bashmelek

As a hobbyist, I also dislike how standardized the notion of a “game” has become. The big name engines feed into this with the biases built into them to help facilitate making these sorts of games, and then the notion of an “engine” gets similarly restricted. But a game can be any sort of joyous program.

Crash Bandicoot did this well. In the original game, you needed to finish without dying and get all of the boxes to get the gem. In future games, some levels would have a “death path” that would only be available if you got to a certain point in the level without dying.

To be honest, though many historians today might disagree, I still think there is something we can call “Western Civilization,” even if it is a vague family of things that cannot be strictly defined. I know they are trying to correct for certain harmful attitudes out there, but articles like these feel to me to put the social message above all.

It is especially when a certain perceived problematic attitude is the focus, without much actual teaching the wider history, that leaves me feeling disappointed. I think teaching the complete history is a far better antidote than emphasizing a bad trend. Like I’ve read many articles accusing the brothers Grimm of being masculinist, but rarely will those same articles attempt to educate the reader of the Baroness D’Aulnoy, who coined the very term fairy tale!

The ancient world was indeed complicated and interconnected, rich in so many cultures and peoples and stories. We should talk more about these other civilizations! The Phoenicians, the Celts, the Chaldeans, Akkadians, Seleucids, Numidians—-those are just a few from “the West”, around the world offers an even broader view. There is so much more to wonder at, it is a shame that the discourse has the toxic backdrop it does.

That is encouraging, but my stock portfolio paints a different picture. Nintendo is unfortunately doing terribly this year. I still believe in their core mission, even if some of their litigiousness and anti consumer practices have put me off

Yeah, like I imagine they mean that as a career it is competitive and demanding while having few openings so you shouldn’t stake your education and future on it, but I’m with you. This is something I really want to learn well enough to contribute the world.

Another staple of HN I abhor is “don’t bother learning this cool thing unless an official IQ test says you are over 150.”

I’m in my mid-30s, and have never written a book, but I still sometimes think of it. I know it isn’t too late. I still want to create my own applications, but I once used the Google ai result in a utility function. Is it all tainted? I still want people around me to try in earnest

I am continuing work on my webgl engine, now making a web app with backend for it too, so that I can host the games and toy projects I make with it

I have a bit of a problem with the all or nothing framing this discourse usually has. I think that libraries should make an effort to stock evergreen classics in addition to the recent, hot, and in demand. The new ones will be checked out a lot, then fall off, and then the library eventually gets a new batch of new hits.

They do serve a lot of people with this method, but am a different cohort. If a library is to serve a diverse group of people it should also remember book snobs like me. When I visit my local library it is as if anything remotely classic is hidden in a secret area, you can’t find hardly any of them.

I exclusively read physical books, but not as a matter of principle, simply practice. I very much agree that they are different. The bigger thing, of course, is that no matter the medium, that the individual pay attention.

It is okay to listen to audiobooks, but there are other things going on with reading, and more with a physical book. When I read, I choose what to emphasize, and how to pace. I parse out the clauses, the phrasing, the pronunciation, enunciation. If I read Tolkien I give the songs tunes. I give voices to the characters. I remember where on the page something happened, and may go back for it, especially in nonfiction. I pause to digest.

Audiobooks are a different experience. And I, personally, am prone to breaks in concentration. But I think any adult should be capable and should actively practice all forms: silently reading books, listening to a book being read to you, and reading aloud to another. Consuming books is not just a matter of downloading information. It also is to be actively digested and felt. For TV shows, for example, some people watch on high speed, or play it in the background, but I feel that even if they get the plot points they miss a lot. So too with books when not given proper attention.

Edit: I’ll add, some works are meant to be listened to, they may have some tone or rhythm, trope or cantillation. Maybe even gestures. If I said “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair,” you know how how it sounds. And I think practice in recitation lets us preserve this in the art.

This is the second time I’ve heard of “Platonism” referring to false dichotomies, and as someone who has casually read a bit of Plato I am very confused. Am I misunderstanding or is this a common technical term?

It’s an amusing thought experiment to share with friends, but I’m finding the sort of conversation here a bit tiresome; kind of judgmental and dogmatic.

I have an old 3DS. Does anyone know if would these techniques, including the Slot-1 devices, also apply? I would like to try this out.

My only hesitation is the firmware update—-I simply prefer to keep my devices without changes like that.

Being shy, small, and sensitive as a kid, I feel like I could have been particularly susceptible to censoring myself. I felt shame very easily, but a large portion of this came from a handful of loud close minded people around me and bullies. As an adult I know the rules better and can better identify when someone reacts unduly to some quality of mine. That, and I keep better company now—other adults.

I would not go so far as the article suggests, as to be polarizing; I take it as them just going a little hyperbolic in their point. Just I want to be a bit more accepting of myself as well as others. And some people will still dislike me no matter how much I try to hide my personality. Those people are not worth it

Could you link the Reddit post? I’ve been interested in this kind of idea and how these systems work but never knew how to begin

I followed tutorials for Vulkan. I liked vk-guide, until it updated to the latest version. People said the newer SDL is so much better, but I honestly had more fun and got things done back with Renderpasses.

I personally have just been building off of tutorials. But notwithstanding all of the boilerplate code, the enjoyability of a code base can be vastly different.

The most fun I’ve ever had coding, and still do at times, is with WebGL. I just based it off of the Mozilla tutorial and went from there. WebGLFundamentals has good articles…but to be honest I do not love their code

I like the Bible too. It is unfortunate but not unexpected that it set off such a firestorm in the replies.

I would even go so far to say that even nonbelievers would find much value in it, just reading at least the top stories and passages the Old and New Testaments. These are foundational cultural texts that bridge centuries of peoples. And if you are a nonbeliever who wants to read beyond the popular well known parts, please do! But read with a mind to connect with others, not divide.

There are other good things to read too. Plato, Shakespeare, the Chinese Classics, Greek Mythology, folktales. Things that people share with those around them as well as their ancestors

I live comfortably in the United States. I consider myself middle class. I worry about my job and increasing costs. But I’m okay.

I do feel like that we really could end global poverty if we tried, and that people like me ought to contribute.

I used to see pigeons everywhere as a kid. Now they are very rare. I like these animals and many others, and I wish TFA went more into what can be done.

Even when I was still in school and looking for internships I could feel this. In CS we learned more about compilers and operating systems, but companies wanted web developers, so IT and IS had a big edge. I did game programming on my own time, so companies would recommend interning with a game company. It was frustrating.

I’ve been working in web development for many years now. It’s okay. I still don’t know what I want to be in the future. I still don’t feel like a “real dev”. But still do some side learning. I’m happy it worked for the writer, and I hope it does for you too.

I ask everyone to never stop creating, never stop sharing. And when your friend shares, appreciate it, for what it is, that it is theirs, that they did it, and that it is them.

Draw, play an instrument, paint, write a poem, sing, cook, shoot hoops, talk about books over coffee. Be personal.

I do often feel like a Lost Programmer.

C# is my Blub. I use Visual Studio (and not Visual Studio Code). I also use some T-SQL and JavaScript, and sometimes C++ on the weekends. In all of these, my understanding is still rather shallow. And for my day job, and most of my hobbies, it works.

But there is a definite next level I haven’t pierced, the level of “real programmers”. I want to understand the code I see on GitHub, even contribute. I want to be capable of more. But it is hard when I can’t even tell what I’m seeing, when I’m just trying to Make It.

For me, my real day starts after work is over. That is when the meaningful part happens. And if I am going to accomplish much that night, I need to arrive home knowing exactly what I need to start with, and do it. This is similar to Paul Graham’s saying that the people who get things done wake up knowing the one thing they need to do. Trouble with my evenings, though, is that my commute home and usage of the restroom have a way of draining all of my motivation and energy.

I think a bigger problem is that, with urban sprawl, it makes it hard to service enough people with public transportation.

I really appreciate your last point. An AI that can improve one’s social skills, má good matches, facilitate human connection and relationships, could be great

I do like learning things, but I wish I could retain better. Abandoning hobbies has set me back in that way, making it harder to pick up more advanced interests. It feels like lost time. I have needed to restart instruments and various maths several times. Perhaps a proper system based on spaced repetition could help, but organization is a hurdle

I have been curious if it would be possible to create a business around pet-genetics as a means to improve the underlying technology without having to be overly concerned about the human factor…granted there will still be ethical restraints of a sort

The official arduino starter kit teaches some beginner level information, but it is very rudimentary. It is really hard to penetrate the next level of electronics—electronic engineers will stress the importance of precise calculations where previously I was just used to putting together whatever components I had from a kit, with few caveats.

It was not until I tried buying extra transistors that I realized I didn’t understand anything—-and this was after taking the Georgia Tech introduction to electronics free online course. Suddenly there were data sheets and graphs, and not to mention prices. The Build Your PCB course I found myself similarly in over my head, as it felt geared towards EE’s. But I learned about KiCAD. Maybe I will give Ben Eater another try

I think maybe it isn’t all or nothing here. Reading about something outside of one’s familiarity can really expand what is relatable to a student, with the help of an instructor to fill in context and use things to which the student can relate to help them grasp the ideas in the text.

I respect what libraries do, yet the past few times I went to my local library I couldn’t find anything I was looking for—and these were well regarded and well known books. I get that they want to stock things people read, but I am a person who wants older books, and I think part of the library’s responsibility should include such books.

A lot of these things come from folk practices that the Church would permit but then direct towards something acceptable.