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bmoxb

131 karma · joined November 29, 2022

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bmoxb··on API design note: Beware of adding an "Other" enum value
It arguably makes sense in a large monorepo, but otherwise I would agree.
bmoxb··on 'The tyranny of apps': those without smartphones are unfairly penalised
I don't see why I should even have to set up multiple accounts. For the vast majority of these apps, I see no reason they need to be geo-locked anyway.
bmoxb··on Is Iceland getting ready to join the EU?
I assume they're referring to actually residing and working in other EU countries, rather than just visiting.
bmoxb··on Google starts tracking all your devices in 8 weeks
Germany has a very strong culture of dubbing essentially everything. Just finding any showing of a film in its original language at a cinema is very difficult outside of major cities for example.
bmoxb··on Advancing Memory Safety
I'll admit that there are certain patterns/data structures/etc. that are awkward to implement in Rust, but to write good C++ you are essentially required to think about ownership and lifetimes to some degree anyway (despite the greater lenience awarded compared to Rust and the lack of static checking). For anyone familiar with modern C++, I don't think that the shift in mental model should be too huge so the degree of backlash surprises me somewhat.
bmoxb··on Germany's 49-euro ticket resulted in significant shift from road to rail
By what metric?
bmoxb··on Ask HN: What are you working on (September 2024)?
I recently moved to Germany (not to Berlin, but seems like most of the content is still relevant) and your website was extremely helpful - thank you for working on it.
bmoxb··on How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)
It absolutely does offer more maths lectures than you could ever conceivably watch.
bmoxb··on Ask HN: What's Your Experience with eSIMs?
I can say for certain of course, but I would guess at that being the result of the poor service that travel network providers typically offer. I have also used travel eSIMs in Japan and had generally a pretty poor experience (bad coverage and slow speeds). Conversely, I've had non-travel, regular monthly eSIM contracts in both the UK and Germany and experienced few issues (at least no more than my experience with physical SIM cards).
bmoxb··on Google Search: Roboto Mono
Not really anymore, unfortunately.
bmoxb··on More delays for Euston's HS2 station
There was never a 'war on drivers' - just empty rhetoric that Sunak clung on to after the Uxbridge by-election.
bmoxb··on Jailbreaking RabbitOS
Do you really expect a 10 year old to consistently be able to tell when an LLM is feeding them convincing-sounding but ultimately false information?
bmoxb··on Crafting Interpreters
I think Engineering a Compiler is a great next step after Crafting Interpreters. It's both easier to get into (in terms of writing style and structure) and, as you say, generally more practical than the Dragon Book.
bmoxb··on U.S. home prices have far outpaced paychecks. See what it looks like
Indeed, while simultaneously doing little of note to address the issue (beyond further propping up the house of cards with schemes like the lifetime ISA).
bmoxb··on I learned Haskell in just 15 years
What's wrong with Haskell's syntax? I think it's generally pretty nice though can be excessively terse at times.
bmoxb··on Ask HN: Why is nobody manufacturing low tech electric cars in 2024?
Agreed. Electric cars are frankly a pretty poor solution to the issue of carbon emissions. A far better, more long term solution already exists - high density, walkable neighbourhoods and high frequency, well run public transport systems.
bmoxb··on Google releases smart watch for kids
Am I missing something? Is it not just a glorified fitness tracker? I can certainly understand privacy concerns but I don't get how a smart watch is the signifier of a 'broken' world.
bmoxb··on How to find hidden cameras in an Airbnb, according to a security expert
While I agree, depending on where you're staying, 'aparthotels' (hotels where rooms have little kitchens) are becoming increasingly widespread and affordable - can be a good alternative to Airbnb for long stays in many cases.
bmoxb··on Michelle's List: A free, anonymous landlord review site
Indeed. I haven't looked too much into this particular site, but I don't really see the utility of this kind of service in most large Western cities. I've rented in Zurich and am looking for somewhere in Munich - unless your budget is particularly high, it's very much a matter of just taking whatever you can get. From what I've heard, this is the case in many/most large American cities too.
bmoxb··on Why a New Yorker Story on a Notorious Murder Case Is Blocked in Britain
Agreed. UK tabloids are an absolute blight. I wouldn't generally advocate for the censorship of reporting on such a case, but if it's going to happen, then tabloid 'newspapers' would be at the top of the list of organisations to restrict.
bmoxb··on GPT-4o
It seems like a very odd decision. It's not like OpenAI can't afford to develop versions of the application for each OS in parallel.
bmoxb··on Apple apologizes for iPad 'Crush' ad that 'missed the mark'
It was clear to me that that's what they wanted to express but their chosen visuals didn't convey that well at all. Expanding outwards from the iPad would have made a lot more sense.
bmoxb··on Algebraic Data Types for C99
You might be interested in taking a look at OCaml's extensible sum types which may straddle the line in the way you're describing.
bmoxb··on Algebraic Data Types for C99
That is not a proper alternative to real pattern matching.
bmoxb··on Micro-Dosing Caffeine
I've yet to have decaf that tastes as good as the regular stuff unfortunately.
bmoxb··on The C++ Iceberg
I don't see why std::optional being a monad is implied to be a bad/confusing thing? It would be significantly more awkward to use without any monadic operations on offer.
bmoxb··on Takeaways from the Jane Street bond prospectus
I interviewed there and can confirm they don't require you to know any OCaml (though I did have some Haskell on my CV - I don't know if that was a factor in hearing back or not). The questions are LC-adjacent but the interview is structured such that each question builds on the previous one.
bmoxb··on Japanese yen weakens to 160 against the USD for the first time since 1990
The multiplier is roughly the same even if the dev in London is working at the exact same company as the one in SV.
bmoxb··on Practical Vim command workflow (2023)
I also rely heavily on search. When editing code, I am frequently looking to modify a string of characters somewhere in the middle of a line. Navigating firstly to the correct line and then also the correct position within that line is probably going to require several keystrokes anyway so why not just use search to go there directly?
bmoxb··on From a lorry driver to Ruby on rails developer at 38
I think you're right - I'm embarassed to have not picked up on that.
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