kwantam

17 ms·

91.
by kwantam 13y ago
Huh. I learned a different lesson from Therac-25: "never write mission-critical software." :) For those who haven't read it, http://sunnyday.mit.edu/papers/therac.pdf
92.
by kwantam 13y ago
As a learning experience this is a great idea. I think, however, that it would be really useful to note, when applicable, what standard UNIX tool just does a job for you (and presumably learning that tool, too)---about 1/3 of these are
93.
by kwantam 13y ago
This is interesting and pretty awesome. I can imagine having a lot of fun making a toy compiler that emits LLVM IR directly. Practically speaking, is there a good reason to do this in non-toy software rather than the more-or-less standard p
94.
by kwantam 13y ago
While the relevance is tenuous at best, when I saw this headline my mind went immediately to a different kind of 1-bit interface. WARNING: this is super tangential and has basically nothing to do with 1-bit UX design except perhap
95.
by kwantam 13y ago
It's really hard for me to take this article seriously when it opens with the claim that engineering classes are about memorization. That couldn't be further from my experience. I did undergrad and grad degrees in EE/CS, and
96.
by kwantam 13y ago
Excuse me, do you really think now is the right time to trivialize the waffle issue?
97.
by kwantam 13y ago
There's already a very primitive version of "type holes" available, namely, undefined. I realize it's not as advanced as what's to come, but I find myself using it somewhat frequently. (For non- or fledgling Haskellers, "undefined" has any
98.
by kwantam 13y ago
Hey, what a coincidence. I just wrote up some notes from the time I spent this evening tuning up the Debian Wheezy base image for the BBK: http://github.jfet.org/BBKNotes1.html
99.
by kwantam 13y ago
Perhaps someone will helpfully design a "PSU stability dongle" comprising a 26.1 Ohm resistor (standard 1% resistor value sufficient to ensure >450mA from 12V) and a Molex connector. Make it a passthrough. Of course, it'll have to be a
100.
by kwantam 14y ago
Absolutely. Counting calories is a fast feedback loop (count each day, compare to your target, increase or decrease your intake as appropriate); you need a slow feedback loop to set the intermediate target against your actual goal (in this
101.
by kwantam 14y ago
Not true. In Scheme you could implement an O(1) lookup for user types plus a cascade for built-in types. The number of built-in types is small and constant, so it should not impose much overhead.
102.
by kwantam 14y ago
> This is not possible in either Scheme or Kernel. In both > languages, programming generically requires one to use a > cascade of type predicates (e.g. number?). This is a strange claim. If it's possible to
103.
by kwantam 14y ago
This letter gives a fascinating look at the structure of three high-volume betting clubs that formed around the Massachusetts Cash Winfall game. In the past, the Boston Globe has done its best to cast a pretty negative light on these bettor
104.
Investigation report: High volume betting clubs in the Mass Cash Winfall(mass.gov)
2 points by kwantam 14y ago|1 comments
105.
by kwantam 14y ago
(I don't know if this is sarcasm, but I'm answering with the assumption it's not.) Manufacturing ammunition is simple and requires components and equipment that can be purchased for relatively little money and with (almost) no restrictions.
106.
by kwantam 14y ago
The part that's 3d printed is the lower receiver. In an AR-15 style design, the lower receiver doesn't handle any pressure at all, it just houses the magazine and hammer/trigger/sear/safety, and connects to the upper receiver/barrel assembl
107.
by kwantam 14y ago
There are companies that specialize in reverse engineering schematics from silicon. It's entirely possible (albeit relatively expensive and time-consuming compared to good old-fashioned industrial espionage) to recover schematics from silic
108.
by kwantam 15y ago
I got into MIT at 16 and turned 17 during my freshman year. I can't say I ever suffered socially as a result; I'm a very social person and had a large group of friends at school. As far as the strategy, if you can call it that: I wasn't get
109.
by kwantam 15y ago
Not just if you vote in their districts! For many people, congressional elections are decided before the race even starts. The best way to make your voice heard if you're in this position is to donate to closely contested campaigns in other
110.
by kwantam 15y ago
Request for explanation of rampant downvoting.
111.
by kwantam 15y ago
Don't you understand, if the government doesn't spend huge sums recovering these coins our currency will be devalued. I mean, devalued more. Because, you know, quantitative easing, and all that. More seriously: I want to know how the hell y
112.
by kwantam 15y ago
It's not just too many occurrences of the header, it's too many ranges specified in a particular header. The zero-day script submits a header that looks like this: Range:bytes=0-,5-1,5-2,5-3,5-4,...,5-1299 I don't know if you were
113.
by kwantam 15y ago
I'm not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure Gottschalk v. Benson makes it clear that the algorithm itself is not patentable. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottschalk_v._Benson EDIT: It occurs to me upon reflecting on my reply that you're making
114.
by kwantam 15y ago
It's not delay sensitive on the same order of magnitude as something like a dc/dc converter. The relevant time constants in the pilot->controls->control surfaces->attitude->pilot loop are measured in fractional seconds (and
115.
by kwantam 15y ago
Absolutely. A method shouldn't be patentable just because it's too boring for a human to perform a mindless computation over and over again. Multiply a 3x3 matrix is simple for me to do by hand; multiplying a 1000x1000 matrix is no differen
116.
by kwantam 15y ago
> By buying TMO, they would get an instantaneous > coverage increase and instantaneous capability > increase. Not really. Most of the coverage AT&T is lacking and proposed to build out to expand from 8x%
117.
by kwantam 15y ago
He discusses aging and longevity of Kinesis keyboards; I can contribute a bit here. I presently own two Kinesis Advantage keyboards; one I got in 1999, the other in 2000. The one from 1999 has run since then with absolutely no issues, and I
118.
by kwantam 15y ago
I'm pretty sure there's more to it than just that. For example, the difference in power output between the two engines wouldn't be necessary if the enhanced stability were due only to reduced distance between engines. For example, the Blohm
119.
by kwantam 15y ago
This article is really light on detail. A quick search of DSpace, MIT's paper/thesis repository, brings up the following paper from Giuliano in 2009: "Fully monolithic cellular buck converter design for 3-D power delivery" http://dspace.mi
120.
Why Should Engineers and Scientists Be Worried About Color?(research.ibm.com)
1 points by kwantam 15y ago|0 comments

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