cycomachead

19 ms·

1.
by cycomachead 4d ago
Parsing basically works! Whether using text with LLMs in Snap! is actually a good idea is up for debate, but it is doable.
2.
by cycomachead 4d ago
To some extent, that’s not the point. You don’t need to learn all of CS in one tool. That said, I think you can learn good fundamentals of SWE with tools like Snap!. You can still learn testing, design patterns, working with APIs, modularit
3.
by cycomachead 11mo ago
Honestly this is still a great way to deploy apps and still some of the best DX there is, IMO. Costs a crap ton for what it is, but it is nice.
4.
by cycomachead 11mo ago
I don't think complexity comes just from the number of tools, but the disparate things you "need" them to do. Redis, Vite, large CSS toolkits -- you're learning a bunch of large components. I mean complexity comes from m
5.
by cycomachead 11mo ago
I mean, I think the problem with SPA-like client-side approaches are that there aren't any that have felt _good_ with Rails, let alone great. Absolutely true that not every app needs to be a SPA from day one, but I do with there were a
6.
by cycomachead 11mo ago
Lapis is very cool, but I really struggle with a lack of examples and pre-built solutions for some things. Leafo's itch.io is built with it and I maintain snap.berkeley.edu. A great tool, but I'm also many times more productive in
7.
by cycomachead 11mo ago
I believe cloudflare has quite a bit of Lua in some of their products (there's some very good Nginx lua integrations and variants like Openresty).
8.
by cycomachead 11mo ago
Agree, especially because it'd be nice for projects that use LuaJIT if you could swap the versions as needed.
9.
by cycomachead 11mo ago
I love JS and Ruby, and I spent a bit of time maintaining a web app in Lua. There are parts about the language I really enjoy. I like dynamic languages; I don't run into type issues so often it bothers me, but the tooling around Lua st
10.
by cycomachead 3y ago
I have a close friend, who's an Azure dev -- uses his MS laptop for work, his phone for everything else. And I do mean everything - taxes, trip planning, etc. It's not just crazy kids who "know nothing but phones". Even
11.
by cycomachead 4y ago
I've been wondering about this... It definitely doesn't feel great to be on the receiving end of something auto-generated. But a "unique" message is at least more interesting to read, and doesn't feel quite as frust
12.
by cycomachead 4y ago
Oh I think they are! Gruber is by no means alone in his praise. And the technical details are impressive. (Plus the 14" and 16" are fantastic improvements.)
13.
by cycomachead 4y ago
No I read it that way too.
14.
by cycomachead 4y ago
Guard clauses are great, and when used appropriately clean things up. This is pretty much my only use of the pattern. (Ending boolean-returning methods with a ? is also a great convention in ruby.)
15.
by cycomachead 4y ago
Yeah, it's not usually an issue in practice. But I do see students get confused trying things out...and it's likely because learning in an interpreter doesn't often look like "real" code does.
16.
by cycomachead 4y ago
There's a bunch of things to pay attention to in Ruby. I wouldn't say these get too hairy, but they trip students up for very understandable reasons. * `a ||= b` is not just `a = a || b`, but `a || a = b` * The distinction between
17.
by cycomachead 4y ago
In that case -- I definitely agree Ruby usually gets out of way. It's often my go to for hacking on something, unless it's data science-y. I'll mention: implicit returns, return if, and safe navigation, the &. operator. R
18.
by cycomachead 4y ago
Comparing Apple Silicon and x86 as the difference between having modern plumbing or not...not exactly where I expected the review to go! Gruber's hyperboles can be entertaining for sure. But damn, I can't wait for the time for me
19.
by cycomachead 4y ago
This is a valid point, but definitely a misleading title.
20.
by cycomachead 4y ago
More productive is really hard to say... But I personally prefer Ruby to Python. For smallish scripts, I really like Ruby's backticks for easily executing shell commands. And I find the metaprogramming support in Ruby great for some ta
21.
by cycomachead 4y ago
The fact of the matter is that it wouldn't even necessarily need to increase tuition. The UC system is a $50bn/yr enterprise. Lecturer salaries are a tiny amount, and really only about 20% or so of tuition money right now is direc
22.
by cycomachead 4y ago
This is true, but it also sucks if we assume "part of a career path". That means there's virtually no teaching-focus career paths in the UC system which is terrible for basically everyone. (Students as well as other faculty.)
23.
by cycomachead 4y ago
That's really not quite true. There are thousands of lecturers in the UC system, and many thousands more where it is a career choice. Because tenure track is simply just not possible at many places, especially if you want to teach and
24.
by cycomachead 4y ago
I would honestly say that you should consider this! If you think you'd enjoy teaching at a place like Berkeley and have experience, there is a need! https://aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF03311 -- this is the CS job posting
25.
by cycomachead 4y ago
The salary is as high as it is in part due to the Union -- but the UC starting salary for lecturers regardless of discipline and location is around $60K. But computer science is in a roughly better position because a few tenured faculty adv
26.
by cycomachead 4y ago
"Entry level" is tough to define. Perhaps entry level for Berkeley, but these are positions which still require an advanced degree and a good bit of teaching experience.
27.
by cycomachead 4y ago
Not sure how common it is in the US, but at Berkeley the cafeterias are not free. They are a bit cheaper, around $9 for lunch if you prepay, but $13 if you don't! To be honest, I don't even think faculty are told how to take adva
28.
by cycomachead 4y ago
I find it incredibly hard to meal prep and bring meals to work too. So, I also often eat lunch out. As others have said, Berkeley is really quite expensive. Even if I go the "smoothie" route for lunch, I'm still looking at $7
29.
by cycomachead 4y ago
Yeah, the thing is, as someone in the same position as the OP, I feel stupid for always sticking around. Pamela already addressed the inflexibility part. And I'll just echo that I find it worse than how she described. But I've pro
30.
by cycomachead 4y ago
It's definitely not just supply-demand. The application pool for lecturers are places like Berkeley is much smaller than you think, when you start filtering for qualified folks. Now, at least some of this is academia having too strong

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