jasperry

8 ms·

91.
by jasperry 1y ago
As I understand it, this result is about algorithms that solve any instance of a given computational problem (like finding the shortest paths through a graph.) The specific problem instance (the graph) is the input to the algorithm. The res
92.
by jasperry 1y ago
Update after youtube: It was already known that a time-t function can be computed in sqrt(t) space on a single-tape Turing machine. It's exactly like @cma said: a Turing machine wastes a lot of time moving the head back and forth. Wi
93.
by jasperry 1y ago
That's a good example! So the sqrt(n) space in the result must refer to space beyond that needed to write down the output--basically a working memory scratchpad. In which case, a string-copying function could use just a constant amount
94.
by jasperry 1y ago
Once a seed is fed to a PRNG, it can be deleted. But you still have a point, because the state of an OS PRNG can be saved and restored, for example when the machine sleeps, and a hacker could potentially access this to reproduce generated b
95.
by jasperry 1y ago
Thanks, this is a great story to illustrate why there's almost never any advantage to using a TRNG over a cryptographic-strength PRNG. That's also why Linux removed the blocking RNG from the kernel; there was no attack model where
96.
by jasperry 1y ago
How is random.org publicly verifiable? As far as I know, there's no way to prove that a certain set of numbers was produced by random.org at a certain time. The public verifiability is the real "quantum" advance of this resea
97.
by jasperry 1y ago
The smell of coffee is not the molecules in the air; the molecules in the air cause you to smell something, but the smelling itself is a subjective experience. The same for the signals in our brain; that's an objective explanation of
98.
by jasperry 1y ago
I had a similar thought to this, but then I thought, who is worse: programmers who keep bloating up existing languages with new features, or programmers who create yet another new language to add to the already crowded field? (I'm in t
99.
by jasperry 1y ago
The OCaml vscode plugin seems to have already integrated a lot of new syntaxes (dune, menhir, reason), so if OxCaml gains traction it should only be a matter of time. (can't really speak for that myself, though, I use emacs)
100.
by jasperry 1y ago
So if I understand the claim of this correctly (I'm a spectator of logic research and haven't tried to follow the proofs), there is a constructive version of AoC that is obviously true, but it's not the same as Zermelo's
101.
by jasperry 1y ago
I like the idea of this enough to search a bit for similar projects. The deal breaker on this for me is the 1.14-inch screen. Middle age has made it much less pleasant to look at things that small.
102.
by jasperry 1y ago
Thank you for this, there are a lot of nuggets to pick up from it. I don't know if anyone's still around to comment, but I sure would be interested in seeing some elaboration on the following claim: "Structural typing drastic
103.
by jasperry 1y ago
Yes, prompting an LLM is a kind of skill. But relying on it has been shown to hinder development of the most important skill of all--critical, independent thinking. And ultimately that's the only "accomplishment" that matters
104.
by jasperry 1y ago
These are what I think the author is looking for. But it shouldn't be a "primitive" in terms of code automatically generated by the compiler, but an interface or typeclass like your examples (in a language advanced enough to
105.
by jasperry 1y ago
Many happy memories of checking out books like this from my public library and trying to get the programs working on the C64. The BASIC dialect never matched exactly.
106.
by jasperry 1y ago
Yes, a small feature set is important, and adding the functional-style pipe to languages that already have chaining with the dot seems to clutter up the design space. However, dot-chaining has the severe limitation that you can only pass to
107.
by jasperry 1y ago
Bram's first version of vim was for the Amiga! Indeed, as the article says, this deserves to be more widely known. On the other hand, an Emacs clone (MicroEmacs) actually came with my Amiga 500's bundled extras disk...
108.
by jasperry 2y ago
I thought similarly and went with the most expensive lenses with the largest "corridor" for my first pair of progressives. They're great for up close and distance, but for me so far, the middle distance region for screens is
109.
by jasperry 2y ago
If you return a function, the compiler has to bundle up the values of any variables that the function uses from its outer environment and return the whole package. That's known as a closure. You can't just return a function pointe
110.
by jasperry 2y ago
I always favored NetBeans because it is open-source and seemed less cluttered than Eclipse, and anyway I don't use a ton of advanced IDE features; I mostly do personal projects. I picked it up again recently because it's the defau
111.
by jasperry 2y ago
WATMM has been an invaluable resource for my exploration of the world of electronic music. That said, I totally understand that when you just can't keep committing the effort to keep something going. Thank you for sharing the love of m
112.
by jasperry 2y ago
Doing this kind of thing is so helpful to get perspective on our life. One part is just writing down all the events we can remember. Then we can add to that some kind of schematic based on longer periods of time, both for understanding the
113.
by jasperry 2y ago
Claims have been made (outside the medical mainstream) that regularly practicing crossing your eyes helps stave off presbyopia. One does get better at seeing stereograms with practice, so it seems like it at least improves some type of musc
114.
by jasperry 2y ago
They made the cases or keycaps brown to compensate for not having good browns on the screen :D
115.
by jasperry 2y ago
I agree that `len(seq) == 0` is more readable. I don't mind the recommended truth test of the sequence itself, but I have no idea who would use their "wrong" option with the length as a truth value. Or maybe POSIX exit codes
116.
by jasperry 2y ago
A big reason is that it's quicker and more objective to grade, making the heavy workload of teachers a little easier to shoulder. I don't completely agree that multiple-choice questions can't test real knowledge. It is possib
117.
by jasperry 2y ago
I see, thanks. I'm surprised that they re-date people's comments; it seems like that could lead to misunderstandings.
118.
Is HN's story age display messed up?
2 points by jasperry 2y ago|2 comments
119.
by jasperry 2y ago
Speaking as someone who has been where your uncle is (edit:was), I don't hear it discussed much how tempting religion is to scientific/nerdy types, or anyone with a thirst for knowledge. If you believe your religion's scriptu
120.
by jasperry 2y ago
I don't think the decline of minivans is because of "uncoolness"; I blame the US auto industry that doesn't want to sell anything but SUVs. Our family was shopping last year for a new minivan to replace our aging Odyssey

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