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mjmdavis

92 karma · joined September 12, 2016

http://mjmdavis.com
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mjmdavis··on A WebGPU implementation of Augmented Vertex Block Descent
This is really awesome. Great work.

I aspire to build cool stuff like this in WebGPU.

Very excited for the future of the web.

mjmdavis··on Have you ever seen soldering this close? [video]
The microscope is from Keyence. An entry level model I believe. I have access to one with 3 lenses on an automated turret. They’re excellent for inspection and make for a ton of fun when you have anything small and interesting to look at.

They don’t have an API which is a big miss from my perspective. Every inspection requires a human operator to drive the thing.

mjmdavis··on I coded something dumb and I'm proud of it
Honestly this comes across as a smart solution, not a dumb one. You big smartie. Such a smart guy. Geez. You're so smart, you're very productive and are helping advance society. Thank you.
mjmdavis··on UK becomes first country to ban default bad passwords on IoT devices
This is pretty sensible cybersecurity policy. Just don’t do what BT did on their HomeHubs and generate a brute forceable password based on a hash of the ssid and some serial numbers.
mjmdavis··on Ask HN: What's Up with Google?
I wonder how much this has to do with do not track and the search engines optimising towards people who don’t enable do not track / limit cookies.
mjmdavis··on New York Governor announces 100% workforce reduction for non-essential services
Why does the guidance linked from the article here: https://esd.ny.gov/guidance-executive-order-2026 mention a 75% reduction and the actual order linked from there: https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/no-2026-continuing-temporar... mention 50%?

Are they updating the order minute to minute?

mjmdavis··on Open-source “pandemic ventilator”
This has genuinely given me hope. It would be great to see more ideas and work around this.
mjmdavis··on Open-source “pandemic ventilator”
Doing this could deprive hundreds of people of a life saving device.
mjmdavis··on Ask HN: Learning multiple languages vs. mastering one
Programming Languages are just like Human Languages. Every culture builds a common form of expressing ideas based around their shared values, needs and outlook.

Restricting yourself to one Human language limits your thinking and perspective. Each time I acquire a new Human Language, I find myself thinking differently and understanding people more deeply. Speaking French and German allows me to be a better communicator in English.

Human Languages can also provide means to an end. Learning German allows me to become a German Citizen. Learning Mandarin would allow me to start a business in China.

The same goes for Programming Languages. As mentioned by others, different Programming Languages were developed by people with different values, needs and outlook. Each time I learn a new Programming Language, I learn new forms of expression for my problem.

Programming Languages allow you to do different things. Depending on what you want to do with your career, choose differently.

Some languages are more useful than others. If you only know Java then you have a lot of learning ahead. I would explore in this order:

  * Python - You can do almost everything well in Python. Make lots of stuff  
  * Command Line & Bash - How systems are glued together. Deploy the stuff you make.  
  * GNU Regex & awk - How to find things and process text. A key building block of programming is processing text.  
  * HTML5 & Javascript - The right way to make most visuals. A frontend for your stuff.  
  * C - How all the above works underneath. Understand the stuff you made.  
  * SQL - How to handle data in databases. Persist the stuff.  
  * Haskell - Pure functional programming. Your Python and JS code will improve. Make the stuff beautiful.
mjmdavis··on Show HN: Interactively explore different map projections
I don't yet have a very good understanding of the whole EPSG code system yet either. :s
mjmdavis··on Show HN: Interactively explore different map projections
Thank you!
mjmdavis··on Show HN: Interactively explore different map projections
One of the main reasons it's so popular is that is preserves shape, angle and north is always up. This means you can create a tiling map server and use the same tiles at all scales.
mjmdavis··on Show HN: Interactively explore different map projections
I think Healpix is included in the tool at the bottom. Also check out the last few in the list which are similar to Dymaxion.