The reason I was breaking the curve in my Data Structures class was because I was thirsty for that knowledge from working in Basic on my C64. My parents paid the original $595 price and definitely the best decision they ever made for me.
I used to type in the programs from Commodore 64 Magazine back in the day. If you just touch type them in you learn very little. If I wanted to understand them, I wouldn't do it while typing. Sure a bit rubs off and probably more if you have to understand where to put the code rather than just start typing from the top, but still not enough. If you "make it your own" then you're probably at the right level of understanding.
I think the progession is like 1) Oh, I can break stuff by changing a config value - it doesn't protect me. 2) Oh, I didn't think X would need to be configurable. 3) With code I can colocate the values with the code that uses them - easier to understand, and I can "configure" anything I want. 4) Why are we using configs?
I think the one you are calling "figure hands"... if you mean the one where hands are numbers could just use better styling overall. Two colors, different sizes, better choice of font.
I've yet to find a panacea. For example, I thought DRY was, but found its not the case (test scenarios). I've yet to find altruisms past "everything in moderation". If you do choose a style and stick to it though at least it's consistent.
I didn't carry a cell phone for long enough (I do now) that people looked at me like I was nuts. I viewed a cell phone the same way most people thought of a pager (remember those things?) - for other people's convenience, not mine. If I am talking to someone in the hall, they will answer their phone, like people that call are more important? Thankfully I think people have realized that - some of the time.
Agreed. Wasn't track barefoot back in the day? I mean even shoes are an advantage. Swimming sped up after goggles and swimcaps were accepted. I think it's all just where do you decide to draw the line? I've thought badminton is an odd sport, the shuttlecock is so slow anyone can (normally) play it - it's very inefficient. And don't get me started on equestrian if grandpa can win it then shouldn't the horse get the medal?
Eh, I like MacBooks because they've been bulletproof. Any PC I suspect it might just go kaput whenever it feels like it, except for maybe a ThinkPad, but they cost more than a MacBook.
I suppose you could chalk this up to an oversight. I don't see how Meta gained from this. They've been purposeful about collecting user data and lying about it, eg: 2025 Android Tracking Incident. Shouldn't just be an embarrassment, should be much worse than that.
I like the qualification of "large-ish". When someone says code is not the bottleneck, I assume they work for a large company. To be fair, at a start-up developers think they code at least 4 hours a day, but it never averages that either.
When we have AGI, we'll have self-driving cars. We aren't getting either in a year's time. The need for white-collar jobs in areas will shrink (not disappear), possibly to expand elsewhere.
Yep, really advanced Google searches were never that good. LLM, yeah, it halucinates, it's never spot on but as sure as heck it knows what I'm trying to ask. It doesn't give me arborists if I say something like "list tree searches".
I always assumed what I felt was obvious: Numbers 21:4-9, where God instructs Moses to make a bronze serpent and place it on a pole to heal Israelites dying from poisonous snake bites.
The logical conclusion is to use "a Haskell" typed language that will ensure every path is considered to guard against AI mistakes. OTOH, clojure repl, expressibility, immutability, and data-driven nature has its own advantages. Tacking on malli (runtime type checking) or spec (types/contracts) helps LLMs avoid type problems altogether or at least confront problems during testing.