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stevelaz

66 karma · joined March 29, 2010

[ my public key: https://keybase.io/stevelaz; my proof: https://keybase.io/stevelaz/sigs/L2E_rKgQTGLN0Zdd5yNRc71PKvDjfqw4_t30fAzlxPo ]
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stevelaz··on Web development in C: Crazy?
True that. I've written a few Web interfaces for embedded devices in C. That being said, I now try to use Lua along with C for projects of this type. It all really depends on memory and performance requirements.

I was once part of a team on a project that we wrote an embedded webserver that we compiled in all the html, images(converted to c arrays), css and js, into a single binary so that we wouldn't have to read from flash to load those resources for speed boost and less flash access.

I've learned now, that given the target hardware and resources, that wasn't really necessary...

stevelaz··on Compiling to Lua
Sure they could, someone just needs to write the compiler for it. There may already be a project that does this anyway. IMHO, the most challenging part of this would be that Lua doesn't have as many libs as Ruby and Python. So the compiler would have to do a lot more work rather than be just a syntax converter.
stevelaz··on DuckDuckGo Direct queries per day (28 day average)
Wow, that's good to see perl 'still' being used by someone that big. I didn't believe you to begin with but to quote the wikipedia article: "The search engine is written in Perl and runs on nginx, FreeBSD and Linux."
stevelaz··on CppCMS – High Performance C++ Web Framework
I couldn't agree more. Disclaimer, I work mostly in embedded systems. But, still. There's something to be said about being too quick to judge based on the language or tool used to accomplish the job. Every tool has its use and my guess is that plenty of people will use this.
stevelaz··on Qt 5.1 Released With Android and iOS Technology Previews
This is awesome. Congrats to the Qt team for a what looks like an excellent release! I can't wait to get my fingers dirty with this.
stevelaz··on PHP 5.5
Check out Lua Coroutines, here's a starter link: http://lua-users.org/wiki/CoroutinesTutorial
stevelaz··on Dear NSA, let me take care of your slides.
I would disagree with what you consider to be an insight. There are plenty of great architectures that don't have well designed slide shows to go with them. Come now, look at some of the old school web sites that hard core *nix hackers kept. An example would be the old Linux kernel website was a single text page. Sure, they've upgraded it in this past year, but it was a simple ugly site many years before that. If your argument about slide show vs arch is true, then Linux would have failed long ago.
stevelaz··on Show HN: I've used Go to build a daemon for the Raspberry Pi
+1 for you sir
stevelaz··on Show HN: I've used Go to build a daemon for the Raspberry Pi
Sounds like an awesome project! I'd definitely use this. Makes me want to order a Pi :)
stevelaz··on Show HN: I've used Go to build a daemon for the Raspberry Pi
Yes, of course C doesn't have all the bloat that comes with Go. But still, my question was about performance (as you noted). :)

LibCURL is used (along with a TON of other 3rd party C libs) in a bunch of systems securely. Writing C code isn't __always__ insecure. It all depends on the developer/team. Just like writing Java isn't always portable.

It seems like it's all about saving dev time these days. I was once pulled onto a project where some devs had used perl & python for an embedded system. They got a prototype system up pretty quickly, but performance just wasn't there and they were using WAY too much RAM/CPU based on what the system had to offer. They wasted many man-months trying to optimize their code. Eventually, they brought in some C devs and we rewrote in C and the system ran great. It turned out great for the Python/Perl devs too because they got to learn C and some of the benefits of using it.

Don't get me wrong. C doesn't fit all problems.

stevelaz··on Show HN: I've used Go to build a daemon for the Raspberry Pi
From my brief browsing of the code, it doesn't see to be tied to Raspberry Pi. Or if it is, it's probably very portable to other Linux systems.
stevelaz··on Show HN: I've used Go to build a daemon for the Raspberry Pi
I wonder what the binary size, resource utilization, and performance difference would be if this was written in C. How would Go match up against C for embedded platform dev? I mean small/real embedded systems... not Android/iPhone platforms.
stevelaz··on Show HN: My one month project, Statsgram.com: Website Optimization Tool
Good for you for concentrating on bug fixes BEFORE writing new code!

Congrats on the release and best of luck! :-)

stevelaz··on Security Notice: Linode Manager Password Reset
Oh! This is kind of a scary coincidence. Got to go check my credit card statement.

EDIT: All is good with my account.

stevelaz··on Top Coders Can Now Get Agents
:-). I lol'd at this
stevelaz··on Core, Simple, Launch
This is a great idea, pitching is something that a ton of us struggle with (even in written form). The more exposure and feedback we can get, the better off we'll end up. This almost seems like a place to just test your idea out, but I think this platform could serve for both idea testing and perfecting your pitch.

It's like code-reviews for pitches :)

By the way, the 'viewed' count increments for every page refresh, even when the same session/user is viewing it. I just thought I'd mention it. But hey, this could be a feature.

Best of luck!

stevelaz··on Build a Twilio Hard Phone with SIP from Twilio, Raspberry Pi, and Asterisk
True that, Tropo just needs a marketing team like Twillio has and the this would be more obvious to others...
stevelaz··on Rodney Mullen Interview, Slamtrick 2003 Italy
Link for the lazy: http://www.ted.com/talks/rodney_mullen_pop_an_ollie_and_inno...
stevelaz··on Rodney Mullen Interview, Slamtrick 2003 Italy
This is such a great point. It can be applied to any job/career. I think that being humble like that gives you a certain ability to see the bigger picture in things. We always get caught up with too many materialistic details.

I've heard extremely passionate programmers say things like "I don't ever want to see a computer again" or "I wish I could do something else, this sucks". But on the other hand, when you work with them and they're actually 'in it' and they're not distracted by external stresses, you see that they actually love it, and they wouldn't trade it for nothing.

stevelaz··on Song of GitHub
I second that :)
stevelaz··on Deconstructing K&R C (2010)
I'm SO glad Zed has pointed this out! I dislike code like this and I dislike it even more when people say K&R style is the best, it's classic, believe/follow the creators of the language!

Fu that.

It's error prone, just like Zed says. Add braces, don't be lazy, it makes the code flow easier on the eye.

IMO, In JS, it's painfully dangerous to be "too" clever as well.

Sometimes I like to think about it like so: Will someone else "with less skill than me" be able to follow this code after me? Then again, being human I sometimes fail to think this way :(.

stevelaz··on Jsmn, a minimalistic JSON parser in C
I saw json-parser. Looks good. I'm currently using YAJL for a project, but I'm open to switching to something faster/easier.

Have you done any performance tests against other C json parsers?

Thanks,

stevelaz··on Dealing with Wrist Pain
I've been fighting this on and off for years. I've come to the conclusion that whenever I become lazy my hands and neck and eventually my back hurts. Lazy, meaning that I don't stretch and take breaks often enough. Also more importantly exercising, it's is the biggest and best solution. I don't mean lifting weights/running, I'm talking about something like Yoga. Call it girly all you want, it does miracle work for lazy folks like us that spend way too much time in a chair.

As far as stretching goes, take a look at this: http://www.eatonhand.com/hw/ctexercise.htm and just google "wrist stretches for carpal tunnel" and you'll get plenty of useful results as well as video tutorials on youtube.

Keyboards, Mice... I've used pretty much all of them. I even went out and bought a ~$1k ergonomic chair, changed desks...etc.. I figured that if my career was in danger I would need to invest a significant amount of money to recover it so that I could continue to work. So I've probably spent hundreds in different mice and keyboards. Ergonomic devices and furniture are great, but they are a temporary solution. For long term results, just don't be lazy.

Do three things to help and get rid of wrist pain: 1. Take small breaks throughout the day (or find a Rob). 2. Exercise 3. Stretch. In my opinion, these help the most.

One note, if you're just starting to try and remedy your pain and you can't work at all, try switching the mouse to your left hand. This helps a ton and it'll only take you a bit to get used to it.

Hope this helps someone as much as it has me.

stevelaz··on The Amazon Kindle Cloud Reader is live
Woot! Finally, we can now read kindle books on Linux. Thanks amazon.
stevelaz··on Lincoln Assassination Eyewitness on 1956 Episode of I’ve Got a Secret
Ha! First thing I noticed as well...

By the way, am I the only one that thinks that this belongs on reddit instead of hn?

stevelaz··on Ask HN: How much recurring income do you generate, and from what?
It may just be my setup but on your http://www.bingocardcreator.com/expenses/expenses-pie-chart page the yellow text on the yellow background isn't even readable. Is it the same for the rest of you? Update: Looks like it rotates through colors for every refresh... So, if you refresh enough you can read all the sections of the pie chart.
stevelaz··on Ask HN: How much recurring income do you generate, and from what?
Yeah this is bad ass, the site looks awesome. Great job! I'd totally pay for this service.
stevelaz··on Startups Are Hard
Great read! It's great to hear some of the brutal truth about attempting to do what we all love to dream about but mostly FAIL at.
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