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gsoto

42 karma · joined April 14, 2020

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gsoto··on XMPP vs. Matrix
A lot of the features you mention were already there in XMPP 20 years ago. I've lost track of the standard a long time ago but I assume the rest have been added through extensions.
gsoto··on Is Dark Mode Good for Your Eyes? (2020)
I think the issue is that people are adjusting what they see on screen instead of adjusting their environment (i.e. room lighting), even when they are totally able to do it.

A dark mode could make it bearable to work in poor light conditions but won't improve on the fact that it's already a non-optimal environment.

gsoto··on Vangelis has died
It is the same song. Thanks :)
gsoto··on Vangelis has died
Just sharing one of my favorite pieces of him:

"Memories of Green" (from the album "See You Later") https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW9D6agp794

I think this piece shows the range of his musical expressiveness, apart from his virtuosity or synth programming skills. Just a piano passed through a flanger effect with some ambient sounds.

The electronic bleeps in that track are recorded from a handheld electronic game (Bambino UFO Master Blaster [1]). Talk about giving a whole new meaning to those sounds.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sEOW8wAqG0

gsoto··on Show HN: Prevent your computer sleeping with just a webpage
PowerToys[0] has a utility for that. It stays in the corner of the taskbar.

[0] https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys

gsoto··on Show HN: A mastermind-like version of Wordle
I would say something like "keep guessing" instead of "retry" but good suggestion.
gsoto··on Show HN: A mastermind-like version of Wordle
Very cool. And way more challenging.

A way to make this a bit easier would be allowing a nonexistent word once per game or something like that.

> the red tile indicates the number of correct characters in the correct position

I suggest using another color for that, as red is associated with error most of the time. Why not using the green/yellow for the numbers too?

gsoto··on Controversial Programming Opinions (2012)
I love them! It's a shame they didn't really catch on.
gsoto··on Controversial Programming Opinions (2012)
Indentation is OK, sure. I was talking about aligning stuff on the middle of a line.

I find tabs better for indentation but in practice end up using spaces.

gsoto··on Controversial Programming Opinions (2012)
Spaces work well for indentation. You could argue here that typing one character (tab) is more efficient and maintainable than writing N (also semantically more powerful).

The real problem comes when people start aligning things on the middle of the line.

gsoto··on Controversial Programming Opinions (2012)
As long as source code resides in plaintext files, writing in columns (i.e. vertically aligning blocks of text) seems like an excessive endeavor with little gain.

We are not typesetting; formatting resources should be kept to a minimum to make the code easy to handle in plaintext. Fortunately, code is restricted enough that we can do pretty well without those.

You don't write spaces to align text in Word: it's a nightmare to maintain and the software provides better tools for that purpose. Why do we still write code as if we were using a typewriter?

You may think you are improving readability by aligning columns of text, but then, the impossibility of standardizing such baroque formatting rules goes against that. Furthermore, you are preventing people from using a variable-width font, which is actually better for readability.

gsoto··on Controversial Programming Opinions (2012)
Can I marry you?

I will add:

* Tabs > spaces

* Proportional > monospaced

* White background > dark theme

gsoto··on Dev Fonts
Yes! I've been using Verdana for a decade. I still can't find a better screen font for coding.

Edit: https://i.imgur.com/JnMopk4.png

gsoto··on Dev Fonts
Interesting. I find that the usual four spaces give me the ideal indent length in proportional fonts.
gsoto··on Dev Fonts
I've been using Verdana for ~10 years. I've tried others but keep coming back to it. It continues to be a very consistent and elegant design for screen.
gsoto··on Interactive Generative Art
Pff, this only draws pictures of my mom naked.
gsoto··on To Get More Replies, Say Less (2017)
I feel like many times it's not that the message doesn't get read but that it doesn't persuade the recipient to make the time to write a response.

Shortening the text not only transmits the message more efficiently, it also allows the recipient to feel comfortable with writing a one-liner reply. You are actually lowering the threshold over which the person gains the will to start writing a response.

gsoto··on To Get More Replies, Say Less (2017)
Hi, ${user_name}! How do you like our product?

We are working hard on ${first_clicked_link}.

BTW, ${user_browser} rules!

gsoto··on Ex-Googler's startup comes out of stealth with simple, clever robot design
I'd buy this if it could setup my boardgames.