sehugg

Another related question: Is there any production software system so inefficient that it would run faster if implemented in machine language on the AGC

I ran Node with --print-opt-code and had Opus look at Turbofan's output. It was able to add comments to the JIT'ed code and give suggestions on how to improve the JavaScript for better optimization.

I've implemented Atari 2600 library support for both LLVM-MOS and CC65, but there are too many compromises to make it suitable for writing a game.

The lack of RAM is a major factor; stack usage must be kept to a minimum and you can forget any kind of heap. RAM can be extended with a special mapper, but due to the lack of a R/W pin on the cartridge, reads and writes use different address ranges, and C does not handle this without a hacky macro solution.

Not to mention the timing constraints with 2600 display kernels and page-crossing limitations, bank switching, inefficient pointer chasing, etc. etc. My intuition is you'd need a SMT solver to write a language that compiles for this system without needing inline assembly.

I've worked on and off on my own personal system which leaves the filesystem stuff to filesystems, and focuses on verifying backups/mirrors and recursing into archive formats. Also interested in warning of near-obsolete formats, like my collection of RealAudio files that are hard to decode these days.

You can put a small ROM on your board with diodes, for example to store bitmaps, and for style points you can even arrange the diodes in the shape of your bitmaps: https://technologizer.com/2011/12/11/computer-space-and-the-...

Does RSS count? I've appreciated having NetNewsWire and its iCloud sync. Having no urge/obligation to comment or retoot is a different experience.

I used FreeBSD as my daily desktop for a while in the 2000s. IIRC, the package manager had to compile each package from source, but that wasn't a huge deal. Things just worked in a non-overly-clever fashion.

My 8-bit IDE lets you share your ROM as a lzg/b64-encoded URL. Things get dicey when you go above 2000 characters or so.

I use "aider --commit" sometimes when I can't think of a comment. I often have to edit it because it's too general or it overstates the impact (e.g. "improved the foo", are you sure you improved the foo?) but that's not limited to local models. I like gemma3:12b or qwen2.5-coder:14b, not much luck with reasoning models.

Even easier is the 1-bit DPCM codec used on the NES. Go up or down one step each sample depending on the next bit. You can't get a square wave out of it, only a triangle, but it has a nostalgic quality.

I guess whichever has the most parseable format and plays nice with virtual printer drivers. And when sharing a spreadsheet with someone, you can share the entire spreadsheet application software, no incompatibilities :)

Sometimes I wonder if instead of struggling with office suites, I'd be better off running VisiCalc in an emulator. Low memory usage, high portability, and you know they're not going to change the UI on you.

There were/are some horrible bugs with Reduce Transparency mode in iOS 26, let's hope this new mode gets added to the fully-tested set of configurations.

Spritemate is built with TypeScript + Vite + JQuery, and has a pretty organized structure: https://github.com/Esshahn/spritemate (I do not condone its use of the 'any' type everywhere tho)

I wouldn't use JQuery for a new project, as you can do almost everything it does with straight DOM manipulation. But there are still some strategic vanilla JS/TS packages that come in handy, e.g. clipboard, mousetrap, file-saver, split.js.

Web Components with Lit is kinda fun, though you'll have to deal with DOM shadow roots or disable them.

I would challenge that using a framework leads to less security. In vanilla JS you've got to use something like dompurify religiously to avoid XSS bugs, and you're tempted by the shiny candy-like innerHTML attribute.

You mean in 2025 someone is getting paid in their job to mess with x86 segment registers? I'd do that stuff for free.

Very cool, I wish the blogs on his site supported RSS like his Reasons to be Cheerful blog.

Haha, yeah this kind of stuff made HTTP long polling requests over mobile pretty fun. IIRC, we ran HTTP over IMAP and POP3 ports for cases where port 80 was unreliable.

Hopefully the "+" is the thing causing the periodic skipping when I stream music via AirPlay from my Mac's SSD to my TV.

My least favorite animation is in Mobile Safari, when you tap the search bar and it expands and brings up the controls at the bottom. There's a sort of shiny sweep transition from top to bottom, but it's distracting and it's not obvious why it exists. I assume it's to highlight the bottom control bar, but that's just a guess.

I also notice that CarPlay has more contrast now, and not much Liquid Glass. Kinda telling.

Last time I played a well-maintained Asteroids cabinet, bullets had obvious bloom, but I was surprised to not see a trail. There wasn't any noticeable bloom or trails on the other objects. I believe the arcade monitors have fast decay phosphor like in regular TV sets, so any trail would come from persistence of vision, probably due to the brightness of the bullet.

I'm not sure about the Vectrex CRT, it may have longer persistence phosphor.

My VanillaTS project has been working well for the last six years. The most painful part was when I moved everything to esbuild w/ async imports (and ES2017 modules) but now I don't even think about it. npm audit gets kinda mad though.

On the Vectrex you could only draw lines between 256 x 256 grid points, so in theory 800 x 600 with antialiasing would be enough. But dunno if it would have the same contrast, OLED is as good as you can get I guess.

AliExpress has these 4-inch "flat CRTs" that look like they scan the vertical axis onto a sort of parabolic screen. I've thought about playing with one, but decided I don't want to risk shocking myself for a tiny distorted image. Still have no idea for which application they're intended.

https://www.aliexpress.com/i/3256805660504572.html

Turbo Pascal could check ranges on assignment with the {$R+} directive, and Delphi could check arithmetic overflow with {$Q+}. Of course, nobody wanted to waste the cycles to turn those on :)

GNAT has been around since the 90s, based on GCC. My university did some work on the compiler and used it for some undergrad courses like real-time programming. IIRC there was an attempt to use Ada for intro to programming courses, but I think they chose Pascal and then eventually C++.

It doesn't help that app developers don't have a clear idea of how long persistent data will be kept around, as eviction policies are based on complex and often-changing rules/heuristics, despite the availability of navigator.storage APIs.

I have tried to get Claude to compile arbitrary C++ projects with Emscripten, and its track record is about as good as mine.

Notable is the recent introduction of Mardi Gras Service, a route from New Orleans from Mobile that hasn't been used for passenger trains since Hurricane Katrina. The maximum one-way fare is $15, and its already popular enough that they added 60 more seats. I'm looking forward to riding it and thumbing my nose in the direction of I-10.

Eh? I'm pretty sure it's had 64-bit math for awhile -- i64.add, etc.

It's kinda nice to have 1st class exception support. C++ exceptions barely work in Emscripten right now. Part of the problem is that you can't branch to arbitrary labels in WASM.