Meta Loves Python | Hacker News Reader

Meta Loves Python

engineering.fb.com

34 pointsbelter44 comments

I know I keep posting this, but my favorite (half-joking) programming advice was from a Google dev infra engineer who said "Any Python script over 100 lines should be rewritten in Bash, because at least that way you're not fooling yourself into thinking it's production quality"

Had they even written tests for shell scripts?

https://engineering.fb.com/2023/10/05/developer-tools/python... was linked from the post and has a description of the features they added in 3.12. I skimmed that instead of the podcast.

Can’t believe people actually have the time to listen to such podcasts. Why not post a transcript? It’s not even difficult to create it nowadays

Millions of people listen to podcasts every week.

Technical ones? Please. It’s a particularly poor medium for anything technical and aimed at people who spend their entire days navigating text as quickly as humanly possible

I commute a lot.

Travel has always been central to my podcast listening. Now that I work from home and have no commute, I've totally fallen off my previous habit. I was at peak podcast consumption when I had a long commute both ways.

It's not just about listening to the whole podcast while you travel - you just need to get far enough so you want to finish it. So I would imagine even short commute periods could result in a lot more listening.

I also don’t get why anyone would listen to a podcast rather than something worthwhile eg an audiobook. That’s what I do during commute, and that’s what I recommend to others. I actually look forward to commuting nowadays, it’s probably the most interesting hour or so in my entire day.

I bet you also haven’t own a TV in 20 years and are surprised that people still watch TV (tm Slashdot).

Is it possible that other people have different preferences?

100%

It's just nice that we can unite around our shared passion for correcting people who are wrong on the Internet.

Ever read a transcript of a real dialog? They're loooooong.

Many of us can read faster than they speak. We can also skim across the conversation for its highlights. Then, dig into what matters to us.

It’s an advantage to have transcripts.

Many times, and much more quickly than were I to listen to the same dialog at some practical playback speed.

But yeah, you make a good point: it's even more efficient if people just prepare material to be read in the first place instead of relying on performed dialogs at all. That's always preferred.

I keep a queue of such podcasts for times when I'm walking the dogs, cleaning the house, doing yard work, commuting, grocery shopping, waiting in line, etc. I listen to them at 1.5x to be able to hear more of them, and I still have to prioritize what I want to listen to most, but I find that little gaps in my life allow plenty of podcast listening time.

this was exactly how my life worked until I had a baby. Now I have to keep my ears open 24 hours a day. has completely killed my podcast consumption.

eventually they’ll go to (pre-)school/daycare[0] and you’ll get some time back. it gets better.

[0] at least, they really should. kids need to socialise with others their age

use earbuds in only one ear?

Sony linkbuds are great for maintaining situational awareness. their donut drivers are a game changer.

It’s harder to read a transcript when I’m working out, going for a run and sometimes I just want to zone out on a plane, with my phone in my pocket

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