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I Program on the Subway
5 months ago
- Moving to NYC has increased time demands, reducing time for side projects.
- Commuting takes an hour daily, now used for programming.
- Subway programming lacks normal setup but reduces distractions, aiding focus.
- Limited internet access is manageable with subway WiFi stops.
- Embedded code projects can't be tested fully, promoting deeper thought.
- Subway environment limits full brain capacity, but busywork remains feasible.
- Complex tasks are handled by sketching diagrams in a notebook.
- Laptop theft is unlikely due to the cheap, used ThinkPad.
- Programming in public sparks conversations and potential friendships.
- Finding a seat is a current limitation, prompting creative solutions like wearable tech.
- Programming on the subway builds resilience to distractions and is worth trying.
How GNU Guile is 10x better (2021)
4 months ago
- GNU Guile's powerful core includes macros and delimited continuations, enabling high-level concepts like fibers without core changes.
- Runtime introspection and modification in Guile allows for dynamic code changes during runtime, surpassing languages like C, Go, and Java.
- S-expressions and homoiconicity in Guile provide regularity and the ability to treat code as data, simplifying language extension and manipulation.
- Guile's seamless interfacing with C allows most procedures to be called from C, making it a strong choice for embedding and extending C programs.
- Fibers in Guile offer lightweight threads and concurrency models similar to Go channels, with good performance and scalability.
- Guile supports embedded natural script writing, enabling domain-specific languages (eDSLs) like Wisp for creative and narrative-driven applications.
- The hackability of Guile, including its language tower and syntax extensions, makes it enjoyable to extend and modify the language itself.
- Guile comes with a complete and readable manual in info-format, providing offline access to comprehensive documentation.
- Guile's low abstraction barriers and good performance make it ideal for prototyping, creativity, and practical deployment of experimental code.
- Hacking in Guile/Scheme is described as lots of fun, with a passionate community supporting projects like Guix.
Online Book: Exploring Mathematics with Python
5 months ago
- The book is based on Arthur Engel's 1993 textbook, updated with Python replacing Turbo Pascal.
- Arthur Engel passed away in 2022, and revisions were carried out by Andrew Davison.
- The book covers over 60 mostly independent topics in the first six chapters.
- New chapters include a variety of math topics, starting with fractals in chapter 7.
- The book is classified as both a mathematics and programming text due to modern computing advancements.
- Target audience includes university students with a year's exposure to maths and programming, and advanced high school students.
- Assumes reader knows Python; includes a short refresher appendix but not a 'Learn Python' book.
- Programming kept simple to focus on maths, avoiding advanced Python modules except Matplotlib and turtle.
- Some tricky programming topics included: recursion, list comprehensions, generators, classes, higher-order functions, and big-Oh references.
- Use of 'We' in later chapters acknowledges Engel's inspiration, with Andrew Davison taking responsibility for errors.
- Thanks to MAA and Ralf Engel for permission and encouragement.
- Unable to publish expansion, so made available online for others' use.
- Includes solutions to exercises in PDF and code formats, with additional exercises solutions in separate zip files.
- All book's code available as a single zipped file (1.12 MB).
I'm Just Having Fun
5 months ago
- The author works professionally on a compiler and writes about build systems in their free time.
- They feel uncomfortable when people react to their posts by feeling intimidated or small.
- They emphasize that learning complex topics is achievable through experimentation and hard work, not magic.
- Everyone has their own area of specialization, and not knowing about certain topics doesn't make someone dumb.
- The author criticizes the mystique around STEM and highlights the value of other fields like performance art and carpentry.
- They engage with computers primarily for fun and artistic expression, not for money.
- The author recommends building personal tools and exploring others' projects as learning methods.
- Suggested resources include Mozilla Development Network, Arch Wiki, StackOverflow, and Alice Maz's writings.
Rue: Higher level than Rust, lower level than Go
4 months ago
- No garbage collector or manual memory management
- Work in progress
- Familiar syntax inspired by various programming languages
- Easy transition for those who know other languages
- Direct compilation to native code
Inverse Parentheses
4 months ago
- Programming languages use parentheses for grouping operands but not for ungrouping them.
- Grouping with parentheses is straightforward in language grammars, but anti-grouping is more complex.
- Python's grammar uses braces implicitly, with the tokenizer handling indentation and parentheses nesting.
- A tokenizer hack can track nesting depth and emit a 'friendliness' score for each token to handle anti-grouping.
- Precedence climbing parsers can manage infinitely many precedence levels, making them suitable for this approach.
- The implementation allows for ordinary parsing if friendliness is increased instead of decreased.
- Future work includes exploring double-parenthesising expressions and involution in anti-grouping parsers.
- The post also humorously discusses the lack of a satisfactory singular form for 'parentheses'.
Lua 5.5.0 Released
4 months ago
- Lua versions are numbered x.y.z, where x is the series, x.y is the version, and z is the release.
- Different releases of the same version are bug fixes and maintain binary compatibility.
- Different versions have significant changes, requiring recompilation of embedded applications and C libraries.
- Lua 5.5.0 (Dec 2025) introduced global variable declarations, compact arrays, and incremental garbage collection.
- Lua 5.4 (Jun 2020) added generational garbage collection and const/to-be-closed variables.
- Lua 5.3 (Jan 2015) introduced integers, bitwise operators, and UTF-8 support.
- Lua 5.2 (Dec 2011) featured yieldable pcall, ephemeron tables, and a goto statement.
- Lua 5.1 (Feb 2006) introduced incremental garbage collection and a new module system.
- Lua 5.0 (Apr 2003) added coroutines, full lexical scoping, and metatables.
- Lua 4.0 (Nov 2000) introduced multiple states and a new API.
- Lua 3.2 (Jul 1999) added a debug library and new table functions.
- Lua 3.1 (Jul 1998) introduced anonymous functions and closures via upvalues.
- Lua 3.0 (Jul 1997) introduced tag methods and auxlib.
- Lua 2.5 (Nov 1996) added pattern matching and vararg functions.
- Lua 2.4 (May 1996) introduced the external compiler luac and an extended debug interface.
- Lua 2.2 (Nov 1995) added long strings, debug interface, and garbage collection of functions.
- Lua 2.1 (Feb 1995) introduced extensible semantics and OOP support.
- Lua 1.1 (Jul 1994) was the first public release, featuring a bytecode virtual machine.
- Lua 1.0 (Jul 1993) was never publicly released.
GLM-4.7
4 months ago
- GLM-4.7 is Z.AI’s latest flagship model with enhanced programming capabilities and stable multi-step reasoning/execution.
- Supports text input and output with a context length of 200K and maximum output tokens of 128K.
- Features include multiple thinking modes, real-time streaming responses, powerful tool invocation, and structured output formats like JSON.
- Focuses on 'task completion' for agentic coding, autonomously handling requirement comprehension and multi-technology stack integration.
- Excels in multimodal interaction, real-time application development, and web UI generation with improved visual aesthetics.
- Enhances high-quality dialogue, complex problem collaboration, immersive writing, and character-driven creation.
- Improves professional-grade PPT/poster generation with better layout consistency and aesthetic stability.
- Boosts intelligent search and deep research capabilities with structured organization and cross-source consolidation.
- Significant improvements in multilingual agentic coding, UI quality, tool using, and complex reasoning benchmarks.
- Provides API documentation and quick start resources including cURL, Python SDK, Java SDK, and OpenAI Python SDK.
Let's write a toy UI library
5 months ago
- Introduction to writing a toy UI library with helper functions for rectangular regions.
- Definition of a Rectangle structure with left, right, top, and bottom sides.
- Implementation of helper functions for rectangles: RectangleMake, RectangleValid, RectangleIntersection, RectangleBounding, RectangleEquals, RectangleContains.
- Example implementations for RectangleIntersection and RectangleContains functions.
- Introduction of StringCopy function for copying strings to heap-allocated buffers.
- Creation of a GlobalState structure to hold global variables for the UI library.
- Mention of building with -fsanitize=address for memory safety checks.
- Teaser for upcoming parts in the series, focusing on state management and UI refactoring.
The Garbage Collection Handbook
4 months ago
- Second edition of 'The Garbage Collection Handbook' updates the field of automatic memory management.
- Addresses new challenges from advances in hardware and software.
- Covers parallel, incremental, concurrent, and real-time garbage collection techniques.
- Includes new chapters on persistence and energy-aware garbage collection.
- Features an online database of nearly 3,400 garbage collection-related publications.
- E-book includes over 37,000 hyperlinks for enhanced navigation.
- Chinese and Japanese translations of the first edition were published in 2016.
Lua 5.5 Released
4 months ago
- Lua is a powerful, efficient, lightweight, embeddable scripting language developed by PUC-Rio in Brazil.
- Lua is free software used globally and distributed in source form, requiring compilation before use.
- Lua is implemented in pure ISO C and compiles unmodified on all platforms with an ISO C compiler.
- Building Lua is straightforward on Unix-like platforms using 'make' with platform-specific commands.
- Lua can be installed system-wide with 'make install' or locally with 'make local'.
- Customization options include editing Makefiles or src/luaconf.h before building.
- Lua 5.5 introduces changes detailed in the reference manual, with some incompatibilities.
- Lua is distributed under the MIT license, allowing free use, including commercial purposes, with proper credit.
Kick Assembler Manual
4 months ago
- Kick Assembler is an advanced MOS 65xx assembler combined with a Java Script-like scripting language.
- Features include macros, illegal and DTV opcodes, pseudo commands, SID file import, graphic format import, and Java plugin support.
- The integrated scripting language allows for easy data generation (e.g., sine waves, vector coordinates) directly within assembler code.
- Kick Assembler's fifth version (5.x) introduced segments for managing directive output to files, disk images, and other segments.
- Previous versions improved performance, parsing mechanisms, and added features like a flexible pass algorithm and better error handling.
- The project has a professional setup with a code repository, automated test suite, and build/deploy processes.
- Community feedback is valued, with contributions via mail and CSDB, and acknowledgments to tool creators and sponsors.
- Users are encouraged to start with Chapters 2-4 for basic functionality and scripting introduction.
- Contact the developer at [email protected] for comments or feedback.
When Compilers Surprise You
4 months ago
- Compiler optimizations can transform an O(n) loop into an O(1) closed-form solution.
- GCC optimizes loops by summing two numbers at a time using clever arithmetic.
- Clang eliminates loops entirely by using mathematical transformations to compute sums.
- The article highlights the surprising and delightful optimizations compilers can perform.
- The author shares insights from over twenty years of working with compilers.
How Woodworking Taught Me to Be a Programmer
4 months ago
- Woodworking and programming share similar learning patterns: starting with a general idea and learning through building.
- Initial projects in woodworking involved trial and error, learning skills like cutting straight lines, gluing, and sanding along the way.
- Experience in woodworking led to efficiency, understanding best practices, and learning from others' methods and mistakes.
- The author applied woodworking lessons to programming, realizing the importance of building projects to learn tools and languages effectively.
- Advice for beginner programmers: focus on building projects rather than just learning tools in isolation to accelerate learning.
Python Applied Mathematics Labs
4 months ago
- ACME Labs accompany the Foundations of Applied Mathematics textbook series, providing hands-on experience with mathematical and computational concepts.
- Public users not enrolled in ACME should refer to the Public Use page for setup and access guidelines.
- Core technical skills include Python libraries (NumPy, SciPy, Matplotlib, pandas), mathematical algorithms, coding best practices, and data visualization.
- Real-world applications cover problems like predicting tsunami landing times, optimizing meal plans, denoising images, and training neural networks.
- Site structure includes tabs for lab volumes, Getting Started, Environment Setup, Student Resources, Supplemental Labs, References, and ACME Contributors.
- Each lab is self-contained with learning objectives, theoretical background, exercises, and additional materials.
- Labs serve as a springboard for personal projects, which can be valuable for internships or job applications.
- Example project: A student expanded the Markov Chains lab into a Twitter bot called TSwizzlebot.
Ruby 4.0.0 Released
4 months ago
- Ruby 4.0.0 introduces 'Ruby Box' for isolated definitions and 'ZJIT' as a new JIT compiler.
- Ractor improvements include new synchronization mechanisms and performance enhancements.
- Language changes include logical binary operator behavior and nil handling updates.
- Core class updates feature new methods and improvements in Array, Binding, Enumerator, and more.
- Standard library updates include promotions of default gems and updates to existing gems.
- Compatibility issues addressed include removal of deprecated methods and changes in backtrace display.
- Performance improvements across GC, Ractors, and JIT compilers (YJIT and ZJIT).
- Support for Windows updated, requiring Visual Studio 2015 or later.
- Documentation and site redesigns announced alongside the release.
Rust the Process
4 months ago
- The author shares their journey of learning Rust after years of struggling with it, initially by reading 'The Rust Programming Language' but finding more success through hands-on practice.
- Their background in C++ from college and work at SpaceX and the Michigan Solar Car team influenced their programming skills, but they decided to give Rust another try due to its growing popularity in the systems programming ecosystem.
- They started with 'rustlings' for syntax and basic patterns but wanted a real project, leading them to 'Raytracing in One Weekend,' which provided visible and instant feedback.
- Inspired by Terminal UI (TUI) programs like htop and k9s, they began working on a TUI for OpenSnitch, a Linux firewall tool, using Rust and gRPC.
- They faced challenges with Rust's borrow checker and async programming but found solutions through learning about interior mutability and shared state patterns.
- The author appreciates Rust's enums with associated data, error handling philosophy, and built-in tooling for testing and formatting.
- They reflect on the trade-offs between Rust and C/C++, noting Rust's safety features but also its learning curve and occasional opacity in memory management.
- The author avoided using LLMs for most of the development to maximize learning, only using them for specific complex issues.
- They conclude that Rust is a strong choice for greenfield projects but acknowledge organizational and educational factors that might influence language adoption.
- The author encourages others to 'trust the process' of learning Rust, sharing their satisfaction with building the OpenSnitch TUI and their newfound comfort with the language.
Python Anti-Patterns
4 months ago
- The Little Book of Python Anti-Patterns helps programmers avoid common pitfalls in Python by showcasing bad practices.
- It categorizes anti-patterns into Correctness, Maintainability, Readability, Performance, Security, and Migration.
- The book is licensed under a creative-commons NC license, allowing non-commercial use with attribution.
- Contributions are encouraged via GitHub, with maintainers listed for project inquiries.
- Includes an index of anti-patterns, such as incorrect method arguments, bad exception handling, and unpythonic loops.
Ruby Turns 30: A Celebration of Code, Community, and Creativity
4 months ago
- Ruby was created by Yukihiro 'Matz' Matsumoto in 1995 to make coding more human and enjoyable.
- Ruby 4.0 is released as Ruby marks its 30th anniversary, with RubyMine offering free non-commercial use.
- Ruby's philosophy emphasizes the Principle of Least Surprise, readability, and flexibility.
- Key tools like Bundler, RSpec, and RuboCop have extended Ruby's capabilities and community.
- Ruby versions 1.x to 4.0 have introduced significant improvements in performance, reliability, and features.
- Ruby on Rails, released in 2004, transformed web development and powered major platforms like GitHub, Shopify, and Airbnb.
- RubyMine, introduced in 2009, supports Ruby and Rails with advanced tools and continuous updates.
- Ruby's community and conventions highlight craftsmanship and maintainable code.
Cursor CEO warns vibe coding builds 'shaky foundations'
4 months ago
- Cursor uses AI to assist programmers but avoids the term 'vibe coding'.
- Generative AI is changing programming by automating end-to-end tasks.
- 'Vibe coding' refers to inexperienced users relying entirely on AI without understanding the code.
- Cursor embeds AI in the development environment, aiding in code prediction, debugging, and function generation.
- Cursor has grown rapidly, with 1 million daily users and $1 billion in annualized revenue.
- The company secured significant funding, including an $8 million investment from OpenAI's Startup Fund.
- Cursor balances AI assistance with detailed code control, catering to expert programmers.

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#programming

I Program on the Subway

How GNU Guile is 10x better (2021)

Online Book: Exploring Mathematics with Python

I'm Just Having Fun

Rue: Higher level than Rust, lower level than Go

Inverse Parentheses

Lua 5.5.0 Released

GLM-4.7

Let's write a toy UI library

The Garbage Collection Handbook

Lua 5.5 Released

Kick Assembler Manual

When Compilers Surprise You

How Woodworking Taught Me to Be a Programmer

Python Applied Mathematics Labs

Ruby 4.0.0 Released

Rust the Process

Python Anti-Patterns

Ruby Turns 30: A Celebration of Code, Community, and Creativity

Cursor CEO warns vibe coding builds 'shaky foundations'