WillAdams

9 ms·

151.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
Because it looks better and is a guide to communication. For the poster child of a naïvely set/composed text which suffers thereby see: https://blog.lostartpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/vir...
152.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
None, it is a separate character/code point and is notable for aligning with the + and having the same width.
153.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
Once upon a time there was COMPOSE.exe on Windows, then allchars, and now we've come full-circle to wincompose: https://wincompose.info/
154.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
The big reason for manually constructing an ellipsis is to ensure consistent spacing for the 3 and 4 dot forms --- some typefaces will include both, but may not fit well if the type specs have the text set tight or loose. My apologies, shou
155.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
One of the more memorable and influential library finds for me was an article in _Advertising Age_ which enumerated all of the special characters which should be set so as to accurately communicate, so in addition to en and em dashes it not
156.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
Microsoft also had more instances of being petty, (see the bit about join press releases in Jerry Kaplan's _StartUp_ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1171250.Startup ), vindictive (bundling Internet Explor
157.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
This sort of thing is why the terminal commands pbpaste and pbcopy in NeXTstep/Mac OS X as well as Services are so powerful. That said, I wonder what the successor to emacs looks like (or what the next generation of it will improve).
158.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
Yes, but what is the calculus of 1 copy of book divided amongst number of copies/usages of LLM which reference said material? That's the innate disparity and unfairness here --- time was when one made a design which was physically
159.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
That point was specifically addressed in the article. Given that a compiler doesn't include a statistical model likely to create one's written Rust code, the compiled bytecode is quite clearly an expression of said writing.
160.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
Yeah, I was just discussing with a co-worker the concept of a hybrid document where editing controls and the content all exist in a single HTML file (prior implementations include various wikis such as: https://feather.wiki/
161.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
Depends. To some degree, some folks esp. for "lights out" machining are just pushing buttons and loading/unloading pallets of stock/parts, but usually the job description for that is "machine operator". A machi
162.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
Edited to clarify APOSD == the book _A Philosophy of Software Design_ Please ask John Ousterhout what his cut of this settlement will be, and whether or no he agreed to it and finds it acceptable.
163.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
A good example of the problem with this settlement: >It appears that LLMs have already incorporated APOSD EDIT: The text of the book _A Philosophy of Software Design_ ENDEDIT (which would seem to be illegal, since it is copyrighted). For
164.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
Sort of. - I've often bought books with old/traditional covers which I like, but then a movie is made and the cover is "updated" to the movie tie-in version - I've found at least one typo in pretty much every e-book
165.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
No, that's a convention from typing. The actual approach used by a printer would be to be more generous with spacing material at the end of a sentence. The relevant TeX commands are \frenchspacing or \nofrenchspacing.
166.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
Turning pages on my older Paperwhite is quick enough that I don't really notice it. Reference materials and note-taking are why I got the Scribe and its larger screen. Horses for courses.
167.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
Page size isn't that big a deal when the text reflows and can be resized as desired, except for when one wants to view a map or diagram. Before I got my Scribe I'd fire up the Kindle app on my tablet (or convertible) for such usag
168.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
I rather liked my Sony PRS-505 and 600 for their 6.1" screen and that it would fit in a (large) shirtpocket. My Kindle Paperwhite and Scribe Coloursoft go weeks between charges.
169.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
Well, Ted Nelson wanted that w/ Xanadu and Autodesk spent a fair bit of money on that....
170.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
I would be fine with a mode where the ads were corralled at the bottom of the page, but not loaded, with a disclosure triangle which would then allow me the option of viewing them if the content was credible enough that it seemed to me that
171.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
It would be a more useful reference if things such as "Icon Ideas" and "EDUCORP 8.0" could either be filtered out or were relegated to separate pages --- some sort of hierarchy would help a lot.
172.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
It contains the story of how Carl Sagan convinced the Voyager crew to turn its sensors towards earth so as to see if life could be detected using its quite minimal sensor suite --- I thought it had a link to the original published paper. Th
173.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
Well there is: https://mathcs.clarku.edu/~djoyce/java/elements/elements.htm... for geometry. (previously I was noting a physics PDF set as well, but it's apparently not well-grounded/is controversia
174.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
Is it wrong that I was hoping for something along the lines of: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-would-we-know... except where they are noting how helium is being allowed to escape and not being captured
175.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
Keeping everything local in a file structure was a big part of my attraction to: https://github.com/clach04/puren_tonbo/wiki/Tombo Nice to see this approach carried forward.
176.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
No, Columbus.
177.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
Charming old site! It would be neat to see it updated to something along the lines of: https://507movements.com/ That said, most folks would be better served by: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show&#x2F
178.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
The problem is, it's not very well structured. The position of (for instance) the check # on a physical check varies quite widely, as can date position and format, and a fair number of them are still written by hand. On top of that, I&
179.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
Maybe? But it's at my day job, and it's because I was able to write a prompt which automates having Copilot review uploaded scanned PDFs of invoices with checks (and the bank line obscured with a pen, so no PII) and then write a b
180.
by WillAdams 3mo ago
It also makes writing more difficult --- the doubled-up pen movements help get ink flowing, esp. on certain letters at certain angles, esp. w/ a fountain pen.

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