btschaegg (u/btschaegg)

btschaegg commented on Bad Questions imjosh.dev/blog/bad-quest... · Posted by u/imjosh-dev

btschaegg · 3 days ago

Even worse, some people seemingly aren't even able to produce a question.

"I tried to $ACTION and $FUNCTION throws an error." Followed by awkward silence (or the written equivalent in chat rooms).

Great, why are you telling you me/us about it? What do you expect from me/us? If you're not even willing to produce some text with a question mark at the end, why should anyone bother to invest their time in helping you out?

btschaegg commented on Systemd v259 github.com/systemd/system... · Posted by u/voxadam

sovietmudkipz · 7 days ago

I target 80% utilization because I’ve seen that figure multiple times. I suppose I should rephrase: I’d like to understand the constraints and systems involved that make 80% considered full utilization. There’s obviously something that limits a OS; is it tunable?

Questions I imagine a thorough multiplayer solutions engineer would be curious of, the kind of person whose trying to squeeze as much juice out of the hardware specs as possible.

btschaegg · 7 days ago

It might not be the OS, but just statistical inevitability. If you're talking about CPU utilization on Linux, for example, it's not all that unlikely that the number you're staring at isn't "time spent by CPU doing things" but "average CPU run queue length". "100%" then doesn't only mean the CPU gets no rest, but "there's always someone waiting for a CPU to become free". It likely pays off to understand where the load numbers in your tooling actually come from.

Even if that weren't the case, lead times for tasks will always increase with more utilization; see e.g. [1]: If you push a system from 80% to 95% utilization, you have to expect a ~4.75x increase in lead time for each task _on average_: (0.95/0.05) / (0.8/0.2)

Note that all except the term containing ρ in the formula are defined by your system/software/clientele, so you can drop them for a purely relative comparison.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingman%27s_formula

Edit: Or, to try to picture the issue more intuitively: If you're on a highway nearing 100% utilization, you're likely standing in a traffic jam. And if that's not (yet) strictly the case, the probabilty of a small hiccup creating one increases exponentially.

btschaegg commented on Sick: Indexed deduplicated binary storage for JSON-like data structures github.com/7mind/sick... · Posted by u/pshirshov

harrall · 2 months ago

Less than 1% of the hash maps I use have ever needed order.

The underlying data structures between both are different. Ordered hash maps use more memory, are slower, and are more complicated.

Knowing CS fundamentals, using an ordered hash map should be a deliberate choice like renting a box truck when you need to move a lot of stuff. Don’t just drive a box truck everywhere because you might pick up a couch from a thrift store one day.

btschaegg · 2 months ago

All well and true if all you have to do is process the data programmatically.

And yet, as I said, if the same thinking gets applied to e.g. a store of JSON documents (like ELK), chances are good the thing will ruin the UX for countless people who have to deal with the result. Note that you need exactly no hash maps to store the JSON as it is text.

To expand your analogy: …and yet roads are built so that you can drive your regular car or a box car over them, depending on your use case. You make the choice. A JSON library that doesn't afford such choices (and isn't hyper focused on performance) isn't a good one in my book.

Edit: As a sidenote: Or do you mean a freight train wagon? Then replace "road" with "rails" and "car" with "draisine" :)

btschaegg commented on Sick: Indexed deduplicated binary storage for JSON-like data structures github.com/7mind/sick... · Posted by u/pshirshov

ericmcer · 2 months ago

Isn't the order of JSON keys not guaranteed by the official spec? I don't remember when I learned that but I have always behaved as if that cannot be relied upon.

btschaegg · 2 months ago

Since RFC 4627 (the original):

> An object is an unordered collection of zero or more name/value pairs, [...]

Further, since RFC 7159:

> JSON parsing libraries have been observed to differ as to whether or not they make the ordering of object members visible to calling software. Implementations whose behavior does not depend on member ordering will be interoperable in the sense that they will not be affected by these differences.

Both are in the current version (RFC 8259).

OTOH, I find the "but the order is not supposed to be guaranteed!" debate REALLY stupid when it comes to software where it's clear that at some point, a human will have to look at the content and correlate it with another system.

There's nothing more evil than re-shuffling JSON just for the fun of it and making everyone who has to look at the result miserable. Yes, I'm talking about you, ELK devs.

Edit: (And/or whoever wrote the underlying Java/Go libs they use for JSON that don't allow developers to patch ordering in. I remember reading GitHub issues about this.)

btschaegg commented on JetKVM – Control any computer remotely jetkvm.com/... · Posted by u/elashri

technothrasher · 2 months ago

Being a nerdy kid in the 80’s, I can’t see the acronym MCP without thinking, “You’re in trouble program. Why don’t you make it easy on yourself. Who’s your user?”

btschaegg · 2 months ago

Well that one at least has appreciable parallels :)

Letting an LLM loose on a real system without containing it in a sandbox sounds about as predictably disastrous as letting a glorified chess program run all ENCOM operations…

btschaegg commented on My gf thinks videogames cannot be art. What to show her? · Posted by u/Gerard0

btschaegg · 2 months ago

If she has little experience with video games, Journey and Gris might be good candidates.

For a more "technical" argument how gameplay mechanics can be a unique way to deliver an emotion to the player (arguably a major part in the role of art): Brothers: A Tale of two Sons. You'd have to make sure that she finishes it, though (estimate: ~3h).

Two trippy games that defy categorization (but won't be good examples for someone not willing to learn mechanics/logic in depth): Thumper and Cocoon.

btschaegg commented on What Dynamic Typing Is For unplannedobsolescence.com... · Posted by u/hit8run

Waterluvian · 2 months ago

What I say is that the types exist in your code whether you write them down or not.

When you don’t write them down, you’re saying, “trust me, this works.” But now the types are written down in your head (a very volatile form of memory that can’t be accessed easily by others).

One time when dynamic works well is when “prove this works” is simply not worth the time. Eg. a quick script.

btschaegg · 2 months ago

> whether you write them down or not.

Note that "types have been written down" != "the program was written with static typing". See, for example, what's doable with clojure.spec.

While loose, "from the hip" code (w.r.t. typing) often correlates with the use of dynamically typed languages, we shouldn't make the mistake of assuming a total causality there.

(Also, I still find the number of people willing to put e.g. `object` parameters in their public C# APIs concerningly high. Not that one has to deal with such APIs all the time, but they're not exactly eradicated, either.)

btschaegg commented on Write in C – Let it Be wiki.tcl-lang.org/page/Wr... · Posted by u/axiomdata316

desi_ninja · 3 months ago

It is appropriate I leave this song here : https://youtu.be/tas0O586t80?feature=shared

btschaegg · 3 months ago

I love this song, but it wouldn't be nearly as perfect without the slight hint of irony ("efficiently dangerous") and the SEGFAULT at the end. Things I feel "Write in C" is dearly missing.

btschaegg commented on Iridogorgia Chewbacca en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iri... · Posted by u/thunderbong

araes · 3 months ago

The University of Hawaii page on the subject [1] with the announcement has some pictures, since the WP article doesn't. Not difficult to see why they named it such.

[1] UoH, Chewbacca coral: https://www.hawaii.edu/news/article.php?aId=14141

btschaegg · 3 months ago

That's just cousin Itt on a scuba trip ;)

btschaegg commented on Ask HN: What's the most frustrating user interface you use regularly? · Posted by u/RachealMichelle

btschaegg · 3 months ago

Jira, Confluence, MS Teams.

Slow, disorganized, delaying every navigation, screwing up things as simple as copy+paste and other basic functions (Teams: muting/unmuting with a headset in voice calls, Jira: apparently, simple text templates in tickets are impossible (wtf?)), are impossible to search through successfully,… the list seems endless.