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spinlock_

60 karma · joined January 14, 2020

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spinlock_··on The maths you need to start understanding LLMs
Sure, I was talking about Andrej's "Zero to Hero" playlist:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAqhIrjkxbuWI23v9cThsA9Gv...

spinlock_··on The maths you need to start understanding LLMs
For me, working through Karpathy's video series (instead of just "watching" them) helped me tremendously to understand how LLMs work and gave me the confidence to read through more advanced material, if I feel like it. But to be honest, the knowledge I gained through his videos are already enough for me. It's kind of like learning how a CPU works in general and ignoring all the fancy optimization steps that I'm not interested in.

Thanks Andrej for the time and effort you put into your videos.

spinlock_··on A proof-of-concept neural brain implant providing speech
Don't forget the injection of ads for the basic subscription plan, Black Mirror S7/E1 vibes.
spinlock_··on YouTube No Translation
I noticed this "feature" after wondering why everyone was using "sie" instead of "du" while searching for reviews on reddit for a new graphics card I wanted to buy. This "shoving AI down your throat" is not just annoying, but also insulting and the accelerated enshittification of the web makes me sad. Thinking about "the good old days" also puts me in a state of nostalgia.
spinlock_··on I built an ADHD app with interactive coping tools, noise mixer and self-test
But why would it need to be subscription based?
spinlock_··on MCP is eating the world
I guess more like Blockchain.
spinlock_··on Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA
Into what? Though I have no illusions about any tech company, I trust Apple more than Samsung right now. It's all relative, not absolute.
spinlock_··on Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA
Thats why my Samsung TV has no internet access and I'm using Apple TV instead.
spinlock_··on Zelensky leaves White House after angry meeting
Man, as an European I have the hope that this utterly bizarre and embarassing spectacle yesterday is finally waking us up and we start taking our fate into our own hands. Personally, I would do without a lot of things instead of having to watch europe being paraded around by a narcissist.
spinlock_··on Zelensky leaves White House after angry meeting
Imho still better than relying on a bully.
spinlock_··on OpenAI Furious DeepSeek Might Have Stolen All the Data OpenAI Stole from Us
I don't agree. You don't have moat if you are offering the same quality for a higher price.
spinlock_··on Calculus Made Easy
The last couple of months, I have been studying the fundamentals of algebra using Professor Leonard's YT Channel[0]. My goal is to fill in the gaps in my knowledge before I refresh my Calculus. It takes a while to go through all this stuff, if you do it right. But man, I have so much more confidence in my skills now than I had before, which to me is in itself rewarding and motivating. I had no idea how big my knowledge gaps in algebra were before I started going through his playlists.

My end goal is to be able to follow Andrej Karpathy's "Neural Networks: Zero to Hero"[1] without any big problems So starting basically from "zero" in order to learn the prerequisites before learning what you actually want to learn on your own can feel daunting at times. But I think taking shortcuts will result in frustration. So, here I am taking algebra courses on YT with 38 years.

[0] https://youtube.com/@ProfessorLeonard?si=0kiGvmbZv4b9Sgf9

[1] https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAqhIrjkxbuWI23v9cThsA9Gv...

spinlock_··on High myopia is now the leading cause of blindness in Japan, China, and Taiwan
I started to see floaters this year. First, it scared the shit out of me, because I only have one healthy eye and starting to see this flying dots and strings was a really scary experience. It also was just really annoying.

After the ophthalmologist checked my eye, she said what I'm seeing is called "mouches volantes" and it's something that happens when people get older. I'm "only" 37 and don't have any problems with my eyesight, which makes me wonder what caused these floaters in my case.

Anyway, it's something I have to get used to. It only really is annoying on sunny days because then I can see them clearly floating around.

spinlock_··on Gordon Moore has died
Warren Buffett (92)
spinlock_··on Show HN: Former game devs building a platform showcasing game projects
A bit offtopic, but considering your approach, do you use a game engine ala Unity to create your games as fast as possible or do you create your own little engine?
spinlock_··on Tell HN: Happy Thanksgiving
Fully agree. Without HN, I wouldn't had read books like Code, Designing Data-Intensive Applications or Operating System: Three Easy Pieces (to name just a few). I'm usually a passive reader here, but I wanted to say thank you to all of you who share their knowledge and wisdom and therefore help me to learn new things on a (almost) daily basis.
spinlock_··on Ask HN: Alternative ways to make money with coding and system skills?
Thanks for link, I will have a look at it. Keep up the good work and all the best!
spinlock_··on Ask HN: Alternative ways to make money with coding and system skills?
Pretty cool, congrats! Can you recommend learning material about developing macOS apps with SwiftUI?
spinlock_··on Musk Issues Ultimatum to Staff: Commit to Hardcore Twitter or Take Severance
Well, it depends how strong the labor law is where you live.
spinlock_··on Blizzard has lost almost 29% of its overall active playerbase in three years
Not to mention the huge mess around WC3 reforged.
spinlock_··on I don't want to do front-end anymore
I recently got really into databases. However, coming from the "web dev world", I'm still struggling to decide whether the time invested is really worth it. From an educational point of view, it damn sure is. But in order to make a transition into this area professionally, I'm not sure given the low number of companies that are working in this area (worse here in Europe).
spinlock_··on Fast.ai releases new deep learning course, libraries, and book
Any recommendation on how to approach the course? Is it better to read the chapter in the book before you watch the lecture(s) covering the content of the chapter or vice versa?
spinlock_··on Do I need to go to university?
I think apart of what has been already said, it depends on the kind of person you are. I see people with and without a degree in CS that thrive and some that do the opposite. Personally, I have been working as a software developer for the last five years. And during that time I have had a couple of phases were I suffered from some kind of imposter syndrome. I have a master degree in International Business and hence lacked some fundamental CS skills (e.g. Algos, Compilers, Operating Systems). So during the last few years I worked my ass off to learn all this stuff, because every time I read something about software engineering and it mentioned any of these things I felt less value because I knew I don't have a CS degree. I also felt intimidated by some of these topics. So, I sat down and learnt all the stuff I thought I needed to know in order to feel better. Now, after going through this period of studying in order to get rid of this stupid imposter syndrome, I feel kind of burnt out. It's funny, because I finally have the self-confidence I was looking for during the last five years, yet I kind of lost the creativity and motivation that I need in order to enjoy what I'm doing.

So, I can only recommend to find out what kind of person you are. But tbh, even though I got a degree that is unrelated to CS, I'm glad I went to university. I would had been a very different person without that experience. And in the end of the day, you will have to work for a veeeery long time (well, at least that is the reality for the most of us). So, what are 3-5 years spent doing something that gives you the opportunity to experience stuff you won't be able to find at work (well, except for the sunk cost, but I reject to think about education in this way)?

spinlock_··on A crash course in compilers (2018)
I'm almost done with "Writing an interpreter in Go"[0] which I highly recommend. Even though it's less theoretical than the usual books in this area I learned a ton of practical stuff and a lot of things I "knew" from more theoretical sources make now much more sense. Looking forward to work through the second book of the series [1] which is aimed at compilers.

[0]:https://interpreterbook.com/

[1]: https://compilerbook.com/

spinlock_··on DevDegree: Work at Shopify and get a free CS degree in parallel
Yeah, I guess so too. Toby told in a podcast [0] that he finished an apprenticeship as "Fachinformatiker für Anwendungsentwicklung". Though it's not the same as "Duales Studium" (which gives you an academic degree while former doesn't) I guess this program was highly influenced by his experience. Though I'm asking myself if this kind of program is common in Canada or is Shopify doing something unique here?

[0]: https://fs.blog/tobi-lutke/

spinlock_··on 3D Buzz is shutting down
Man, that's really sad. I followed the progress of Jason's sickness on fb (he was posting about it pretty regularly) and it was really heart breaking to see how fuckin cancer chews you up and spits you out. I still have two of the Maya courses from 3DBuzz on DVD at home. Just a week ago I was throwing away all of my old CDs/DVDs but decided to keep them for nostalgia reasons. I guess it was a good decision.
spinlock_··on Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?
Thanks for the detailed response. Tbh that sounds pretty hard to me. I guess for people who can easily find a new job (e.g. tech) that might not be a big deal, but I feel sorry for all the people who don't have that luxury (e.g. unskilled blue-collar worker).
spinlock_··on Ask HN: What has your work taught you that other people don't realize?
Regarding the "ejector seat savings account", do I receive something like unemployment benefits when I quit my in the United States? If yes, does it matter whether I quit or was fired? Sorry if that question sounds naive, but from what I read here on HN I'm often not quite sure how the system works in the US.