Alekhine

I don't think I even know what you mean by 'how computers really work'. Isn't the point of languages to create abstractions so I don't need to learn how a CPU works?

I understand why Haskell will never become the language of industry. Lazy evaluation, a hundred and one extensions, the fact you would need to retrain everybody... but I'm not really interested in that. Haskell is a place for ideas, not really practicality. This has been gone over time and again.

The reason I use Haskell for personal projects is because they all end up being very few lines of code compared to imperative versions, and it usually just works. For me that's enough benefit to learn it.

It would be nice if an ML language actually became popular at some point. But that won't be for a long time.

These games got me through very difficult times. When life felt impossible, Dark Souls felt doable. It was punishing at times, but it needed to be like that because life is like that. It would just be a waste of time otherwise.

It taught me a bit about despair, and how to overcome it.

Would also destroy forums.

Wait, if my phone is IPv6, then what does it mean that a site 'supports' v6? I can get on HN just fine.

Is that so wrong? Must everything we create be for the masses to consume?

I would recommend another Zachtronics game, EXAPUNKS. You write assembly in that game too.

Hacker culture actually has a strong writing tradition. In the 90s it was zines, now its blogs.

You can't always make modern tech as energy efficient as 'regressive' technology. There isn't always a magical solution that addresses all problems. In my opinion, low-tech solutions are often just simpler, while maybe lacking a bit of convenience.

Here's an example, the open source community has spent thousands of man hours developing various note-taking apps. And they're pretty good, usually. I could use something like Foam to manage my notes, learn to use the keyboard shortcuts, figure out how to sync it between my devices, learn every other little thing about it...

Or I could just use pen and paper. Which requires no electricity, no computer, is durable and does not have a learning curve to use.

If we get Jak 2, I'll die happy.

I'd like to build a raspberry pi based MAME machine for my college, but to get a box to actually put the machine in, its either a lot of time and effort to build one (I do not have woodworking skills, nor the desire to learn) or a lot of money to buy a shell, which I don't have. So it will likely stay a daydream.

It would be nice to see people playing together in the lounge, though.

That's a great game. I feel like my skills improved a bit playing it.

I'm learning Haskell right now with a textbook and the help of some friends. Would you like to join us?

It's the beginning of the sentence.

> AFAIK most jobs that would pay under what's enough to live on are entry level jobs usually carried out part-time by students.

This is a rosy view of things, but I don't believe its true. Walk into plenty of markets in poorer or even middle class areas and you will find older people doing these jobs out of necessity. I've seen 'entry level job' used very often as a way to exploit people with not much choice.

What have you learned from the book?

What worthwhile infosec stuff is on tor?

Minor correction, Endrift is a woman

What are you even talking about? Do you think the current discussion of class in the US comes from Wealth envy?

Infrastructure is crumbling. Wages are not keeping up with inflation. Employers have treated employees as their property. A hell of a lot of people can barely afford medical care.

And yet you're talking about how great it is we can rent a sports car for the weekend? And therefore we don't need to question the rich, who not only hoard resources but have a massive amount of influence over how our society is run? What?

This is why I think the priority for software will shift back towards performance in the coming decades. Even now very few people can get decent GPUs. Who knows if one day chips that can run the latest bloatware will be affordable?

I'm guessing you mean the collapse of society. Do you really think the social order is breaking down? Is what's happening now any worse than the 60s?

You work then. No one is saying you can't anymore. But don't try and force your lifestyle on the rest of us lazy people. I'd much rather do nothing all day but read some books and go for walks.

This is the part where I post that Eisenhower quote about how every bomb and plane is a hundred schools and hospitals that go unbuilt. In a time of huge inequality and degrading infrastructure, I take offense to the idea that hundreds of billions of dollar is a small amount when it could significantly improve the lives of an uncountable number of people.

Why are you writing dates with an extra zero in front?

It's a topic that attracts a lot of people who don't know much. Discussing the fine points of program architecture is hard and requires knowledge. Shilling your favorite language is fun and requires nothing more than faith.

Or in the case of Haskell, obvious superiority!! That was a joke. I'm still learning Haskell but it's a lot of fun.

One great reason to come to HN is that you can find a thread on any tech personality, and semi often they'll just show up in the comments.

This was a good essay. Covers the entire book perfectly. When I was 11 years old I asked my brother for a book to read, and he gave me this. I read it at summer camp. It was the first book that made me really and truly THINK.

And I found I liked thinking.

My issue with mastodon is that exploring servers means creating a bunch of accounts. That's kind of annoying. I still like and use Mastodon, but there it is.

People are lazy and would rather pay out the ass for a way out of their problems than actually change. Becoming a better programmer is difficult. Spending money on CI is easy.

What makes you think Rust will be out the door? None of those languages are as fast, while also being memory safe

This is extremely common for new open source software. You can find plenty of interesting projects only packaged for Arch and Nix, because packaging for those distros is extremely easy. It's just a matter of time and effort, and this is a volunteer project.