8 ms·

My comment isn't really about the content itself but... this is what I want the web to be. Documents that take advantage being on the web (visualizations, inter

by balgg 1mo ago

My comment isn't really about the content itself but... this is what I want the web to be. Documents that take advantage being on the web (visualizations, interactivity) while still remaining structured and simple. I really like the overall visual style too, incredible work. /glaze

benjoffe 1mo ago
Thanks! I'm pretty sure with this one I spent more time working on the blog post than I did developing the algorithms. I would not normally spend such effort, but in this case I felt that the functions were too hard to understand without the visual aid, and too difficult to customise without the Function Explorer. Then I think I just got a bit carried away with the detail.
- eru 29d ago
  Thanks for putting in the effort. You might also https://www.redblobgames.com/ https://www.redblobgames.com/ and learn a lot from how they do their presentations.
- honr 29d ago
  The theory is trivial for anyone with a Number Theory background. That's not the point. Picking a good and interesting problem and going all the way to an elegant optimal solution, AND presenting it well, is all that counts. Without the good presentation and proof, it could look like a hack / weird trick to a random reviewer. I have personally seen a few good algorithms of this sort being dismissed in codebases because they were hard for people to understand (or more precisely, the author hadn't been skilled / diligent enough to leave a good demonstration linked in the code). I wish there was a place for good algorithms like this, where, unlike plain wikipedia, the good visualized proof could stay and serve. Or perhaps there are such places and I don't know about them. Bret Victor did a bunch of work around visualizations ~12 years ago (IIRC) for teaching and showing math, but I am not sure if there was any following on that path.
- ForHackernews 28d ago
  You should consider publishing some of your work at https://pudding.cool/ https://pudding.cool/ - I think it would fit in well there.
jph 29d ago
Seconded. Ben, you have a great teaching style, thank you for sharing this.
BrtByte 29d ago
I miss when "using the web" meant enhancing a document rather than replacing it with 4MB of JS and a dashboard

by balgg 1mo ago

benjoffe 1mo ago

Thanks! I'm pretty sure with this one I spent more time working on the blog post than I did developing the algorithms. I would not normally spend such effort, but in this case I felt that the functions were too hard to understand without the visual aid, and too difficult to customise without the Function Explorer. Then I think I just got a bit carried away with the detail.

eru 29d ago
Thanks for putting in the effort. You might also https://www.redblobgames.com/ https://www.redblobgames.com/ and learn a lot from how they do their presentations.
honr 29d ago
The theory is trivial for anyone with a Number Theory background. That's not the point. Picking a good and interesting problem and going all the way to an elegant optimal solution, AND presenting it well, is all that counts. Without the good presentation and proof, it could look like a hack / weird trick to a random reviewer. I have personally seen a few good algorithms of this sort being dismissed in codebases because they were hard for people to understand (or more precisely, the author hadn't been skilled / diligent enough to leave a good demonstration linked in the code). I wish there was a place for good algorithms like this, where, unlike plain wikipedia, the good visualized proof could stay and serve. Or perhaps there are such places and I don't know about them. Bret Victor did a bunch of work around visualizations ~12 years ago (IIRC) for teaching and showing math, but I am not sure if there was any following on that path.
ForHackernews 28d ago
You should consider publishing some of your work at https://pudding.cool/ https://pudding.cool/ - I think it would fit in well there.

jph 29d ago

Seconded. Ben, you have a great teaching style, thank you for sharing this.

BrtByte 29d ago

I miss when "using the web" meant enhancing a document rather than replacing it with 4MB of JS and a dashboard