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mtm

311 karma · joined June 12, 2009

disc golf playing hacker

mmiller@6502studios.com

[ my public key: https://keybase.io/forthdude; my proof: https://keybase.io/forthdude/sigs/GGBTbifvpt3kes9CDJsZL2N5TYxBFKlewtzGygbBeNw ]

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mtm··on Ask HN: Has anyone started over outside of tech?
On the job training. Entry level pin setter mechanic training is fairly basic (Lock out tag out procedures, basic machine operations, simple trouble call resolutions (ball returns, re-spotting pins, that sort of thing)). Usually you'll be working with a full mechanic, learning how to do various repairs and preventive maintenance on the machines.

I'm working with the Brunswick A2 machines. Here's a link to the service manual if you're curious what these machines are like (PDF): https://brunswickbowling.com/uploads/document-library/Servic...

mtm··on Ask HN: Has anyone started over outside of tech?
After working full time in a wide variety of tech since 1983 (embedded systems work on medical equipment and commercial fire alarm systems, hotel reservation systems, ramp and fuel delivery systems in aviation, multiple startups in Silicon Valley, etc, ad naseum) I’m currently taking a break and working as a pin setter mechanic at a couple of local bowling alleys. The work is physical (running up and down the back of the 40 and 64 lane alleys, climbing up on the machines) and challenging in its own way: the machines were designed in the 50s and are a complex assortment of pulleys, belts, gears, cams, levers, etc. There is even a mechanical “computer” that acts as a state machine directing the operations of the machine. I still get to use my problem solving skills but in a much more tactile way. Also, no pointless meetings, conference calls. Downside: the pay is terrible. Fortunately I’m in a position in my life where that is not nearly as important as it used to be.
mtm··on Literate programming is much more than just commenting code
One of my favorite examples of a literate-style program is "cl-6502, A Readable CPU Emulator" by Brit Butler
mtm··on The BYTE magazine covers by Robert Tinney
Yep, I got the FORTH cover a few years ago, looks great:

https://x0r.be/@mtm/106310373200174194

mtm··on Intuit to share payroll data from 1.4M small businesses with Equifax
https://plaintextaccounting.org

Not sure about receipt scanning though.

mtm··on Watchy: Hackable $50 Smartwatch
Regarding the "camera viewfinder remote view thingy" I've used it to:

* point my phone at a TV while I aligned an outside VHF antenna

* point my phone at a security flood while I figured out which breaker in the garage controlled it

mtm··on The Framework Laptop
Any plans to support movable keycaps? I'd love to actually have the physical keys match my Colemak layout
mtm··on The benefits of note-taking by hand
I'm hoping the ReMarkable 2 closes that gap even further.
mtm··on Germany plans to dim lights at night to save insects
I've added mini-clover to my back yard. It's only been 2 months but the yard is already much healthier.
mtm··on Show HN: Quill – Messaging for teams that focus
Will there be a RESTish API available? Or really any well-documented API.

Will Quill play nice with federated systems?

mtm··on Basics of Compiler Design (2000) [pdf]
Instaparse is excellent (https://github.com/engelberg/instaparse) if you are using Clojure
mtm··on Everything I googled in a week as a professional software engineer
how about like this:

# cp [existing-thing] [new-thing]

# mv [existing-thing] [new-thing]

# ln -s [existing-thing] [new-thing]

mtm··on USAF Is Jamming GPS in Western U.S. For Largest Ever Red Flag Air War Exercise
Interesting, I’m doing the same but using WWVB 60khz radio signal for my time source
mtm··on Insomnia REST Client
I've always been partial to 'restclient-mode': https://github.com/pashky/restclient.el

So nice to capture a flow of commands and notes in a single plain text file

mtm··on “It is never a compiler error”
I was a user of a very early version of Zortech C++ (one of the first native C++ compilers (late '80s); no running through cfront) and ran into a very subtle bug in the math routines: sometimes when doing math with 8 bit values the answers would be corrupted. Took a while for me to track down the bug but I eventually found it in the assembly output. Turns out that the math was actually being done with 16 bit registers and the high byte (AH) was not being cleared and this would sometimes set a carry (I think, my memory is fuzzy on the details).

Walter was quick with a fix. Sometimes it is the compiler, but usually it's not.

mtm··on Energy Efficiency Across Programming Languages
A real shame that Forth wasn't included in the tested languages. Chuck Moore has been an advocate for more energy efficient computation for a while now.
mtm··on Ferret – A free software Clojure implementation
It seems well thought out:

* malloc/free (ref counting GC)

* memory pooling (no heap, stack-based for memory constrained systems)

* third party allocators

* third party GC

Details here: http://ferret-lang.org/#sec-4-2

mtm··on The Loyal Engineers Steering NASA’s Voyager Probes Across the Universe
I'd also highly recommend "NASA Voyager 1 & 2 Owners' Workshop Manual" https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/0857337750

It goes into amazing detail on the history of the spacecraft and the events that made it possible. For example: the story of an intern figuring out the '3 body' problem and, from there, the concept of 'gravity assist' gave me goosebumps

mtm··on Monospaced Programming Fonts with Ligatures
For github I crafted together this little bookmarklet to ignore whitespace on diffs (use it daily for our code reviews):

javascript:(function()%7Bopen(location.href+'?w=1');%7D)();void(0);

mtm··on GNU Guix and GuixSD 0.13.0 released
I just installed GuixSD 0.12 last week on a Dell 13 7000. Went mostly smoothly (had to use Grub BIOS instead of UEFI, that's been fixed in 0.13) after I replaced the Intel WiFi card with an Atheros based one.

My needs are simple: emacs, Clojure (with Icedtea), Icecat and StumpWM. Plus all the guile goodness!

Just realized I'm living in a system with four Lisps front and center (guile, Common Lisp, elisp, and Clojure)

mtm··on America’s Cars Are Getting Faster and More Efficient
Actually, assuming about 2000 RPM at 60 mph in a 4 cylinder car you are getting more like 17 detonations/second
mtm··on Software Developers after 40, 50 and 60 Who're Still Coding
52 and I started with a KIM-1, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KIM-1 (mowed lawns to save up for it, still have it, still works). Been programming ever since and rarely use SO (most of the time I just read the code when I'm trying to grock some aspect of a library.)
mtm··on Don't Give Up on the Guitar, Fender Is Begging You
Perhaps something like the Eigenharp (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eigenharp) with some tweaked software.
mtm··on Ask HN: What small websites do you frequently use/visit?
https://pinboard.in - an awesome bookmarking service
mtm··on Pilot aims to fly super glider to the edge of space
There's a great podcast where Einar Enevoldson talks about the Perlan Project: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/airplane-geeks-podcast-podca...

He goes into some detail about how they have to design around the low Reynolds numbers at that altitude and other esoterica, very interesting.

mtm··on Show HN: Opp.io – Meeting Minutes Made Useful
I really like the "markdown" aspect of this.

Trello and Hipchat integration would be awesome (actually, how about a nice plugin system or a way to fire off REST calls (and receive them as well))

mtm··on SpaceX Soft Lands Falcon 9 Rocket First Stage
Elizabeth Holmes is taking a stab at it: http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2024121844_v...
mtm··on Be Nice Or Leave
I think you the word you're looking for is 'sincerity'
mtm··on Data Visualization with JavaScript without D3
Just a caveat: we were using Highcharts for a prototype data analysis tool with sensitive data; unbeknownst to us, the export/print feature builtin to Highcharts actually ships the data back to highcharts.com to be rendered into the final output. Big no-no with the data we were dealing with, we ended up having to disable that feature.
mtm··on What is the best comment in source code you have ever encountered? (2011)
Late one night in the early '80s I was bored and found myself paging through the code for WordStar (best I can remember) with 'ddt' on my Kaypro. Just page after page of Z80 disassembly and blocks of data… when suddenly I came across the words:

   "Nosy, aren't you?"
In my sleep addled state that was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen.
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