Web Review, Week 2024-32
Let’s go for my web review for the week 2024-32.
A New Type of Neural Network Is More Interpretable - IEEE Spectrum
Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, neural-networks, physics
Exciting new type of neural networks. There are limits to use them at large scale for now. Still, they have very interesting properties like the interpretability. And also, they tend to give similar performance to traditional neural networks for a smaller size.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/kan-neural-network
What do people really ask chatbots? It’s a lot of sex and homework
Tags: tech, ai, gpt
If you’re wondering what people do with chat bots, there are some clues here.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/08/04/chatgpt-use-real-ai-chatbot-conversations/
Judge rules that Google ‘is a monopolist’ in US antitrust case - The Verge
Tags: tech, monopoly, law
Looks like the US Department of Justice is back pushing for antitrust trials. This is likely a good thing, will it go all the way to breaking down some of the big tech companies? I doubt it but it’d probably be welcome.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/5/24155520/judge-rules-on-us-doj-v-google-antitrust-search-suit
Google Search speculation
Tags: tech, google, mozilla, law
Interesting guesses at what could change with the Google ruling. It doesn’t look too good for Mozilla.
https://micro.webology.dev/2024/08/06/google-search-speculation.html
Y’all are sleeping on HTTP/3
Tags: tech, quic, http, networking
Clearly there’s a silent transition going on. It’s not necessarily bad that it’s on-going without making too much noise.
https://kmcd.dev/posts/yall-are-sleeping-on-http3/
How to Get or Create in PostgreSQL
Tags: tech, databases, postgresql
Definitely not as simple as it sounds. The devil is once again in the details.
https://hakibenita.com/postgresql-get-or-create
Go debug your core dumps somewhere else
Tags: tech, debugging
You need to understand how core dumps work? This article is for you.
https://trace.yshui.dev/2024-08-copy-core-dumps.html
Code auditing productivity multiplier.
Tags: tech, c++, tools
Looks like an interesting tool for indexing and querying C++ code.
https://github.com/trailofbits/multiplier?tab=readme-ov-file
The difference between undefined behavior and ill-formed C++ programs
Tags: tech, programming, c++, safety
This is a very important distinction to keep in mind. It’s one of those source of bad mistakes in C++.
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20240802-00/?p=110091
Enum class improvements for C++17, C++20 and C++23
Tags: tech, c++
Enum classes keep being improved. Nice features are already available, more might be coming through reflection in C++26.
https://www.cppstories.com/2024/enum-improvements/
[JDK-8303099] Null-Restricted and Nullable Types (Preview) - Java Bug System
Tags: tech, programming, java, safety
This would definitely be a nice change to the Java language.
https://bugs.openjdk.org/browse/JDK-8303099
What the heck are reverse mapped types?
Tags: tech, typescript, type-systems
The TypeScript type system is really a beast. There are little known features in this, looks definitely like one of them.
https://andreasimonecosta.dev/posts/what-the-heck-are-reverse-mapped-types/
Reliable JavaScript benchmarking with Tachometer
Tags: tech, javascript, benchmarking, tools
Looks like a nice tool for benchmarking Javascript in the browser.
https://nolanlawson.com/2024/08/05/reliable-javascript-benchmarking-with-tachometer/
GM Shaders Guest: Radiance Cascades
Tags: tech, 3d, shader
Very neat technique for global illumination. Very effective but still has some issues.
https://mini.gmshaders.com/p/radiance-cascades
Store Code Discussions in Git using Git Notes
Tags: tech, tools, git, version-control, codereview
I like the idea of getting all the review comments back into Git once things are merged. This works offline, makes you less dependent on the forge for historical data etc. Now we’d probably need to have the notes feature easier to use somehow.
https://wouterj.nl/2024/08/git-notes
Build metrics and budgets with git-metrics
Tags: tech, tools, git, version-control, quality
Maybe we could store metrics about the code in the history as well? This would indeed reduce vendor lock-in. This tool makes it easy. Unsurprisingly seems built upon git notes.
https://dev.to/jdrouet/build-metrics-and-budgets-with-git-metrics-4pb4
Humans >> Data - by Kent Beck
Tags: tech, engineering, productivity, metrics
Aren’t we loosing something if we focus on productivity numbers too much? A good reminder that intrinsic motivation is an important driver in people behavior. I wouldn’t throw all the metrics out of the door but they’d better be a limited amount and they’d better be informative rather than objectives.
https://tidyfirst.substack.com/p/humans-data
Bye for now!