dreamcompiler's comments

On: Reviving the IBM Selectric Composer Fonts (2023)

[dreamcompiler]

I used to use one of these for typesetting back when I was a printer. To justify, you had to type each line once in non-printing mode. Then you told the machine to retype it in printing mode and it would widen the spaces the correct amount. Or maybe you had to retype it manually again; I forget.

Anyway the output was much better than from an ordinary Selectric because of proportional letter widths.

On: How do I deal with memory leaks? (2022)

[dreamcompiler]

> plug in a garbage collector.

Garbage collectors don't guarantee the absence of memory leaks. GCs remove one important source of memory leaks but it's still very possible in GC languages to use up all available memory unintentionally simply by holding onto things in a big data structure that you've forgotten about (often it's a cache). Weak pointers in conjunction with GC help a great deal with that problem but even so GC and weakness are not going to guarantee leak-prevention in all cases.

I still strongly prefer GC languages to the alternative.

On: Canvas online again as ShinyHunters threatens to leak schools’ data

[dreamcompiler]

It's like the situation with HIPAA rules in electronic health records: It wouldn't be impossible to write your own EHR system but if you do you have to spend a lot of money proving it meets HIPAA regulations or accept substantial liability. So companies just pay Epic $$$ because they promise HIPAA compliance.

Likewise with classroom software if you just use the "industry standard" enterprise crapware you've outsourced the accessibility liability to somebody else. If the software is hot garbage from a usability perspective, that's irrelevant.

And this is why we cannot have nice things in the enterprise space.

On: When Dawkins met Claude – Could this AI be conscious?

[dreamcompiler]

Blindsight

[brookst → dreamcompiler]

argh, and too late to edit. But thank you for the correction!

On: Why IPv6 is so complicated

[dreamcompiler]

I almost wish NAT had never been invented. It's a kludge that effectively added 16 bits to the IPv4 address space and delayed IPv6 as a result.

[PaulKeeble → dreamcompiler]

CGNat even more so because its added ~16 more bits and taken away full functioning connections form the ISP customers to do it.

[thayne → dreamcompiler]

And it added those 16 bits in a way that causes a lot of problems

[zadikian → dreamcompiler]

If/when everyone is forced to leave ipv4 due to address+port exhaustion, it's possible that ipv6 isn't the replacement.

On: We need a federation of forges

[dreamcompiler]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47940921

On: The Joy of Folding Bikes

[dreamcompiler]

I love Bromptons and they fold down into the tiniest package of any folder but my god they've gotten expensive in the last couple of years.

I've been eyeing an Urtopia Carbon Fold 2 as my next folding bike. It's electric but I prefer those nowadays.

On: Asahi Linux Progress Linux 7.0

[dreamcompiler]

I run Asahi (the previous release) on an M2 Air and it works great except for high power drain when sleeping.

I still want to run it on an M3 MBP so it's nice to hear progress on that is happening.

[e12e → dreamcompiler]

Do you use a docking station and an external display?

[dreamcompiler → e12e]

I don't. I never got into external displays because I travel a lot and write code in strange places.

[karussell → e12e]

Not OP but external display only works via HDMI directly atm (m2 mb pro).

On: Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

[dreamcompiler]

Another nice feature of these old diesel engines: They're not vulnerable to EMP. So after a nuclear holocaust they'll still run. Assuming you're still alive and can deal with fallout of course. And assuming you can find fuel. Which won't be a problem because these engines will run on the rancid oil in the vat behind what used to be the local McDonalds.

On: What physical ‘life force’ turns biology’s wheels?

[dreamcompiler]

Protons are also called "hydrogen ions." Stuff that donates protons is called an "acid." So this is an acid chemical process but I'm not enough of a chemist to know more than that. Would welcome comments from someone who is.