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raytracer

160 karma · joined June 3, 2016

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raytracer··on I’m a productive programmer with a memory of a fruit fly
I like header comments too, but I almost never use them when working on a team.

I feel like there are a bunch of coding habits that work well for solo developers but not devs on a team.

raytracer··on Fly.io: The reclaimer of Heroku's magic
Having a billing limit is important to me as I don't want to risk unbounded costs for personal projects.

> we'll just suspend your apps when the credit runs out.

This sounds great! I've looked at Fly.io before but didn't realise this was a thing so didn't go past looking. I'll definitely give Fly.io a test run now. :)

raytracer··on The mermaid is taking over Google search in Norway
Reservoir Cats is actually a movie! I feel like I've slipped into an alternative time stream.
raytracer··on 10 years-ish of Elixir
Thank you for your work on adding user registration and authorization to Phoenix!

I'm setting up a new Phoenix app for a side project this weekend and have just run Arron Renner's auth generator[1]. Having user registration out of the box will save a big chunk of time and energy!

1: https://github.com/aaronrenner/phx_gen_auth

raytracer··on 14 nations commit to protect oceans
The Great Barrier Reef will continue to deteriorate until the problems of global warming and ocean acidification are resolved.

But these aren't the only problems the ocean is facing. Resolving other issues will help maintain the health of ocean ecosystems.

It's likely wishful thinking but possibly it will be harder to justify new coal mines etc if enough of these individual agreements are accepted. :shrug:

raytracer··on A Modern JavaScript Tutorial
Are you using types in your JS Doc comments? If so, that's not vanilla JavaScript.
raytracer··on California to Require All New Vehicles Be Zero-Emission by 2035
It's possible to actively support positive change at the same time as having little hope our collective actions will avert catastrophic climate change.
raytracer··on California to Require All New Vehicles Be Zero-Emission by 2035
Thanks for the summary.

> These are the good days.

Yep. I'm beginning to feel this is true. 2020 has been a crap year in many ways. But I expect 2020 will be one of the better years compared to what is coming.

raytracer··on Electronic music pioneer Simeon Coxe has died
+1 for Orca.

Orca is live coding environment / procedural music playground.

This video gives an overview of what it is. https://youtu.be/RaI_TuISSJE

raytracer··on Using Obsidian to manage goals, tasks, notes, and software dev knowledge base
> it creates some other kind of mental load:

I find it's actually the opposite. Writing things down means I can forget about whatever it is and focus on the task at hand.

> it's not as important as it seemed yesterday

This is a good thing in some situations. I generally write down ideas whenever they appear. Coming back to the ideas in days/weeks/months helps to provide some perspective. If it still looks like a good idea, it can be acted on.

Bad ideas can be discard or ignored.

It's a better outcome than spending a day getting side tracked only to wake up the next day to realise the idea was rubbish.

It doesn't hurt to have a backlog of things for those slow, inspiration free days either.

raytracer··on Using Obsidian to manage goals, tasks, notes, and software dev knowledge base
It does have a Zettelkasten mode but it's not enabled by default. Out of the box Obsidian is more like a wiki with markdown syntax.
raytracer··on Using Obsidian to manage goals, tasks, notes, and software dev knowledge base
Obsidian is basically a "markdown renderer + code coloring with some extra search and other features" too.

Notes in Obsidian are just regular markdown files that sit in a directory on your hard-drive. The notes can be version controlled with Git, synced with Dropbox, etc.

raytracer··on Firefox Relay protects your email address from hackers and spammers
Are there any downsides to using a service like this?
raytracer··on Most-streamed track of the day by country
> Also - one big difference - most 'good music' today is not very 'up' or 'hit' oriented.

+1. Pop music is just a genre. There is plenty of other new stuff out there. Just gotta put in the effort to find it and enjoy it.

raytracer··on Dwarf Fortress: An actual look at graphical improvements
Don't let Dwarf Fortress put you off ASCII graphic games if Dwarf Fortress is the first you've played. I tried DF a while back but didn't have the time available to get comfortable with it.

I found Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead much easier to get into. As a new Cataclysm DDA player I spent most of my time learning how to survive in the early days of a zombie apocalypse. Finding food, learning how to craft weapons, what the zombies are capable of.

In one game I found a large mansion in the woods. There were a few zombies inside but not too many to prevent me from clearing it out. I set up camp in one of the bedrooms. The mansion had loads of food, water, materials for crafting. Good times!

Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead https://cataclysmdda.org/

raytracer··on Ask HN: What to Choose for a side project? Vue, React, Angular?
React, it works well with Typescript and hooks are interesting to work with.
raytracer··on RaptorJIT 1.0: Lua implementation for high-perf low-level system programming
> no FPU.

How much of a hit does floating point math take? I have a desire to build some realtime audio tools.

raytracer··on Log driven programming (2013)
A couple of years ago I started using TODO:HIGH, TODO:MED and TODO:LOW.

TODO:HIGH is for things that need to be completed for the current feature or bug fix.

TODO:MED is for things that should be completed before the next public build.

TODO:LOW is for stuff that would be good to get done eventually. (A function is complete but doesn't read well so I'll add a note to refactor it at later date.)

When writing new code I try to get something up and running ASAP by filling in functionality with broad strokes. I'll go back and fill in the details once the larger picture is in place. With less code written, it's easier to refactor (or restart), if the design is not quite right.

Writing lots of TODOs helps ensure nothing gets forgotten about.

Picking an easy TODO from the backlog can be good way to warm up when starting the day too.

I'm used to working solo however. Not sure how this approach would go down on a team.

raytracer··on Show HN: Gurn – Use words, not bookmarks
Check out Keypirinha if this workflow looks appealing. http://keypirinha.com/

Alt+Space brings up an edit box. Then type to perform some action. Actions can be as simple as opening a bookmark or launching an application. (Keypirinha indexes the bookmarks in all installed browsers, the Windows start menu and a whole lot more.)

Keypirinha will be familiar to users of Launchy or Find And Run Robot. (But Keypirinha is better!)

Keypirinha is one of the first bits of software I install after installing Windows. I can't recommend it highly enough!

raytracer··on Luna 1.0 Beta is out
> It sounds like you’re looking for a nicer version of Max/MSP

Exactly. Max/MSP is great and I really want to like it, but despite making several attempts at using it in my practice, it hasn't stuck yet. Max doesn't have enough abstractions to make in depth development enjoyable IMHO. After a certain point I get bogged down and long for a regular programming language with an IDE. I'd probably enjoy Max more if I was comfortable in C.

Max's std lib is rich and it would hurt to start from scratch in another environment, but you don't need that many DSP modules to start building interesting patches. An LFO, filter, ADSR and an oscillator get's you a long way towards a usable synth. And there are many open source libraries to draw from.

raytracer··on Luna 1.0 Beta is out
This looks great. Congratulations on releasing the beta.

* Is it possible to work with incoming data in real time?

* Is it possible to use MIDI and audio as data sources?

* If so, can the applications also output MIDI and audio in real time?

raytracer··on Boost – Your personal advisor and career coach
Hi there, I'm in need of some career advice. Is there a way to skip the free trial?
raytracer··on Show HN: Zammad – Open Source ticket system
Great! I'll give it a go when the Vagrant box is ready. At the moment I'm providing support for a small product via email and it's getting old. I'm keen to switch to something better.
raytracer··on Obituary: Great Barrier Reef
Did you forget `/s`?
raytracer··on Biodiversity falls below ‘safe levels’ globally
> Sure, some nations have less than spectacular track records when it comes to being a good citizen of our planet

Does anyone have a good track record? Isn't utilizing natural resources to the detriment of the ecosystem as a whole a feature of human civilization?

raytracer··on Biodiversity falls below ‘safe levels’ globally
> why is biodiversity important?

Healthy ecosystems can better withstand and recover from a variety of disasters.

> Many cultures have merged in history to become nations we see today, but nobody misses the oh-so-glory days of a specific Northern German tribe in BC 500.

I assume certain indigenous people don't appreciate being conquered.

> I wonder if experiential diversity has increased.

Why do you suppose experiential diversity has increased?

raytracer··on Pills: A simple responsive CSS grid for humans
Looks good! How does the grid handle columns with different heights?