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dblotsky

193 karma · joined September 29, 2013

http://dmitryblotsky.com
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dblotsky··on Greppability is an underrated code metric
Hard agree with the idea of greppability, but hard disagree about keeping names the same across boundaries.

I think the benefit of having one symbol exist in only one domain (e.g. “user_request” only showing up in the database-handling code, where it’s used 3 times, and not in the UI code, where it might’ve been used 30 times) reduces more cognitive load than is added by searching for 2 symbols instead of 1 common one.

dblotsky··on Predictions Scorecard, 2021 January 01
Aren't these effectively lab tests of robots that can navigate a home?

[dancing] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn3KWM1kuAw [cleaning clutter] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8-w9eF24gU

dblotsky··on Getting rid of NPM scripts
Those all sound plausible! But...

1) I suspect GNU Make will be installed on any system where node code will run.

2) You don’t have to .PHONY anything that will never be a real file.

3) My bet is the Makefile will be shorter and clearer, but I am of course biased since I’m used to the syntax.

dblotsky··on Getting rid of NPM scripts
Is there any design decision of Make that makes it not suitable for executing programs?
dblotsky··on Getting rid of NPM scripts
The `./make` shell script kills me. Why not just use Make?
dblotsky··on Please – A cross-language build system
Yeah, that tradeoff between generality and correctness really seems tyrannical.

It kind of feels like the best trajectory is to start small with a general build system, and upgrade as needed? And then if you are confident the project will grow, starting with the specific build system fine too.

dblotsky··on Please – A cross-language build system
I am personally not convinced that any build system can be correct and general, but perhaps that’s my lack of experience speaking.

On that 30 minute note though: so, how big does the project need to be in order for Make not to be enough? And at that size, why wouldn’t the project invest the extra week it takes to get the Makefile correct?

dblotsky··on Please – A cross-language build system
How big does the project have to be in order for this system to have benefits over Make?
dblotsky··on E. B. White’s “Plain Style” at 75
It sounds like the last point, about disobeying the rules when appropriate (my reading of it), was meant exactly to cover these corner cases.
dblotsky··on E. B. White’s “Plain Style” at 75
Reminds me of Orwell’s Politics and the English Language: https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwel....
dblotsky··on Baumol Effect
Can this all be explained by the cost of labor being uniform (since humans are humans in all industries)?

So if one industry demands more labor, all others will feel the rising price of labor?

dblotsky··on Programming trick questions
This looks like the Post Correspondence Problem at first glance: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_correspondence_problem.
dblotsky··on Programming trick questions
They inserted spaces though, between characters and words. In this problem, all spaces are removed.
dblotsky··on Comma Two Devkit
You’re missing the huge “works incorrectly” space of outputs.
dblotsky··on Parcel – Fast, zero-configuration web application bundler
Facetious answer: Are there any good examples of projects using Parcel for a web app? ;)

Real answer: probably, but a ton of production code is closed-source.

But why restrict to web apps? Most influential software projects in the world use Make.

dblotsky··on Parcel – Fast, zero-configuration web application bundler
Make can run all the tools like babel, uglify, etc.
dblotsky··on Parcel – Fast, zero-configuration web application bundler
Just use Make.

Takes just as long to learn, and is transferrable everywhere.

dblotsky··on Powerful Statement of Resistance from a College Student on Trial in Moscow
He’s called for some disciplines (e.g. women’s studies, anthropology) to be boycotted by students and ultimately removed.
dblotsky··on Powerful Statement of Resistance from a College Student on Trial in Moscow
I find objectionable his “slippery slope” argument about pronouns and his calls for silencing disciplines with which he disagrees.
dblotsky··on Powerful Statement of Resistance from a College Student on Trial in Moscow
Peterson said many other things that are objectionable. If he only said what Zhukov said, Peterson would also be in a more favourable light.
dblotsky··on Help me ask why you didn't just
The one I often go for is: “What is the reason you’re not using sshd?”

It implies that I understand there is a reason, that I don’t know the reason, and that I’m ready to be surprised if indeed there is no good reason.

dblotsky··on An introduction to data processing on the Linux command line
1). It doesn’t work in all shells, so you have to think about your environment before you use it.

2). I often start with `bar < foo`, so if I need to add more arguments to `bar`, I need to always skip over the input.

3). If I just want to delete all processing and look at the input, I can’t just backspace away the processing because `< foo` is invalid.

dblotsky··on Belarus’s Soviet Economy
How vast are the differences in expenses needed to live (due to climate or otherwise)?
dblotsky··on Belarus’s Soviet Economy
The title says “GDP Per Capita, PPP”.
dblotsky··on Belarus’s Soviet Economy
China is investing in Belarus. They build factories and infrastructure, likely to get easier access to the European markets.
dblotsky··on Belarus’s Soviet Economy
The “PPP” in the graph is easy to miss, but is what makes the comparisons possible.
dblotsky··on An introduction to data processing on the Linux command line
What makes it useless? It’s functionally the same but makes it easier to author pipelines, which I think is a valid use.
dblotsky··on Stuxnet was embarrassing, not amazing (2011)
We often forget, but even the world’s top professionals get tired, cut corners, and make mistakes.

But also, what substantial gains would have come from adopting the techniques in this article?

dblotsky··on An Illustrated Guide to Useful Command Line Tools
In this case, I mean the POSIX standard. But yes, shipping by default in operating systems is how things (eventually) make it into the standard!
dblotsky··on An Illustrated Guide to Useful Command Line Tools
You’re right, and I’m not at all against having custom tools in any controlled environment. In fact, I think enhancing a controlled environment with custom tools is extremely productive.

My point was more about education. I think becoming an expert in the standard tools should come before learning any custom ones, because it is a transferable skill.

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