Someone wanted to make a product that competes with Windows. It was to be called Doors. When they applied for a trademark they were stopped by Gates.

Definition: Minecraft Mods
QOL improvements that introduce a grind to reduce the grind of something else.

Today I took an empty Whoppers carton and put Hersheys kisses in there.

The shear hate and discontent has been a great source of entertainment for me and my office mate.

One guy picked up the carton, looked inside, and threw it down on the table and stormed out. He has been telling me to f-off since then.

Its 2019. I was just tasked with writing code to print to a dot matrix printer.

I was trying to make a circular buffer in C++. I was also trying to expose iterators for using the buffer with STL algorithms. I kept trying to think about how to add the functions needed to manipulate the existing internal iterators to not exceed the bounds of the buffer. Then I realized I was "too close" to the problem. There was no way I could properly control the internal iterators of the storage vector I was using. Not without giving too much power to the user of my library. So I abstracted the iterators up one level. Hid all the details of the internal iterator and made a new iterator.

The solution of abstracting the iterator was not the epiphany. The epiphany was if you are struggling with how to solve a particular problem. You keep running into problems with how to represent something, there is too much power available at a particular representation, or the object you are trying to make work just don't fit. This is when you should consider abstracting a level up. Take a higher look at the problem and simplify the interface.

Abstraction could be a number of things. Divide and conquer, hiding details, specializing an object, etc. Whatever tool is needed to make the problem more consumable to your brain.

Did a hackathon on Saturday (2019/10/26) with a local programming group. I set a goal for myself to create a text based map similar to nethack. However, I chose to use QtQuick as my rendering system. I also chose to do render to texture for my tiles rather than just trying to size fonts for my map. I still rendered fonts, but I did so the transparent textures. I only got the basic map working and it only rendered the outside walls. I learned quite a bit about the rendering system of QtQuick though. Now I have a good grounding to do much more complex rendering.

Here is the code I wrote:
https://github.com/Demolishun/...

I got my circular buffer working for my oscope display I am working on for audio data.

https://github.com/Demolishun/...

I plan on expanding this to have more functions for bulk operations. I also want my fake iterators to be able to be used with <algorithm> functions.

It was pretty awesome last night to finally get to see my audio waveforms displaying properly.

void function(void* arg=nullptr);

I find your argument null and void.

I have seen references to API keys in several places. I have setup a few for various web services. However, I don't have a firm understanding of how they are protected (or not protected) from being copied and used by apps other than my own. I read a quick blurb from Google that said to use regular authentication over API keys due to them being able to be copied.

So my questions are: Are API keys just a bad way to subscribe services? Is there a way to protect them from being discovered? Maybe the app logs into a auth point for your services and is served the key to use with other services? But this key could still be gleaned from memory. Are API keys going to go away maybe in deference to things like oauth?

I am building a synth program for producing waveforms such as binaural. The programs I have used in the past have been mediocre.

In that project I am working on a realtime scope to visualize the waveforms. It is fun to learn how to streamline moving data between parts of the application. Right now it has a lot of unnecessary data copying going on, and resizing of vectors. So I am reading some books on high performance C++ to learn how to do this better. As part of this I am thinking about building a circular buffer so the vector is never resized and is always in contiguous memory.

Just plain fun!

#define AUDIOLB_EXIT_ON_ERROR(hres) \
if (FAILED(hres)) { goto Exit; }

#define AUDIOLB_SAFE_RELEASE(punk) \
if ((punk) != NULL) \
{ (punk)->Release(); (punk) = NULL; }

Looking through old audio code I wrote. Found these macros. Will most likely reuse for a new project. It works damnit!

Do you feel lucky?!

https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing...

I agree with Python being very useful due to library availability. Not sure what I think about C beating out C++ though. I would much prefer programming in C++ to C any day. I don't like Java, but a LOT of people use Java.

I find it interesting that a lot of people talk about Rust, but I am not seeing it in the top 10. Is it just too new?

What I find most interesting is that this is a good list of languages to learn. These are what are being used in the field. Well, at least from the the perspective of IEEE.

Thoughts?

Other peoples' code... (in C++)
I am finding what some people consider good code is not as described. I found a class that provides strings. Great it gives me paths and stuff. I incorporated it in a new project.

segfaults

Hmmm, it must have an init function... It does, but not in the class. It has a friended init function:
friend init_function(). If this function is not created and called external to the class then the class will segfault...

okay...

I implement this. I use code from another project that implements this correctly. The friend class allows the private constructor to be called to create the main instance of the class. So its a fucking cryptic ass singleton. I look at this class. It uses a macro to decide what to function call in the class. The class already has function names for each call it needs to make. The class is literally a string lookup table. I vow to redo this shitty code, someday...

I start to wonder what other fragile code I will find. Not long later I keep getting errors on malloc. Like any malloc that is called results in a segfault. The malloc is not at fault though. I run valgrind and find a websocket library is returning an object a different size than the header file describes.

WTF...

Somebody has left an old ass highly modified definition of the websocket header in a location in that I include headers (partly my fault). I eliminate that from my include path. All is well, everything behaves. I will be making sure this fucking header is not used and it is going to die. Wasted a bunch of time.

Lessons learned: some code is just fucked and don't leave old ass shit you tried laying around.

I went to create an attributions page for my node.js app I am working on. I just had it parse the packages used. Ran out of memory trying to display them in a browser.

Man I included 1 (uno) package and the dependencies are crazy. First thing I did was install license-checker to make sure I wasn't shooting myself in the foot with some random GPL/LGPL package.

So, I guess I am learning about node.js a bit this week.

The night I hooked up with your mother...son.

<me>
Roses are carmine,
Violets are sapphire...

<coworkers>
No off-color jokes at work!

Considering using a node.js based library for a simple interface on an embedded ARM system. I have zero experience with node.js. At the very least I will use this as a test rig outside of the embedded system.

How much space will a minimal node.js server take?

Note: If its in the gigs my guess is this will be too large for our system.

I have an interest in methods to make myself smarter. At times some ideas seem to be just out of my reach. I don't always know the reason why. Eventually with persistence I am able to figure things out. However, I always wonder if there are techniques to learn things faster, better, more completely, with less struggle, etc. Would being smarter help with this. I wondered, "Can I create a program/method to increase IQ through training?"

So I found an interesting book called "The Neuroscience of Intelligence" by Richard J. Haier.
Very quickly I was engrossed in this book. It is written in a very accessible way and slowly trickles in the jargon. The book is basically the culmination of 40 years of studying the subject. The main point of the book is: you cannot increase your IQ through techniques and tricks. The only realistic avenue for increasing IQ is through genetics. Your IQ is based upon nature, not nurture. This is a result of the data, not opinion. The writer of this book follows what the science is telling him. This was not what I wanted to hear. He also went on to explain that the statement "You can be whatever you want to be if you work hard enough." He said this is false. Some people, no matter how hard they try, will not be able to get past certain limitations in aptitude. This statement will probably make a lot of people mad, but the data led this researcher to this conclusion. Though I sense he found this disheartening (my opinion). I know I did.

So after reading this book over the weekend I am a bit perturbed that there are not recognizable techniques to increase IQ through mental exercises. Websites all over will say otherwise, but it isn't a thing.

What to do? I decided I am going to find ways to maximize my potential. I will create a set of mental exercises that help me use what I got to the full potential. I know when I see different ways to think about things I get a bit better at solving problems. So learning and experience is still a way to improve your intellect, if not IQ. If I feel like I have made progress in this endeavor I will definitely share.

If you have any interest in neuroscience then I recommend the book I read this weekend. It is very accessible for the reader not versed in the subject. I knew virtually nothing about the topic and now I feel I have a good grounding in the state of the art. It has some neat info on some potentially better approaches to AI as well.

In a forum far far away...
<user> I need help understanding something about this library.
<various users> This is how it works. This is something to consider. Here is a good way to learn all of this. etc Really helpful people.
<user> I would say more about what I want to do, but I don't want to receive any more "mouthful of unsolicited advises ".

Really? You fucking ask a question on a forum about what you want to learn. Everyone there takes it seriously and provides some really golden shit on how to learn the topic. Then you shit on them for daring to provide ways to learn the topic?

I don't know if this is a language barrier, or if they are using Google translate. I have no idea. But they come across as an asshole.

My vision is 2020.
To stay meaningfully and gainfully employed up to and during 2020.

I had a splash of inspiration. I would like to develop a method for analyzing unknown bitstreams of data. The method would involve determining the format of the data by trial and error machine learning algorithms. This would allow determining data types and byte formats and meanings of streams of data. Could be useful in data forensics. I would call the method: heuristic translation machine learning. I am currently developing code that does this. It will be fun to learn about reinforcement algorithms.

My coworker has a candy bowl he periodically fills up. However, he went on travel and failed to fill his bowl. So I created a candy bowl complaint/suggestion signup sheet for people to fill out while he is away. It reads:

<name>'s Candy Bowl Complaint/Suggestion Sheet
Complaint/Suggestion
<followed by a table with lines>

I would like to learn how to better automate workflows. I find it fascinating that you can control one program with another. Especially GUI apps. I have automated apps before to reduce human error and boring data entry work. It would be amazing to take this to a new level. Perhaps even automate specific programming work.

Machines programming machines would be fascinating as well.

You can provide a URL to the data, but you can't make them think.

Spent half a day working on some code to add some functionality. Ran into some binary assumptions and found workarounds. Got everything implemented and close to start testing things. Not a lot of code, but a lot of places that needed careful attention to detail. Started looking at the final code needed for initializing things. Found that all the code I wrote would not be needed if I just initialize some things differently. Realized I don't need all this code. The code is literally redundant.

git checkout <changed files>

Okay, now I understand the code better. I am ahead because I am not maintaining code I don't need. Half a day of reading the code helps me understand everything that is there.

Life is good. 😀

How to learn HTML?

1. Download a plugin called "Save Page WE" for Firefox.
2. Go to a webpage you want to modify:
https://devrant.com/rants/2261788/...
3. Right click and select: Save Page WE -> Save Standard Items
4. Edit page on your computer.
5. Upload to GitHub public repository for viewing:
https://github.com/Demolishun/...
6. Share preview link by prepending https://htmlpreview.github.io/? to said page URL:
https://htmlpreview.github.io//...
7. Any questions?

Couldn't remember my password that I have been using several times a day for the past year. I even used it today, but could not consciously remember the code.

So I am going to post it here so I can look it up if I need to: 12345

Notice: This is a private message only to be shared with the intended recipient. You must disavow any knowledge. When asked about this message you will spontaneously squawk like a duck. You have been thoroughly disclaimed.

Been having dreams about being able to solve real world problems by solving/modeling with programming tools. Usually trying to fit some relationship or physical problem to a math/programming model. It always makes complete sense while working the problem. Then of course you wake up to a "WTF was that?"

Been using a jump drive compiled as NTFS for my sneaker net. I copied some file to it from Ubuntu 18.04. I take to Windows machine and it says there are errors (does this a lot). Usually it works fine. The files I copied are not there. They were downloaded web pages as Windows machine is not on net. I noticed the file names have characters like #, ? and ` in them. So I reformat the jump drive to exFat. I copy the files from Ubuntu plus a bunch of other files. It errors like crazy on stuff that copied fine before with NTFS. Not a solution. So I find an alternate downloader for web pages I want to copy (does not have funky characters in filenames). I reformat back to NTFS on jump drive.

So basically if I want to copy files from my Ubuntu system I am stuck with NTFS and always repairing the filesystem. Yes, all my libraries for exFAT are up to date in Ubuntu.

Is there ever going to be a better way?
When is Windows going to grow up and support ext4?
Why?

Its 2019 and we still have incompatible networks and filesystem formats.

OMGosh! I am so screwed! Just got a call from someone saying my warranty on my car expired! I just bought it last year! What am I gonna do?!