uk/blog/posts/test-smarter-not-harder/
Rust-like traits in C++ | dragly
Tags: tech, programming, c++, rust
Always interesting when a language influence the use of another one. I like this kind of epiphanies.
https://dragly.org/2018/04/21/rust-like-traits-in-cpp/
RAII: Compile-Time Memory Management in C++ and Rust :: The Coded Message
Tags: tech, programming, rust, c++, memory
Very good overview about RAII, ownership, borrowing references. All that comparing C++ and Rust in their ways to handle those concepts. Definitely a must-read even though it’s a bit long.
https://www.thecodedmessage.com/posts/raii/
How Trying New Programming Languages Helped Me Grow as a Software Engineer
Tags: tech, programming, craftsmanship, learning
Definitely this. I regularly try to pick up new languages for this exact reason. Every time it improves the way I use the languages I already knew.
https://cichocinski.dev/blog/trying-new-programming-languages-helped-grow-software-engineer
tdarb.org / Avoiding Featurism
Tags: tech, product-management, project-management, team, complexity
Very important points. This can easily turn a project into a death march with rampant undue complexity. Also the proposed guidelines are simple and seem efficient.
https://tdarb.org/blog/avoid-featurism.html
Wait vs Interrupt Culture | Compass Rose
Tags: culture, conversation, life
That’s a very interesting way to frame it. Two different cultures to drive a conversation, both with their pros and cons. Lots to mull over for me in that short article.
http://benjaminrosshoffman.com/wait-vs-interrupt-culture/
Conway’s Law
Tags: tech, architecture, conway, organization, business
Very good primer on Conway’s Law by Martin Fowler. Definitely recommended, obviously this is just a start and requires diving deeper in the topic.
https://martinfowler.com/bliki/ConwaysLaw.html
Non-Euclidean geometry and games
Tags: tech, gaming, 3d, geometry, mathematics
Nice little article rehashing what it really means to have a non-euclidian geometry since the term has been unfortunately abused lately. Also gives a list of games to experience weird geometries.
https://zenorogue.scribe.rip/non-euclidean-geometry-and-games-fb46989320d4
Sound – Bartosz Ciechanowski
Tags: science, sound
Again a very nice interactive article. This time about sound, very thorough. Reminded me some of the things I learned at school (but then forgot) a long time ago.
Phantom Forests: Why Ambitious Tree Planting Projects Are Failing - Yale E360
Tags: science, nature, ecology
Planting trees to help, sure. Let’s do it properly though, sometimes that means just getting out of the way.
https://e360.yale.edu/features/phantom-forests-tree-planting-climate-change
Barcelona-style “superblocks” could make a surprising number of cities greener and less car-centric
Tags: urbanization, ecology
Interesting research about city planning. Definitely a bigger challenge in the future for larger cities.
Bye for now!