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atwebb

1,196 karma · joined August 14, 2007

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atwebb··on Show HN: PostgreSQL index advisor
>Is there really such a thing as a bad query that can be rewritten to give the same results but faster? For me, that's already the query optimizer's job.

I can't tell if your disclaimer covers it but, yes, there are lots of bad queries that take a little bit of a re-write and run significantly faster. Generally it is someone taking a procedural vs set based approach or including things they don't need to try and help (adding an index to a temp table when it is only used once and going to be full scanned anyways). That's outside the general data typing/generally missing indexes.

atwebb··on Fossil is quitting smartwatches
I was wondering the same thing, the Galaxy Watches (before and after Tizen) have always been solid for me, granted we don't really have Apple products and I get the ecosystem advantage. Samsung does seem to iterate really, really fast...or just not sell out of the prior model.
atwebb··on Open table formats are inevitable for analytical datasets
I think it is also wrong in the capabilities, example: Redshift should be able to read Iceberg via Redshift Spectrum.

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/redshift/latest/dg/querying-iceb...

atwebb··on Open table formats are inevitable for analytical datasets
That's what it originally meant, at least in my experience. It was when warehouses got access to commodity storage through virtualization options (Hey! I can read S3 from Redshift and it looks like a Redshift table). Similar to Postgres foreign data wrappers or polybase in sql server.

Databricks (with Delta as the underpinning) seems to have lead the charge of lakehouse meaning, your data lake+file formats/helpers+compute==data lake+datawarehouse==lakehouse.

The latter seems to be the prevailing definition today with the former aging in place.

atwebb··on Tolkien, 50 Years On
I also isn't accurate. The Elves are generally good but don't help at all costs, they are fairly self-serving (or seem to be). Gollum is a swing b/w pity and anger. Gandalf and Aragorn tend to hide information (for the betterment of the mission it seems). Plenty of other "characters" are self-serving, Eagles, Beorn, Mr. Bombadil. Even Sauron was once good and there's hints that people believe he isn't pure evil or had some good to do.
atwebb··on AI demand is already shrinking
Even with the graphic in the article, it has tablets in around 2010, there were definitely tablets well before that. They took a while to grow and take off, seems similar here.
atwebb··on AI demand is already shrinking
I think you're referring to the Gartner hype cycle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gartner_hype_cycle

atwebb··on Uses and abuses of cloud data warehouses
Real-time generally means near-real-time and even then I liken it to availability.

If asked people would say "I need to always be up" until they see the costs associated with it, then being out for a few hours a year tends to be ok.

atwebb··on Uses and abuses of cloud data warehouses
> run a Python function as a UDF

Is that a differentiator? I'm unfamiliar with Snowpark's actual implementation but know SQL Server introduced Python/R in engine in 2016? something like that.

atwebb··on Reduced cancer mortality with daily Vitamin D intake
Late reply, I was wondering that but also, at least in the US, they tend to have older folks and retirees so that it may skew the stats. I really don't have any data on it, just speculating.
atwebb··on Reduced cancer mortality with daily Vitamin D intake
Would especially sunny areas not produce people with more cancer (or certain types)?
atwebb··on US on track to set record in 2023 for mass killings after series of shootings
Watching city sub-reddits devolve over the years has me feeling the same way. It seems coordinated.
atwebb··on What's up in the Python community? – April 2023
Lambda support was added this month:

https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2023/04/aws-lambd...

atwebb··on US 5-year credit default swaps rise to highest since 2011
There are 4 comments in this thread (5 including mine) and ChatGPT is already mentioned twice. Interesting how quickly things adapt/change.
atwebb··on Tell HN: The ratio of wants-to-be-hired to is-hiring is at a record high 0.94
Who's hiring also has many positions in each listing though, if that is consistent across time it wouldn't seem to matter as much.
atwebb··on UK airport scraps 100ml liquid rule with new scanners
Just flew out of Memphis and these (or something very similar) were amazing, it felt archaic flying back and doing it the other way. Security time was a few seconds. Now if I can skip the shoes part...
atwebb··on Nearly 40% of software engineers will only work remotely
>My kids could walk back from school but primary school do not allows them to get out without me.

Where is this? Our kids flood the park and walk home, that's how it has been in a few places we've lived. Maybe y'all are near major roads or no walkable paths?

atwebb··on Nearly 40% of software engineers will only work remotely
>I have it on good authority though that kids are distraction machines.

More of a nuance here, they are mainly only distraction machines for 5-7 years, after that it is more about scheduling conflicts and being able to be "present" when they are. Especially for children attending traditional school programs (public or private), they are gone most of the day and then have their own distractions (homework, hobbies, trainings, friends, etc).

atwebb··on Learnings from employing ChatGPT as a ML Engineer for a day
find replace name with ABCEDFG HIJKLMNOP

feed to ChatGPT

find replace ABCEDFG HIJKLMNOP with name?

atwebb··on Why Steam Deck Is One of the Most Significant PC Gaming Moments in Years
>The docking to a TV / monitor is a joke with the standard UI...I have never gotten it to work well, so if I need to dock I have to go into desktop mode.

Really? I'm just using an Anker USB-C dock and it works fine, everything runs great and it allows me to charge as well.

atwebb··on Why Steam Deck Is One of the Most Significant PC Gaming Moments in Years
I just don't have the time or willingness to have 1 location to play. Playing Halo anywhere and on the go or quickly hooking it to a usbc->HDMI port and Xbox controller for big screen is very, very nice.
atwebb··on Why Steam Deck Is One of the Most Significant PC Gaming Moments in Years
That's the neat part, you get the entire steam library (not all of the old things do run or run well) but as an example of a good older game, Halo is awesome and all of them are around $15 on sale (total). And the graphics are somewhat improved.
atwebb··on Why Steam Deck Is One of the Most Significant PC Gaming Moments in Years
for the price of the base model ($400), I can't imagine you'll lose too much selling it when v2 comes out (and likely fully sells out). If you have a decent stream library, it is really pretty wild how awesome it is.
atwebb··on Ask HN: How do you test SQL?
Would redshift serverless help at all? I realize that it may not have parity with the existing functionality, just a thought.
atwebb··on Ask HN: How do you test SQL?
It can wind up with more of a procedural thought though than set-based. Not always, just something to pay attention to and pushing filters early / explicitly. It is asking more of the optimizer a lot of the times and that's were a bunch of the cautions come in to play.
atwebb··on Appliance makers sad that 50% of customers won’t connect smart appliances
Waiting for Okta to enter the home appliance game...
atwebb··on Eggs are 60% more expensive than last year in the US
> I picked up 15 dozen eggs for $8.69, and the 5 dozen was $8.99 at that time.

Is there a typo?

atwebb··on Ask HN: How to best take advantage of the coming recession?
>it could be wise to become a little bit liquid right now

That seems about a year too late on the nose, though I get your point.

One staggering stat for me is that ~40% of owner-occupied homes have no mortgage. Sure property tax and insurance (not required on a fully owned house) but that seems minimal especially if you were able to pay off the home, outside of very high areas or appreciation.

atwebb··on How the Steam Deck breathes life into underrated old games
Do you mean for the use cases in the article or in general? It certainly is big but it is a remarkable device and works exceptionally well. I'm shocked how well Valve did (just in general, they nailed it and are executing well). I bring the SD a bunch of places, quick resume is awesome, the screen is great, powering games isn't an issue. I suspect it may get smaller later but even the Switch now seems too small and there are lots of add-ons to extend it so your hands aren't cramped up.
atwebb··on AWS and Blockchain
>where were all these skeptics when blockchain enthusiasm was on the rise?

Everywhere? I can't think of a single (or at least memorable) time I've heard blockchain and there wasn't at least someone who was skeptical.

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