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MonkeyClub commented on Using an engineering notebook   ntietz.com/blog/using-an-... · Posted by u/evakhoury
MonkeyClub · 4 hours ago
Within software engineering circles, the idea of the engineering notebook was reintroduced in Hunt and Thomas' The Pragmatic Programming, where (Topic 22) they call it an "engineering daybook".

Personally, I've been using one form or another of journals and notebooks for over three decades. I did go through the "plain text is king" .txt phase, but, while search is useful, I always revert to a handwritten notebook.

I find that I have a sort of visual memory of the location of a note or scribble, and can sort of easily find my way back to it "in the lower-right side of the page near the end of the notebook".

Another meta-metric that's interesting to access and is lost when typing is the changing quality of my handwriting, and how it exhibits the underlying mental state.

The notebooks/journals started from standard local composition books (B5) to narrower 14x21-ish cheap hardcovers. There's also dates (manual), titles or topic tags (manual), page numbers (manual), cross-references with arrows (which do stand out amongst the handwriting, e.g. -> p. 20, or -> C/20 to xref back to notebook C when you're on notebook E), indexes (also manual), earmarked pages, and a physical bookmark string. I've also reverted back to pencil, which I find more "quiet" a medium - I've been using Faber Castell's sleek TK4600 since elementary school, and it was quite interesting to return to it a couple of decades later.

Plain text is still king nowadays, but it's also diagrammatic, and hyperlinked, the only difference being it is manual, and seems to assist immensely with the memory and personal internal coherence. I can write down a note to myself, working something out, and then return to it a couple of months later, cross-reference it and expand it, gradually reaching new understanding.

No need for slip card boxes when you have a running log of your thoughts and works that can be referenced and cross-referenced, nor is there a need to limit the length of your text because of the medium - write a bullet list if you want, checkbox it, or a 200-word vignette, or just let loose over a few pages, it's all good: a plastic medium for a plastic mind.

In all, for me journaling/notebooking is highly recommended. And for the younger folk who are keyboard-first, perhaps the deliberate slowness and scratchiness of this quaint medium will reveal a meditative quality.

MonkeyClub commented on Windows Notepad App Remote Code Execution Vulnerability   cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-... · Posted by u/riffraff
TZubiri · a day ago
EDIT: THE OLD NOTEPAD IS STILL IN WINDOWS AND WE CAN USE IT!

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/3845356/...

You basically have to find the "execution alias" setting and disable notepad and you get the ole reliable :D

OLD POST:

This has hurt me specifically. Since I work without IDEs, no VIM, no vs code. On linux I use nano, on windows I use Notepad. I like the minimalism and the fact that I have absolute control, and that I can work on any machine without needing to introduce an external install.

Last couple of years notepad started getting more features, but I'm very practical so I just ignored them, logged out of my account when necessary, opted out of features in settings, whatever.

But now this moment feels like I must change something, we need a traditional notepad.exe or just copy it from a previous version, I'll try adding NOTEPAD.exe to a thumb drive and having that. But it's a shame that it breaks the purity of "working with what's installed".

MonkeyClub · a day ago
> the purity of "working with what's installed".

Oh, a kindred spirit!

I too absolutely love the notion of the base install, and what can be done just by means of its already available toolset.

(Fun tidbit: Did you know Windows comes with a bare bones C# 5 toolchain, with csc.exe, and even vbc.exe and jsc.exe?)

MonkeyClub commented on Windows Notepad App Remote Code Execution Vulnerability   cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-... · Posted by u/riffraff
autoexec · a day ago
But can it play MP3s?
MonkeyClub · a day ago
I'm sure eventually it will, it's law:

Every text editor, if it survives long enough, will end up implementing a partial, bug-ridden version of Emacs.

MonkeyClub commented on Eddie Bauer declares bankruptcy   cbsnews.com/news/eddie-ba... · Posted by u/mgh2
bitwize · 3 days ago
I still main a Jansport backpack for taking my laptop in. It has minor wear and tear but works great after >10 years.
MonkeyClub · 2 days ago
Similar anecdote here.

I still use daily the Timberland backpack I got in 2009. Again, some wear and tear (actually just wear, thankfully no tears) but works great at the 17 year mark, even though it has gone through anything from daily use to travel to trekking.

Other backpacks have come and gone when I thought it'd need replacing, but kept trudging on. Now I don't want to have to let go of it, even though it looks "a bit" old.

I know it's not good for business to have long-lasting products. But some items like this backpack, a 2008 Fujitsu workstation, or a 2013 MacBook Air (not to mention the Faber Castell TK 4600) that simply keep on working become something akin to lifelong companion tools.

It goes to show the benefits of deep forethought and good design. And, I guess, the stubbornness of some users :)

MonkeyClub commented on Why I Joined OpenAI   brendangregg.com/blog/202... · Posted by u/SerCe
ulnarkressty · 5 days ago
Was going to say the same thing, but I'm pretty sure he already knows that. Smart people can convince themselves of everything.
MonkeyClub · 4 days ago
Anyone can convince themselves of anything, the only thing that varies is the complexity of the rationalization.
MonkeyClub commented on Why I Joined OpenAI   brendangregg.com/blog/202... · Posted by u/SerCe
torlok · 5 days ago
Same thing was said about crypto.
MonkeyClub · 4 days ago
Same thing is said about peddling drugs. Profit doesn't push ethical problems aside, though, or at least shouldn't.

At least nobody peddling drugs tried to convince anyone they're doing it to "save the planet".

MonkeyClub commented on It's 2026, Just Use Postgres   tigerdata.com/blog/its-20... · Posted by u/turtles3
tomhow · 6 days ago
> You are seemingly overriding the wishes of the community

That's false. The overwhelming sentiment of the community is that HN should be free of LLM-generated content or content that has obvious AI fingerprints. Sometimes people don't immediately realize that an article or comment has a heavy LLM influence, but once they realize it does, they expect us to act (this is especially true if they didn't realize it initially, as they feel deceived). This is clear from the comments and emails we get about this topic.

If you can publish a new version of the post that is human-authored, we'd happily re-up it.

MonkeyClub · 6 days ago
>> You are seemingly overriding the wishes of the community

> That's false. The overwhelming sentiment of the community is that HN should be free of LLM-generated content or content that has obvious AI fingerprints.

Yeah it is indeed, and for good reason: why would I spend time reading something the author didn't spend time thinking through and writing?

It's not that people don't like Postgres articles (otherwise, the upvotes would be much lower), but once you read a bit of the article, the LLM stench it gives off is characteristic. You know: Standard. LLM. Style. It's tiresome. Irksome. Off-putting.

What I'm wondering is, if LLMs are trained on "our" (in the wider sense of the word) writing style, and spew it back at us, what data set was it that overused this superficial emphatic style to such a degree, that it's now overwhelmingly the bog-standard generative output style?

MonkeyClub commented on Plasma Effect (2016)   4rknova.com/blog/2016/11/... · Posted by u/todsacerdoti
larodi · 6 days ago
What I usually do in 2026 is copy the code and article and have Claude clarify the unclear parts for me. then is ok.
MonkeyClub · 6 days ago
But that's sort of the author's job: if they wish to publish an article on a topic, they should make it both comprehensive and comprehensible.
MonkeyClub commented on Hetzner stopped offering ARM processors   old.reddit.com/r/hetzner/... · Posted by u/tosh
direwolf20 · 6 days ago
Probably a combination of improvements in x86 and increased prices from ARM
MonkeyClub · 6 days ago
Yes I think so as well, as one comment on the Reddit thread mentioned, increased prices and lack of new features on Arm may have driven such decisions.

I did enjoy the few Arm servers and VMs I got to work with, and the software ecosystem wasn't in any way lacking for Java and Python deployments. However I did encounter absence of SIMD support in SBCL.

MonkeyClub commented on Hetzner stopped offering ARM processors   old.reddit.com/r/hetzner/... · Posted by u/tosh
MonkeyClub · 6 days ago
Although the Reddit thread is from a while ago, the situation is still current.

From https://www.hetzner.com/dedicated-rootserver/matrix-rx/:

"Unfortunately, we are currently unable to offer any RX servers."

NetCup still offers Arm VPSs, but similarly no managed servers.

Are the recent improvements in x86 getting us back to an architectural monoculture, at least until other Arm providers step up?

u/MonkeyClub

KarmaCake day2229February 4, 2021View Original