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rwnspaceon Ask HN: What technologies did you learn in 2018?

I am still in my first year of programming and Rust is my first systems language. I don't know C++, just enough for 'gists'. I had already read/skimmed Computer Organisation and Design: RISC-V, and Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces. I worked through 'The 2018 Rust Book' at a fairly decent clip as a result of that context. I reckon that mostly sidesteps the 'help/hinder' tradeoff, though I'm not humble in saying it took a fair bit of dedication (maybe more than simply learning C++ fundamentals).

Edit: actually I'm well into my second year of programming now, time flies...

rwnspaceon Ask HN: What did you learn in 2018?

Nah, it turns out opportunities for Python + first job in the UK are somewhat rare, especially as I don't have a completed degree. If you don't live in London, C#/.NET or JS + a framework make up 90% of opportunities. Of course, just learning the right language isn't how it works, and it took me a while to take that on board.

> It's harder to focus on learning a single thing perfectly with all the noise out there

Preach! I've definitely flipflopped languages and target positions based on a combination of reading posts here (and on Reddit), and a few damning/exciting articles or blog posts - not that I'd admit that at the time. I continue to seriously consider various levels of disconnection from the web, from blocking a couple of sites, to editing my hosts file, to using my routers child-blocking settings (block device by time, website etc)...

rwnspaceon Ask HN: What did you learn in 2018?

I planned to go from beginner Python to employed developer. Went a bit off track and learned the basics of lots and lots of languages. Kept switching the domains I wanted to work in.

I studied a fair bit of CS, but in a fairly shallow way (it's been a decade since my last maths lesson).

This year I proved to myself I could learn lots - next year is proving I can do the same, just in one or two things!

rwnspaceon What is your least popular but deeply held opinion on personal productivity?

A) You have always done whatever you wanted to do. You get a say in which voice/urge most constitutes 'you'. The more you veto, and the more you can distinguish the urges, the more of a say you get. Everything else is fluff.

B) The productivity industry is a total sham and a net drain on productivity. It's mostly social manipulation. The industry takes attention away from the things productivity is a side effect of, such as level of control, overall health, and level of insight into oneself. This is partially due to -

C) All texts/advice/systems put minor spins on a couple of templates, and most of the good ones steal from Marcus Aurelius. Whichever flavour of system fits the fashion of the day the best becomes 'the best' because reasons.

D) The definition of 'productive' is so absurdly narrow and restricted in the late-capitalist hegemony as to render most of humanity utterly useless. Clearly, they're not [1]. It's more about raising members of a certain class with a certain personality profile [2] up to the status of a golden cow.

[1] for example, parenting is a fairly productive activity.

[2] that is, two things we're lucky to be able to change a lot about.

rwnspaceon A blogging style guide

I think the "quickly" in your quote is the crux for me. I'm quite happy to read a paragraph or so of anecdata that provides a useful or motivating analogy/story.

OTOH, if your article is 3k words, I'll be gone if your 'relatable hook' appears to be a third of the article. Weave it in, be didactic!

rwnspaceon Ask HN: Is Atom now dead in the water?

That was recorded in April, here are some more recent of Bryan's thoughts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efxJuvwgHu8

I would like to read a convincing account of how M$ would extend and extinguish the Linux kernel (or GNU userland for that matter). All I can imagine they care about is a) making sure Azure succeeds and b) getting users on monthly subscriptions for everything.

It's not that I don't believe the latter 2 of the 3 E's aren't plausible, I just haven't read a convincing account of what they could feasibly be and why M$ would have that incentive beyond spite. Satya Nadella seems like a paragon of neo-liberalism (everybody should be nice and get along, just let us maximise profits).

rwnspaceon Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression

I do quite like hckrnews, though there's still not enough of a disconnect for me. The comment section is too juicy. I'm probably going to symlink the output of the script as a source for $HOME/.newsboat/urls [1]

[1] https://newsboat.org/

rwnspaceon Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression

I've deleted all my social media accounts besides Reddit and HN. The only thing that's stopping me from visiting these two is addiction. I don't read the news, mostly, why bother? It does much more harm than good. You don't need 1000 hrs of newsreading to vote effectively.

My next step is to make a personal website with some contact details and a scraper script for the links in the HN top 30-40 that I can run as a cronjob.

While cutting social media is not a panacea, I have found a significant improvement in the amount of free time I have, and I don't compulsively think about what other people are doing.

It's a good exercise to assume that engagement in social media is work and multiply how many hours you've sunk into it by your usual hourly wage...

rwnspaceon Philosophy Has Made Plenty of Progress

Regarding your quote of Joscha Bach, I wonder what we make of Executive Function disorders (ADHD) and their relationship to free will. Particularly, I wonder if philosophers with executive function disorders are more likely to prefer determinism...

rwnspaceon Self-solving Rubik's Cube

So it moves while self-solving. If the movement is regular, how about an effort to solve associated 'maze puzzles' with scrambles? It would be neat to see solutions with isomorphic paths.

rwnspaceon Ask HN: How to transition from academic programming to software engineering?

Being charitable, you could say at least part of the former are experiencing confirmation bias - that they enjoyed reading a different take on their existing knowledge - and cannot be arbiters of whether the book imparts anything useful to those without that knowledge.

rwnspaceon How and Why Silicon Valley Gets High

Agreed, I was hoping for something a bit more substantive. The following podcast episode with Cole Marta is what turned me on to learning more about research into Ketamine and MDMA.

http://www.duncantrussell.com/episodes/2016/9/14/dr-cole-mar...

rwnspaceon Suicidal Vet Calls MDMA Treatment ‘a Miracle'

I meant that you're in no position to cast judgement on the guys dosage on his first use, especially since you have no idea whether he got very high purity stuff from the dark web or a crushed-up pill, or any idea at all really: and I bet that if you're taking such high doses, half of it is likely speed.

I can't believe I'm saying this on HN, looks like it's finally just another subreddit: I have plenty experience, sure.

rwnspaceon The Hacker News Habit

> But over the years, I feel like HN becoming less and less valuable for me. I feel like I am wasting a lot of time here these days. Maybe HN has changed. Maybe I have changed. Maybe I just know a lot more about startups and webdev so there are diminishing returns. It's becoming more and more like addiction.

A good rule of thumb -- if you feel like you might be addicted, you probably are.

> I'm wondering what the solution is. I tried blocking HN in my host file, but I found worse ways to waste my time on the internet. Maybe a reading later app is it, but I doubt it.

I've struggled with this an extreme amount over the years (on Reddit and here and so on). The most successful strategy so far is to partition my hard drive and install several different Linux distributions, each with different purposes (currently NixOS: work, Deepin: casual browsing, OpenELEC: watching stuff). I've different emails, firefox signins and so on. It can be irritating, but sometimes you just want that. Getting pissed off - I mean really, really pissed off - about being influenced by websites which optimise for stealing neurons can be very useful.

rwnspaceon Suicidal Vet Calls MDMA Treatment ‘a Miracle'

I would suggest the quality of the drug matters far more than the digestive system. And that the difference between first-time experience and hundredth-time (which I don't think is a particularly healthy number of times to hit) is quite large.

rwnspaceon Ask HN: How can I prepare for a coding interview in a week?

I'm not a programming professional, but as I understand it: you study for interviews because the biggest tech companies used to ask difficult data structure & algorithms-based questions, plus some difficult/tricky questions which require a particular style of thinking. Now nearly everyone does it, and YouTube and textbooks offer lots of help... Which has started an 'arms race' in knowledge about DS&A and answers to tricky problems between interviewers and interviewees.

At some point I think it was intended to be like a 'coding-oriented IQ test', after you'd passed a set of HR checkboxes. Obviously an IQ test you study carefully for is not a broadly applicable measure of relative performance. As far as I understand, many of the top companies are shifting away from this interview paradigm, but it'll take the rest of the industry which adopted it a long time to catch up (I imagine).

rwnspaceon Salt not as damaging to health as previously thought, says study

Agreed, it is useful, certainly. But it's not to be wielded without subtlety: notably in your quote the use of 'imo' and 'in many cases'. Anyway, apologies for the terseness. My gripe is just when it is used as a magic omnibullet in discussions about 'what is science?'.

rwnspaceon Salt not as damaging to health as previously thought, says study

Good job Popper's falsifiability is flawed then; else evolution is not science.

rwnspaceon Behemoth, bully, thief: how the English language is taking over the planet

Hm, I also seem to remember that German has a thinner dictionary. I suspect that lemmas in German are difficult to count, as there are so many compound words. Apart from the joy of teasing fellow Britons for their stupidity, I don't see why an average German adult should recognise 40% more lemmas when the languages are so related.

rwnspaceon Google Books and the open web

Jaron Lanier has good things to say in this space. I for one would happily pay a small amount per month for an adequate search platform, or a fraction of a penny per search, say. I'm sick of my interactions with the web (and other people) being shaped by stupid algorithms. There never was a free lunch: now let me pay for it!

rwnspaceon If Videogames and Apps Are Addictive, Should Designers Worry about Liability?

Question: is the absolute number of high-quality games released every year going up or down? It's blatant that the average quality has been on a downhill trend since the advent of mobile gaming. But, are many pay-to-win games also good as works of art? Or just good drugs?

I have a feeling the power of contrast is at work, though I'm not really 'into' gaming enough to bring much evidence to bear.

rwnspaceon Learn C and Build Your Own Lisp (2014)

That's a question that doesn't have any really good answer, right? Unless you're looking for someone to say 'yes, unconditionally' or 'actually [x] requires masters-level+ mathematics'.

I'm self-studying and have been working through 'the Dragon book', regarding compilers. I like Lisp due to beginning my learning with HtDP and SICP, and the functional paradigm appeals to me. I'm just beginning K&R C, and Kernighan's Unix Programming Environment. Naturally I'm really excited to find this here so I'll definitely be working through it.

Were I more concerned about ticking boxes on my CV for the person in HR then I probably wouldn't bother.

rwnspaceon Should every programmer learn C as their first programming language?

I'm self-teaching in my late 20s after dropping out of a philosophy degree several times in a row. I hope you'll permit me to rant a bit, it's related to your comment and the article: the sheer amount of jank is absolutely unbelievable. The vast majority of it is written with selfish careerism in mind, not generous pedagogy. Much of it is vapourware advertisement for a paid course. Plenty of it ends up on the front page here nowadays which is a bit of a shame. Related: https://meaningness.com/geeks-mops-sociopaths

I've wasted about 6 months on distractions from following fashions and persuasive writing/videos, and now know a little bit of a bunch of popular languages and some CS and IT and already feel a bit burned out (as I'm stretched in so many directions - sorry for the mixed metaphor!).

In the past couple of weeks I've nuked my windows installation and have an Arch+i3 setup where I try to use CLI wherever I can. I've limited myself to following CS61A (the famous SICP course), HtDP, and I leaf through a book I have on Rust, typing out examples and steeping my brain in healthy confusion. The difference in my rate of learning is astounding: not because I'm suddenly better at research, but because I'm better at filtering. What an age to live in!

rwnspaceon Is There a Smarter Path to Artificial Intelligence? Some Experts Hope So

>In principle, First Order Logic and equivalent languages can represent anything that can be represented in natural language

If you include a semantics for supervaluationism (Sorites paradox, Keefe on vagueness)!

Thinking of it, I'd love to train a NN against human responses to '"is this a heap, yes/no?" +/-1 grain, repeat'.

rwnspaceon New deep learning technique solves Rubik's Cube without assistance

Interesting how the solver preferred to build a 2x2x2 block and then match/solve pairs until it could then apply ABA' sequences (commutators in cubing parlance). Very reminiscent of something between Lars Petrus' and Ryan Heise's method. There's a more rigid version called Tripod.

As an avid speedcuber I'd be very interested in the datasets.

rwnspaceon Building a YouTube MP3 Downloader with Exodus, FFmpeg, and AWS Lambda

I'm pretty sure there are a few ways to do this: try inspecting the html of the page, you can find an xml url there. There used to be an 'export to rss' option buried somewhere in the sidebar, don't remember if that still works. On mobile so can't verify.

In regards to algorithmic hooks (nice shorthand, I'm borrowing that), there are various extensions available on the major browsers which block comments, the sidebar, videos loading in the player at the end of the video, etc.

I am finally quite happy with my defence kit, I should write about it somewhere. /r/nosurf has plenty of tips anyway.

rwnspaceon Ask HN: What do you believe that most people don't?

One component of the 'gamers are lazy' stereotype probably comes from the fact that most of the people authoring that opinion are the gamers' parents; who'll just perceive it in the way they will. They are also the generation which like to hear their opinions reflected in prime-time news, which gladly obliges.

Gaming is ubiquitous, in another decade I imagine that attitude will be on the way out.

Those are the obvious points though, I think it's more interesting to think about how the mechanical and repetitive aspects of gaming replace a naive, deep drive for precise actions which demand focus and skill, and move chaotic or unordered things towards some goal. In the 20thC that was probably fixing cars or working in a factory or building stuff. Good ways for satisfying the drive, if you have it.

And in a nice continuation of this relationship, the more that AI replaces work, the more I think leisure, work and gaming will coincide. Many gaming environments are good examples of behavioural economics in action: incentives, rewards, how changes to game balance (even perceived changes to balance) or the price/availability of cosmetics nudge or shove player behaviour... We could stab guesses at how to implement these patterns in a way that considers them economic activity.

I don't think gaming necessarily has to be 'better' than life for it to take up a great deal of it. It just has to have the right kinds of 'APIs' to satisfy that messy, obsessive, predatory/reward-loop hunger which appears in most men and plenty of women.

My central thesis is that a couple of decades leads us basically to the Matrix (though I'm hoping for a sunnier version).

rwnspaceon UK ISPs have to stop lying about broadband speeds

https://www.dslchecker.bt.com/

About as accurate as you'll ever get.

rwnspaceon Ask HN: Which non-programming books are a beneficial read for programmers?

https://meaningness.com/

rwnspaceon Ask HN: Which non-programming books are a beneficial read for programmers?

I think there's plenty useful to meditate on in the Tractatus, 6.0+ has most of the exciting stuff but it's worth working through to get there.

But at the same time I totally get what you mean.