zoomablemind (u/zoomablemind)

zoomablemind commented on Ask HN: Should "I asked $AI, and it said" replies be forbidden in HN guidelines? · Posted by u/embedding-shape

zoomablemind · 11 days ago

There's hardly a standard for a 'quality' contribution to discussion. Many styles, many opinions, many ways to react and support one's statements.

If anything, it had been quite customary to supply references for some important facts. Thus letting readers to explore further and interpret the facts.

With AI in the mix the references become even more important, in the view of hallucinations and fact poisoning.

Otherwise, it's a forum. Voting, flagging, ignoring are the usual tools.

zoomablemind commented on Brent's Encapsulated C Programming Rules (2020) retroscience.net/brents-c... · Posted by u/p2detar

zoomablemind · 11 days ago

"...C is my favorite language and I love the freedom and exploration it allows me. I also love that it is so close to Assembly and I love writing assembly for much of the same reasons!"

I wonder what is author's view about user's reasons to choose a C API?

What I mean is users may want exactly the same freedom and immediacy of C that the author embraces. However, the very approach to encapsulation by hiding the layout of the memory, the use of accessor functions limits the user's freedom and robs them of performance too.

In my view, the choice of using C in projects comes with certain responsibilities and expectations from the user. Thus higher degree of trust to the API user is due.

zoomablemind commented on The death of partying in the USA derekthompson.org/p/the-d... · Posted by u/tysone

wffurr · 5 months ago

Except when they ride the bus or are in after school or the parents dash in and out from being double parked.

I have certainly gotten to know some parents at pick up, but there’s a whole bunch I have not met.

zoomablemind · 5 months ago

I'd count also those memorable school talent shows/performances and events. Another reach out avenue is volunteering, these have a higher chance to match parents with similar availability at least.

zoomablemind commented on Phrase origin: Why do we "call" functions? quuxplusone.github.io/blo... · Posted by u/todsacerdoti

zoomablemind · 5 months ago

> ... Why do we "call" functions?

I always thought that the functions did not need a call keyword, as they normally would return a value, so that functions would appear in an assignment. So one just uses the function.

What needed a CALL was a subroutine, which effectively was a named address/label.

Indeed it would be just as possible to GOTO the address/label and then GOTO back. CALL keyword made the whole transaction more comprehensive.

So in a sense it was similar to calling up someplace using the address number. Often times this would change some shared state so that the caller would then proceed after the call. Think of it as if a 'boss' first calls Sam to calculate the figures, then calls Bill to nicely print the TPS report.

Eventually everything became a function and subroutines were associated with spaghetti...

Now, why is that it's called routine (aka program) and subroutine?

zoomablemind · 5 months ago

> ...why is that it's called "routine”

Well, apparently [0], in a 1947 document "Planning and Coding Problems for an Electronic Computing Instrument, Part 1" by H. Goldstine and J. von Neumann it is stated:

    "We call the coded sequence of a problem a routine"

[0]: https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/q/20335

zoomablemind commented on Phrase origin: Why do we "call" functions? quuxplusone.github.io/blo... · Posted by u/todsacerdoti

zoomablemind · 5 months ago

> ... Why do we "call" functions?

I always thought that the functions did not need a call keyword, as they normally would return a value, so that functions would appear in an assignment. So one just uses the function.

What needed a CALL was a subroutine, which effectively was a named address/label.

Indeed it would be just as possible to GOTO the address/label and then GOTO back. CALL keyword made the whole transaction more comprehensive.

So in a sense it was similar to calling up someplace using the address number. Often times this would change some shared state so that the caller would then proceed after the call. Think of it as if a 'boss' first calls Sam to calculate the figures, then calls Bill to nicely print the TPS report.

Eventually everything became a function and subroutines were associated with spaghetti...

Now, why is that it's called routine (aka program) and subroutine?

zoomablemind commented on The death of partying in the USA derekthompson.org/p/the-d... · Posted by u/tysone

luckydata · 5 months ago

it's the only way it works. It took me MONTHS to get a hold of the number of my son's best friend's parents so that now we can organize maybe an afternoon of play every 4-5 weeks.

zoomablemind · 5 months ago

I thought a prime time for contacting the parents is right after school when picking up the kid. Everyone is there waiting, so it's just natural to chit chat, esp when the kids are friends.

zoomablemind commented on Numerical Electromagnics Code (NEM) nec2.org/... · Posted by u/hyperific

CamperBob2 · 5 months ago

OpenEMS has a lot of mindshare in that area. Not sure how effective it is at replacing proprietary packages like HFSS, though.

zoomablemind · 5 months ago

Does HFSS visualize the field in real-time or a user needs to set the geometry/parameters then precalculate the field and only then be able to explore the visualization?

Say, if I wanted to see immediate effects of changing an incidence angle, could I just "scroll" the incidence parameter?

zoomablemind commented on Show HN: ESP32 RC Cars github.com/mattsroufe/esp... · Posted by u/mattsroufe

zoomablemind · a year ago

What are the battery requirements for such feed combo (RC + FPV + servo)? From experience, how does this translate to play time?

zoomablemind commented on Show HN: Handwritten Christmas Card for Hacker News handwritten-card.vercel.a... · Posted by u/muc-martin

zoomablemind · a year ago

Maybe it's just me, but the font appears too small for my eyes on this smartphone's 6" screen (Firefox).

I like the idea. Happy New Year!

zoomablemind commented on I keep turning my Google Sheets into phone-friendly webapps arstechnica.com/gadgets/2... · Posted by u/cpeterso

bambax · a year ago

There are extensions that let you query Excel worksheet files directly from SQLite (no importing, no transformation, just direct query). It's quite fun to do; you can use Excel (or Libre office, etc.) to maintain the spreadsheet, and build reports with SQLite.

zoomablemind · a year ago

Could you mention a few of such, to save time going through search results?