sam_bristow

6 ms·

1.
You have to beat the models at something(seangoedecke.com)
41 points by sam_bristow 18d ago|8 comments
2.
by sam_bristow 26d ago
Are they planning to pull a Jimmy Hofa with Jesus...
3.
The Great Automatic Grammatizator (1954) [pdf](gwern.net)
12 points by sam_bristow 2mo ago|2 comments
4.
by sam_bristow 2mo ago
A mechanically-minded man reasons that the rules of grammar are fixed by certain, almost mathematical principles. By exploiting this idea, he is able to create a mammoth machine that can write a prize-winning novel in roughly fifteen minute
5.
Nobody ever gets credit for fixing problems that never happened (2001) [pdf](web.mit.edu)
793 points by sam_bristow 3mo ago|263 comments
6.
by sam_bristow 3mo ago
Wait, are these the same GPUs that were diverted from Tesla into xAI a couple of years ago?
7.
by sam_bristow 3mo ago
The linked page seems to think it does. "As of June 29th 2020, CTA, the CERN Tape Archive, started to be operated as the successor of CASTOR and gradually replaced it."
8.
by sam_bristow 4mo ago
I think that a large part of Atlassian's problem is their network of extension vendors. Every time you look at a feature request for simple things like "as a user I'd like to see a total of the worklog hours I've added t
9.
by sam_bristow 4mo ago
Someone should chuck a clean-up ticket on the backlog.
10.
by sam_bristow 4mo ago
It's a completely different failure mode, but this reminded me of an infuriating situation I had a while ago with single-use URLs and safe-links functionality in MS Outlook. I can't remember the exact details but the gist was that
11.
by sam_bristow 5mo ago
No, but it seems to be par for the course for enterprise software.
12.
by sam_bristow 5mo ago
Any idea if their internal version has improved dramatically since they stopped maintaining the public version?
13.
by sam_bristow 5mo ago
What does Facebook use internally these days. I'm amazed that the state of review tools is still at or behind what we had a decade ago for the most part.
14.
by sam_bristow 6mo ago
I believe that once the OpenBSD team started cleaning up some of the other gross coding style stuff as part of their fork into LibreSSL that even fairly simplistic static analysis tools could spot the underlying bugs that caused heartbleed.
15.
by sam_bristow 6mo ago
I'll give you most of those criticisms, but I'm a little surprised you think our tax system is overly complicated. For the vast majority of people it's pretty much just a progressive PAYE income tax handled by your employer a
16.
by sam_bristow 6mo ago
Assuming your discomfort is around the defense side of things here's an example of a diving reberather system using Spark/Ada from a while back. https://youtu.be/zL9vVs5vHuQ?si=-thG-FkelkW6oFfb
17.
by sam_bristow 7mo ago
One of my the papers I share around a lot is "Nobody ever gets credit for fixing problems that never happened (2002)"[1]. I like it because it's not purely about software so the examples resonate better with some exec level p
18.
by sam_bristow 7mo ago
I currently pay for YouTube premium but I'm strongly considering stopping again. For me it's a combination of prices creeping up (small part) and the worsening UX and engagement-bait (big part). It's the same reason I dropped
19.
by sam_bristow 9mo ago
2025 had a bunch of bits of fun mathematical trivia: 45² = 45 x 45 = 2025 Also, 9² x 5² = 2025 40² + 20² + 5² = 2025 My favourite? 1³+2³+3³+4³+5³+6³+7³+8³+9³ = 2025
20.
by sam_bristow 9mo ago
I imagine pink is considered too close to red tail lights.
21.
by sam_bristow 9mo ago
Honestly, if I was writing some code that depended on dicts being ordered I think I'd still use OrderedDict in modern Python. I gives the reader more information that I'm doing something slightly unusual.
22.
by sam_bristow 9mo ago
One key point that people overlook with that paper is that they were applying the coding standards retroactively . Taking an existing codebase, running compliance tools, and trying to fix the issues which were flagged. I think they correct
23.
by sam_bristow 11mo ago
Back in my undergrad days I built a similar clip out of a broken clothes peg, hot glue, and some 2.54mm headers. It worked well.
24.
by sam_bristow 11mo ago
I think the web itself would be stronger if it was served in pure HTML and not 95% created by JS SPAs.
25.
by sam_bristow 11mo ago
Stoke Space[1] uses a similar system, letting people write arbitrary code to generate a static configuration for their launch vehicle. It means you get all the power of something like Python during development but also a deterministic, bo
26.
by sam_bristow 11mo ago
I've only had a cursory look at Varlink, but it almost felt too simple. In particular the lack of unsigned or sized integers. This might enf up being be fine, but it gave me pause when I looked at it previously.
27.
by sam_bristow 11mo ago
I found Hillel Wayne's series of articles about the relationship between software and other engineering disciplines from a few years fairly insightful [1]. It's not _exactly_ the same topic but a lot of overlap in defining wht is
28.
by sam_bristow 11mo ago
Wasn't there a phenomenon with the GPUs being retired from crypto mining operations being basically cooked after a couple of years. Likely because they weren't keeping temperatures in check and just pushing the cards to their li
29.
by sam_bristow 11mo ago
Multi-version approaches to developing software aren't as good at reducing common-mode failures as many people expect[1]. [1] J. C. Knight and N. G. Leveson, “An experimental evaluation of the assumption of independence in multiversion
30.
by sam_bristow 11mo ago
Yes. Synology introduced the requirement to use first-party drives earlier this year and it was such an unmitigated disaster for them that they rolled it back just a couple of days ago. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2

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