Web Review, Week 2023-25
Let’s go for my web review for the week 2023-25.
Celebrating 25 years of The KDE Free Qt Foundation | KDE.news
Tags: tech, kde, foss, community, licensing
Happy birthday the KDE Free Qt Foundation! It’s really nice to see it survived the test of time. It is for sure an essential tool of the KDE ecosystem. I wish there would be more such foundations around.
https://dot.kde.org/2023/06/21/celebrating-25-years-kde-free-qt-foundation
Reforming the free software message
Tags: tech, foss, criticism
Following up on his “The Free Software Foundation is dying” post, Drew DeVault has been working on the messaging part of his recommendations. The result is not bad at all!
https://drewdevault.com/2023/06/19/Reforming-the-free-software-message.html
We need more of Richard Stallman, not less
Tags: tech, foss, criticism
Despite the (sometimes valid) criticism floating around RMS and the FSF, we can’t deny RMS has been proven right more than once.
https://ploum.net/2023-06-19-more-rms.html
Raters helped train Google’s AI. But after speaking out, they were fired. - The Washington Post
Tags: tech, machine-learning, ai, gpt, google
Maybe it’s time to make so called “reinforcement learning from human feedback” actually humane? It’s not the first account along those lines in the industry.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/06/14/google-ai-bard-raters-chatbot-accuracy/
People Are Using AI to Automate Responses to Site That Pays Them to Train AI
Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning
Oh the bad feedback loop this introduces… this clearly poison the well of AI training when it goes through such platforms.
https://futurism.com/the-byte/people-automating-responses-train-ai
Most tech content is bullshit
Tags: tech, programming, craftsmanship
We went from quality to quantity it seems. We also have whole swats of developers who are just consuming content without critical thinking and it’s a problem. The conclusion says it all: “Don’t consume. Create. Ask questions. Stay curious.”
https://www.aleksandra.codes/tech-content-consumer
OpenLLM: An open platform for operating large language models (LLMs) in production
Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, gpt, foss, self-hosting
Looks like an interesting tool to run LLMs on your own hardware.
https://github.com/bentoml/OpenLLM
Infinigen
Tags: tech, 3d
Looks like a really nifty 3D procedural generator. I wish I’d have an excuse to use it on a project.
Linux Namespaces Are a Poor Man’s Plan 9 Namespaces · Yotam’s blog
Tags: tech, unix, plan9, linux, history
Sometimes I really regret Plan 9 didn’t take off. So many good ideas and designs in there.
https://yotam.net/posts/linux-namespaces-are-a-poor-mans-plan9-namespaces/
Squeezing a Little More Performance Out of Bytecode Interpreters · Stefan-Marr.de
Tags: tech, machine-learning, bytecode, performance, optimization
Interesting research turning to genetic algorithms to optimize bytecode handler dispatchers.
https://stefan-marr.de/2023/06/squeezing-a-little-more-performance-out-of-bytecode-interpreters/
Copy-and-Patch Compilation
Tags: tech, compiler, performance
This compilation technique brings very interesting results. Hopefully should find its way in some JIT compilers.
https://fredrikbk.com/publications/copy-and-patch.pdf
Why Static Typing Came Back • Richard Feldman • GOTO 2022 - YouTube
Tags: tech, programming, language, type-systems
Interesting point of view on why static typing seems to make a come back right now and why it’s likely to continue. I think a few of the arguments in here are wrongly framed (like some of the benefits of using an interpreter rather than a compiler are attributed to dynamic typing while it’s rather orthogonal) but a large part of the analysis seems valid to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tml94je2edk
Compiling typed Python | Max Bernstein
Tags: tech, python, compiler, type-systems, performance
Unsurprisingly, it’s not as simple as it sounds. Type hints in Python can be used for various reasons but performances is rarely the main motives. It’d need other adjustments to the runtime. People are working on it, and this article is an interesting dive on how things work under the hood.
https://bernsteinbear.com//blog/typed-python/
The best Python feature you cannot use
Tags: tech, python, tests, safety
Kind of sad to see asserts misused so much in the Python community. Still that’s a good lesson for everyone: when using an assert, expect it won’t get executed when in production.
https://www.bitecode.dev/p/the-best-python-feature-you-cannot
Designing Pythonic library APIs
Tags: tech, design, api, python
Good set of advises for Python APIs. Some applies more generally though.
https://benhoyt.com/writings/python-api-design/
Graphics for JVM @ tonsky.me
Tags: tech, java, graphics
Is the graphics community warming up to the JVM? Or is it the other way around? Let’s see if it makes progress in any case.
Rust vs C++ Formatting | Barry’s C++ Blog
Tags: tech, rust, c++, programming, type-systems
Interesting deep dive in Rust and C++23 string formatting features. This shows the differences quite well. It also does a good job at highlighting the pros and cons for each approach.
https://brevzin.github.io/c++/2023/01/02/rust-cpp-format/
std::shared_ptr is an anti-pattern | Dmitry Danilov
Tags: tech, c++, memory
The title of the post is not the best. Still it nicely lists and explains common mistakes around the use of std::shared_ptr.
https://ddanilov.me/shared-ptr-is-evil/
Style your RSS feed
Tags: tech, blog, rss, xslt
Definitely a neat trick to have a slick RSS feed with a nice experience from the browser.
https://darekkay.com/blog/rss-styling/
Plain Text Journaling · peppe.rs
Tags: tech, productivity, organization, vim
Neat little journaling system using vim. I can hear Emacs users cringe from here though.
https://peppe.rs/posts/plain_text_journaling/
I Don’t Need Your Query Language
Tags: tech, databases, sql
I don’t understand the SQL shaming I see in some circles. It’s clearly based on dubious arguments.
🧠 Cognitive Load Developer’s Handbook
Tags: tech, complexity, programming
Neat little resource. We indeed should pay more attention to complexity across our industry.
https://github.com/zakirullin/cognitive-load
Ikea-Oriented Development
Tags: tech, programming, complexity, design, interoperability
Interesting parallel taken with IKEA. Some of their principles translate to nice traits for software as well.
https://taylor.town/ikea-oriented-development
Flexible systems | Organizing Chaos
Tags: tech, organization, system, change
Definitely this, what matters most is being able to change previous decisions. In comparison each decision itself is less important.
https://jordankaye.dev/posts/flexible-systems/
The Shape of Code » Software effort estimation is mostly fake research
Tags: tech, estimates, research
We got a problem with research around software estimates. This won’t help us get better at it as an industry…
https://shape-of-code.com/2021/01/17/software-effort-estimation-is-mostly-fake-research/
The limitations of Scrum framing and what you might use instead
Tags: tech, agile, scrum, project-management, product-management
Wording matters, and framing things differently can free teams from the Scrum limiting views. This is required to find a path towards improvements.
Maps Distort How We See the World - by Tomas Pueyo
Tags: geography, map
Great article. We know that the projections we use can’t give a proper picture of the world. We often don’t realize by how much it distort our views and what we miss. This is a good summary of the various biases in our maps.
https://unchartedterritories.tomaspueyo.com/p/maps-distort-how-we-see-the-world
Bye for now!