Web Review, Week 2023-11
Let’s go for my web review for the week 2023-11.
MoonRay Production Renderer
Tags: tech, foss, 3d, movie
This is a huge! DreamWorks Animation releasing its rendering pipeline as free software.
Who reads your email?
Tags: tech, email, decentralized, self-hosting
This is very very centralized. No good surprise here unfortunately… and still email is really tough to fully self-host.
https://www.netmeister.org/blog/mx-diversity.html
Microsoft just laid off one of its responsible AI teams
Tags: tech, ai, microsoft, ethics, gpt
Well, people asking relevant questions slow you down obviously… since the goal about the latest set of generative models is to “move them into customers hands at a very high speed” this creates tension. Instead of slowing down they seem hell bent at throwing ethics out of the window.
https://www.platformer.news/p/microsoft-just-laid-off-one-of-its
GPT-4’s successes, and GPT-4’s failures - by Gary Marcus
Tags: tech, ai, gpt, ethics, science
The lack of transparency is staggering… this is purely about hype and at that point they’re not making any effort to push science forward anymore.
https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/gpt-4s-successes-and-gpt-4s-failures
Vim Best Practices For IDE Users
Tags: tech, tools, ide, vim
Very thorough overview of everything you can do with vim but also your IDE vim emulation.
https://betterprogramming.pub/50-vim-mode-tips-for-ide-users-f7b525a794b3
What a good debugger can do
Tags: tech, debugging, tools
I find debuggers to be underused at quite a few places. A shame when you see what they can do nowadays, and they keep improving!
https://werat.dev/blog/what-a-good-debugger-can-do/
Git Worktree: Enhance your Git Workflow
Tags: tech, tools, git
An often forgotten feature of git. That said it is very convenient when we need to juggle several branches at the same time. This can save some time and space.
https://www.dylanpaulus.com/posts/git-worktree
macige • mobile app CI workflow generator
Tags: tech, ci, mobile
Early days but could turn out useful when it gets more complete. Good way to easily have a CI pipeline targeting mobile platforms.
GitHub - huytd/comby-search: A code search tool based on Comby
Tags: tech, tools, refactoring
Looks like it completes Comby nicely for the search only case.
https://github.com/huytd/comby-search
Remote Synthesis | The Price Developers Pay for Loving Their Tools Too Much
Tags: tech, react, culture, tools
Excellent post about getting too invested in a single tool. We can loose flexibility in the process. Also in the case of React, I didn’t realize until now that half of the web developers have never known a time when React didn’t exist!
https://remotesynthesis.com/blog/the-price-of-developer-tools/
In Defense of Crusty Old Swiss Army Knives // Zach Goldstein
Tags: tech, django, htmx, react, frontend, backend
Nice exploration of Django + HTMX + web components for a CRUD use case. Interesting insights and highlights some of the limitations with HTMX.
https://zachgoldstein.engineering/posts/crusty-knives/crusty-knives/
Choose boring tools – Eduards Sizovs
Tags: tech, architecture, complexity
Definitely this. If it’s too fancy and fashionable you’re likely to pay it in later with the undue complexity it introduced.
Debugging Architects - The Architect Elevator
Tags: tech, system, architecture, organization
Indeed, it’s important for architects to get their “hands dirty”. Organizations where it’s not the case prevent their architects to challenge their assumptions pushing them to stay in their ivory tower. It’s a good way for bad decisions to pile up over time.
https://architectelevator.com/transformation/debugging-architect/
Jade Rubick - Advice for new directors
Tags: tech, management
Interesting advises for higher management roles. The information gathering and the distorsion fields are key factors to have in mind to not loose perspective. Otherwise it’s when you’ll start doing more harm than good.
https://www.rubick.com/advice-for-new-directors/
Research: Do People Really Get Promoted to Their Level of Incompetence?
Tags: management, hr, career
Interesting, this seems to empirically confirm the Peter Principle, at least in sales. Also shows that companies are trying to workaround it. Dual career ladders seem to be an interesting path for this.
https://hbr.org/2018/03/research-do-people-really-get-promoted-to-their-level-of-incompetence
No heroes needed
Tags: tech, team, management, project-management
Definitely this as well. Having “heroes” brings obscurity and hide the problems, this prevents management from knowing and handling the issues. This also create lots of missed opportunities for collective learning and improvements.
https://rpadovani.com/no-heroes
Nearly 40% of software engineers will only work remotely | TechTarget
Tags: tech, remote-working, hr, hiring
The report is very US centric. Still it looks like the future standard for developer jobs will be more and more remote.
See the First Complete Map of an Insect’s Brain | Smart News| Smithsonian Magazine
Tags: science, neuroscience
Very import milestone for brain mapping. Far from more complex animals of course and an insane amount of work each time. Still the common fruit fly is already revealing interesting new facts about neurology.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/see-the-first-complete-map-of-an-insects-brain-180981778/
Shoshikantetsu
Tags: culture, japan
Interesting japanese term. “Complete what was originally intended”. A few more proposed at this end of this short post.
https://asnewman.github.io/shoshikantetsu
Bye for now!