archfrog · HackerTrans

3개월 전discuss

Very apt headline, IMHO.

I have been an ardent opponent of AI since it came up a few years back. I refuse to vibe code and I refuse to let AI think for me. I won't be an AI controller.

However, two days ago I found a nice, personal use case for AI: Advanced writing checks (grammar checks, mostly, and some rewordings) in Word using a rather expensive app.

I write a lot of US English, despite it not being my native language, and AI is now helping me to write much better than I did before. Also, I discovered that I am much worse at writing Danish than I was believing. In fact, I think I am better at writing US English than at Danish, that's a bit surprising as I am a Dane.

No AI was used during the writing of this entry, but I dearly love the writing tool already! I have heard similar stories from friends who say that AI is very good at summarizing long documents and stuff like that.

So, I personally think that AI CAN elevate one's thinking. I am learning more about Danish and US English grammar every day, now, than I did during a decade before. Writing is suddenly so fun because it involves growing my skills.

archfrog

2년 전discuss

Tiny suggestion, possibly without merit (no comments or email in the article):

Use ULEB64 encoding instead of RAW unsigned 64-bit fields for STRING lengths.

ULEB64 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LEB128) is a simple encoding where the 7th bit is used to show if there are more bytes following. So, lengths less than 128 can be encoded in one byte and so forth.

I doubt the protocol will routinely send lengths that are more than, say, four gigabytes. The longest ULEB64 number is eleven bytes, as far as I recall.

Other than that, I know nothing about the ancestors of the proposed protocol and thus cannot comment.

archfrog

2년 전discuss

You can disable the "commercial usage detected" haressments easily enough:

    https://anydesk.com/en/whitelist-request

archfrog

2년 전discuss

I agree fully with you. AnyDesk is pretty cool and mostly works well.

There's a small trick you can use: Run but don't install AnyDesk, that way it won't install its services and so on.

Simply don't ever click on the "Install" button in the app.

archfrog

3년 전discuss

Is it me or is there a bug with pointers on the bottom of http://www.pjhutchison.org/tutorial/pointers.html?

The author uses this code to dereference a pointer to a structure member:

    engine = *myvehicle->enginesize;

Unless I've forgotten 30 years of C experience, I'd expect this to be:

    engine = myvehicle->enginesize;

But it could be some peculiarity in the Amiga compiler.

Now I just wish I had the money to buy an Amiga when I was a kid :-)

archfrog

3년 전discuss

I don't want to be toxic but why make a function to cast a char to an int? I was astounded when I briefly skimmed through the list. I hope this is not curriculum in education.

archfrog

3년 전discuss

Okay, sorry, I misunderstood you :-)

As a matter of fact, I think it is a shame that so few support ReactOS. The idea is grand and think about how many resources people are willing to invest into using, say, Linux as an alternative to Windows (I love Linux, by the way): If those resources were spent on ReactOS, the project would be flying in 5-10 years or so. Then we could perhaps have a well-designed, compatible, free "Windows".

archfrog

3년 전discuss

In a way, yes. But I left because I could see no future for the project due to the fact that I could format my system partition without getting warning and other similar issues. I have to say that I wasn't a coder or anything, only invited to test. And I quickly felt that there was no way this thing could be made to fly.

I admire the people behind ReactOS for their perseverance, I really wish I had just 1/10th of what they have.

archfrog

3년 전discuss

I agree to that. I probably should have used the word "deliver" instead of the phrase "compete with Microsoft".

archfrog

3년 전discuss

You should check your attitude. I didn't offend you, so don't offend me.

archfrog

3년 전discuss

I was invited to join the ReactOS project about 10-12 years ago. I was part of it for, say, four days, then I left. I realized I could format my system drive with no warning or error. Then did a code review and realized that this project will never fly. I appreciate the motivation and goals, but I don't think you'll ever see a usable release of ReactOS. I am not against ReactOS, but the guys have way too few resources to ever be able to compete against Microsoft.

archfrog

3년 전discuss

As a language purist, I'm slightly saddened by the removal of the colon to indicate the beginning of an indented block on the next line.

I believe Cobra did the same and it always bogs my mind why that darned colon can't be left in peace. When you are reading line N, you already know that the next line will be indented, if there is a colon, that is. It is all about making the reading experience as pleasant and meaningful as possible.

Other than that: don't mind my gripes and congrats with the project. It looks good! :-)

archfrog

3년 전discuss

Three cheers!!!

So fine with new and actually improved technologies instead of the many GUI rehashes that some companies make money off delivering all the time.

I don't often use SVG, and am by no means an expert on it, but I dislike the experience every time. Like having to edit an .SVG file to fix a wrong displacement that places it a bit too far down. Trial and error, trial and error, until you randomly hit the spot that makes the thing begin to behave.

I think TVG popularity boils down to browser support and nothing else. I hope somebody with the skills picks up the task of integrating it into Chromium, then the rest of the world will bend and bow quickly.

Also, one might hope that a freeware GUI editor will see the light in not too long.

Perhaps the authors should do a new single-protocol Mail/Calendar/Contacts/Notes/etc. standard as well? I recall IMAP being a horribly clumsy and complex protocol, and didn't Einstein say:

   Make it as simple as you can, but not simpler!

archfrog

3년 전discuss

1. Hype over Rust. 2. Pragmatism because of the many complexities with imperative programming and multi-tasking in a more and more multi-core world. 3. Hype over Rust.

:-)

I personally find Rust so ugly that I refuse to learn it. I don't understand why things like "let mut" are even allowed to exist. Why not simply "create" or "var" for "let mut" and "define" or "def" for "let"?

I am not trying to start a flame war, rather I believe I'm documenting my own ignorance of Rust, the language which I believe you are subtly referring to. I tend to learn languages from an aesthetic angle: If they look beautiful and practical to me (like Python with type annotations), I learn them. Otherwise I steer clear of them while waiting for the world to become ecstatic over them and cool down again a few decades later.