Reading literature (academic and otherwise) on parsers, writing blog posts about what I learn, trying to implement the things I learnt. I've written about basic finite automata (for regular expressions), LL, LR (including the difference between SLR, LALR, and LR(1)), detoured into some optimisations for LR from the 80's, then generalised LR (RNGLR in particular). I'm now implementing these things, RNGLR is not easy to implement despite having understood it well enough conceptually to write a blog about it (https://blog.jeffsmits.net/generalised-lr-parsing/). I've read far more than I've written about, trying to keep that straight in my head as well / planning the next... probably year of writing ^^'
Readit NewsApanatshka commented on Ask HN: What are you working on? (February 2025) · Posted by u/david927
I live next to a school, so there's a low speed limit (30 km/h). Still, people drive like race drivers and the city hasn't ever responded to the residents' hopes of introducing a speed camera.
I wanted to have some data on how many people speed, the max speed recorded, that sort of thing. Things the city should be doing after many complaints of dangerous driving and people being almost killed on zebra crossings.
I have a doorbell camera, and by analysing the footage using OpenCV and some code, I can track how fast people drive if you see how fast they move between two known points.
Average speed: 46 km/h :(
Is that legal in your country? In mine (Netherlands) there are way too many people with doorbell camera aimed right at the street even though it's illegal to record a public space like that. Most folks are ignorant about it though, or think that surely the internet-connected gadget sold by some anonymous corporation won't be abused....
Apanatshka commented on Optimising LR Automata blog.jeffsmits.net/optimi... · Posted by u/thunderbong
Author here, feel free to ask me whatever you like.
Apanatshka commented on Dutch Drug-Related Text Classification Model by NOS huggingface.co/nosdigital... · Posted by u/Apanatshka
The Dutch Public Broadcasting Foundation (NOS) published these models along with an article about the millions of drugs ads on Telegram, and responses by the Dutch police, Telegram, and some of the drug dealers. The article is in Dutch over here: https://nos.nl/artikel/2506160-miljoenen-drugsadvertenties-o...
I am so happy for the continued development of desktop-first, offline, and free content tools. Inkscape, Blender, Godot, Krita, and (still, hopefully not spyware?) Audacity [0]. Without the commercial treadmill, I see these all being solid alternatives rather than the broke-student option.
While I am no artist, I have produced several icons and schematics in Inkscape over the years. A true boon that has let me sketch out some ideas for presentations or images for internal applications.
[0] I have given up on Gimp.
You've given up on Gimp? What's wrong? Did I miss some news?
Apanatshka commented on Robot treats 500k plants per hour with 95% less chemicals [video] youtube.com/watch?v=sV0cR... · Posted by u/zikohh
I occasionally take the train because I like the atmosphere.
In Europe, taking the train is often more expensive than flying.
Sadly it's not fashionable because it isn't cheaper and takes a lot longer.
That's because trains get taxed, while flights _still_ get subsidised. It's maddening.
I've been using OsmAnd primarily for a few months. Some areas that it's fallen short, and forced me back to Google: unreliable and slow public transport directions, terrible default routing engine (solvable), lack of up to date local business information, search that can't find basic street addresses, no updates on road closures.
Organic Maps looks great, I'm going to give it a try and see if it solves any of these issues.
There's an app called StreetComplete (recently discussed on HN) that allows you to easily contribute missing information like local business information to OSM. If you can find the time, you can use that to solve some of the issues you have and help others at the same time! :)