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pdwetz

213 karma · joined January 23, 2012

Full stack web programmer. https://www.wetzdev.com/
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pdwetz··on Learning from Sudoku Solvers (2007)
For generating puzzles it's really useful since it lets you determine if a randomly generated puzzle has only one possible path to solving it (exact cover problem). And it's fast so adding it to a pipeline doesn't incur much if any overhead.
pdwetz··on YouTube TV raises subscription to $72.99, inching closer to cable pricing
Does that have blackouts for "local" teams? I'm 1-2 hours (traffic depending) from the Mets and MLB subscription in the past was useless for live games due to blackout restrictions.
pdwetz··on Ask HN: Plans for Weathering the Tech Recession?
There is a whole world of employers who need tech folks who aren't google and friends.
pdwetz··on .NET Core 3.0 will reach End of Life on March 3, 2020
That's just been the case for 2.1 and 3.1, future versions will jump a version each year (next is v5) with every other year being LTS. Of course, we'll see if it actually goes as planned. I don't think I've seen them change course from the announcement last year.

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/introducing-net-5/

pdwetz··on Why Aren't Shoes Preventing Running Injuries? (2014)
All Altra shoes are zero-drop, so heel and forefoot are at the same level. It doesn't mean there's no padding.
pdwetz··on Deep Dive Into C# 9
Visual Studio itself also does that (I forget when it was introduced; a few versions back I think?). I haven't used Resharper in a long time, so I'm not sure how it compares now, though.
pdwetz··on Our Food Is Killing Too Many of Us
Is making your own an option in the UK? I have a few friends in the US that love it, but I think you need easy service for the canisters. More effort to be sure, but at least then you can use whatever syrup you like.
pdwetz··on Bobby Bonilla's 25-Year Contract with The New York Mets (2011)
Since this comes up every year, might as well point out this isn't an isolated case.

Tweet thread covering various ones (as of last year): https://twitter.com/mikemayerMMO/status/1013295573779312640

pdwetz··on IBM purged ‘gray hairs’ and ‘old heads’ as it launched Millennial Corps: lawsuit
Remote work? I rarely have in-person client meetings anymore. And honestly at my old job it had offices around the country so even then there were people I'd worked on projects with for years and had never met in person.
pdwetz··on From Sudoku Solver to Program Synthesis
Backtracking as a strategy definitely seems... underwhelming. But it does have its uses. I wrote a few solvers, and they all served a different purpose. One was based on Norvig's python post on the subject; I used that to generate many puzzles very quickly. Then I used a backtracker (using Knuth's Dancing Links) to reduce the set to puzzles with only a single solution. The last solver was a "human" solver that used various known strategies; this let me grade difficulty without having to manually attempt every puzzle (although I still found it useful in my app UI to tag puzzles as being too hard/easy). The human solver is incredibly inefficient, but the one with the most room for growth (new strats, etc).
pdwetz··on Ask HN: Freelancer? Seeking freelancer? (January 2019)
SEEKING WORK - Remote/Westchester, NY Area

I can prototype new ideas, research technologies/trends, extend/maintain an existing system, or quickly build out a one-off microsite/console app. I can work solo or in teams with equal ease. I'm a full stack programmer primarily using C# (.net core) for backend work on linux VMs and Azure appservice. Front end work is mostly jquery/bootstrap with some Vue experimenting of late. Reporting via PowerBI.

Portfolio - https://wetzdev.com/

Email - my user name on gmail

pdwetz··on Wayne Gretzky and the Mysteries of Athletic Greatness
How much of that is luck/genetics? As a Mets fan, David Wright is an easy counter example of someone who was known to work hard and then struggled with injuries.
pdwetz··on Sudoku Solver and Generator
For my site I use a backtracker to find a large number of single solution puzzles (rather fast). Those are used as a test base for my "human" solver (pretty slow), which are used for scoring and difficulty levels. I find that it's a nice balance.
pdwetz··on China Once Looked Tough on Trade. Now Its Options Are Dwindling
Not quite; from same link, "President Abraham Lincoln and the United States Congress introduced in 1861 the first personal income tax in the United States." It was declared unconstitutional in 1895 by the Supreme Court, prompting the constitutional amendment.
pdwetz··on Ask HN: Freelancer? Seeking freelancer? (September 2018)
SEEKING WORK - Remote/Westchester, NY Area

I can prototype new ideas, research technologies/trends, extend/maintain an existing system, or quickly build out a one-off microsite/console app. I can work solo or in teams with equal ease. I'm a full stack programmer primarily using C# (.net core) for backend work on linux VMs and Azure appservice. Front end work is mostly jquery/bootstrap with some Vue/React experimenting of late. Reporting via PowerBI.

Portfolio - https://wetzdev.com/

Email - my user name on gmail

pdwetz··on Ask HN: Freelancer? Seeking freelancer? (August 2018)
SEEKING WORK - Remote/Westchester, NY Area

I can prototype new ideas, research technologies/trends, extend/maintain an existing system, or quickly build out a one-off microsite. I can work solo or in teams with equal ease. I'm a full stack programmer primarily using C# (standard or .net core) for backend work on linux VMs and Azure appservice. Front end work is mostly jquery/bootstrap with some Vue/React experimenting of late. Reporting via PowerBI.

Portfolio - https://wetzdev.com/

Email - my user name on gmail

pdwetz··on Justice Anthony Kennedy to Retire from Supreme Court
A bit comical/ironic to say they'd be targeted for obstructionism given that the other side of the aisle did just that for the last vacated seat.
pdwetz··on When Madden NFL Killed NFL 2K
I still miss Front Page Sports Football from the 90s. While we owned a couple of different versions, the early one that had the most play time for us was completely unlicensed, so we made up names for all of the teams. It was a really nice balance of sim, play designer, and arcade football. My brother and I each had a team and played through multiple seasons. If memory serves, I tanked the end of one season to ensure the #1 overall pick in the next draft. Unfortunately, with our setup only one person could play at a time so we had to sim any games our teams played each other (including a championship game or two).
pdwetz··on The ‘Pedestrian’ Who Became One of America’s First Black Sports Stars
Probably most similar to ultra races, some of which are on a short repetitive loop over x time period (24 hour is "common"). Audience is probably closer to dozens of friends/family compared to packed stands of fans/gamblers, though!
pdwetz··on Ask HN: Freelancer? Seeking freelancer? (May 2018)
SEEKING WORK - Remote/Westchester, NY Area

I can prototype new ideas, research technologies/trends, extend/maintain an existing system, or quickly build out a one-off microsite. I can work solo or in teams with equal ease. I'm a full stack programmer primarily using C# (standard or .net core) for backend work on linux VMs and Azure appservice. Front end work is mostly jquery/bootstrap with some Vue experimenting of late.

Portfolio - https://wetzdev.com/

Email - my user name on gmail

pdwetz··on Ask HN: Freelancer? Seeking freelancer? (January 2018)
SEEKING WORK - Remote/Westchester, NY Area

I can prototype new ideas, research technologies/trends, extend/maintain an existing system, or quickly build out a one-off microsite. I can work solo or in teams with equal ease. I'm a full stack programmer primarily using C# (standard or .net core) for backend work. Many years of experience with jquery, bootstrap, etc., along with recent experience with Vue. I've spent a lot of time of late building PowerBI reports for both client and personal projects.

Portfolio - https://wetzdev.com/

Email - my user name on gmail

pdwetz··on Reality vs. Kurzweil’s expectations
For hundreds of years humans have read printed books to learn things, without talking to teachers. Seems like a weak argument.
pdwetz··on We fired our top talent. Best decision we ever made
Also, I'm not sure I'd apply the label "genius" with someone who has copious amounts of "copy pasta" in his solely crafted code base.
pdwetz··on Why you should join the .NET Core and ASP.NET Core train
If you want to interact with the database, in my experience Dapper and real actual SQL statements beat it hands down (both readability and performance). I love utilizing LINQ aside from that (e.g. creating custom comparison methods/classes and using it's baked in set operations for comparing/contrasting multiple collections).
pdwetz··on Why you should join the .NET Core and ASP.NET Core train
It's been a constantly moving target for the last two years. In theory, it should be getting more stable now with v2 of Core and hopefully all the docs and various tutorials/blogs/videos/etc will follow suit over the coming months. In the meantime, you'll probably want to filter out anything prior to 2017.
pdwetz··on “The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason”
I think the issue I had with the last "section" of Seveneves was it felt more like a prologue. The pacing was entirely different. I didn't hate it or anything, but going from the previous two parts to the last one was jolting.
pdwetz··on A lingering farewell to the username
I'm all for using a password manager. I also think it's not user-friendly for a single application to force one to use multiple email addresses. It's unnecessarily confusing and annoying.
pdwetz··on A lingering farewell to the username
I think the point is that he's avoiding the product rather than change his process, and that he's hardly the only one.
pdwetz··on Ask HN: Freelancer? Seeking freelancer? (September 2017)
SEEKING WORK - Remote/Westchester, NY Area

I can prototype new ideas, research technologies/trends, extend/maintain an existing system, or quickly build out a one-off microsite. I can work solo or in teams with equal ease. I'm a full stack programmer primarily using C# (standard or .net core) for backend work, along with PHP for creating custom WordPress and WooCommerce plugins/themes. Many years of experience with jquery, bootstrap, etc., along with recent experience with Vue.

Portfolio - https://wetzdev.com/

Email - my user name on gmail

pdwetz··on A glut has used-car depreciation accelerating
I wonder if we can "mine" all of the old copper wires (telephones, etc)?
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