mwfunk

58 ms·

451.
by mwfunk 9y ago
It depends on what they're curious about. An incurious person who only learns new stuff when it's forced on them will eventually lose relevance. Their knowledge base is literally defined in terms of their environment and the forc
452.
by mwfunk 9y ago
The patent system has evolved in a way that has practically inverted its original intents. You're exactly right, practitioners in a given field (ex: engineers in the tech industry) often avoid looking at patents, because no good can co
453.
by mwfunk 9y ago
Pedantry is Computer Science 101, it's literally just saying the words that describe the thing that you're trying to communicate (not unlike programming languages). It's trivially easy! :)
454.
by mwfunk 10y ago
That makes sense. Heck, maybe the RPG vs. CRPG distinction was more '80s terminology. RPGs were a pretty well-established genre in computer and console games by the late '90s.
455.
by mwfunk 10y ago
The term was a lot more common in the '80s and '90s. Back then, certainly in the '80s, "RPG" meant tabletop RPGs. Hence, "CRPG" (computer RPG) was needed as a separate term. Also, in the '80s, compute
456.
by mwfunk 10y ago
Same here. 20+ years professional experience with a bunch of different companies, industries, languages, and locales. TODO/FIXME are the only ones I'd consider universal, and I have literally never seen anyone use XXX. I don'
457.
by mwfunk 10y ago
One of my pet peeves is when someone takes issue with an oversimplification of something, but instead of dealing with the oversimplification, they keep the same level of oversimplification but assume that the opposite view must be true. Jus
458.
by mwfunk 10y ago
Sharing a side project, even a simple one, is hardly showing off. It would be showing off if he claimed it was some amazing earth-shattering new thing that's going to blow everyone's minds. On the other hand, being dismissive abou
459.
by mwfunk 10y ago
Absolutely. The requirements in tech job postings are usually the result of a game of telephone between the hiring manager and an HR person. They often don't even reflect what the hiring manager actually wants. If you see a job posting
460.
by mwfunk 10y ago
The problem is the antivirus software, not the kernel features that the AV software is using. I can't imagine that MS would cripple their OS just so that someone who mostly uses WSL can bypass the AV software that their sadistic IT peo
461.
by mwfunk 10y ago
It would probably be much harder to justify. IP law exists because it's considered a net good to society (everyone doesn't agree on this, but this is why we have it at least). Of course, it doesn't help that all the money goe
462.
by mwfunk 10y ago
Nope!
463.
by mwfunk 10y ago
Kinda like what's happening here...
464.
by mwfunk 10y ago
I agree, at least in general- I think of critical thinking and communication as overlapping but very distinct skills. I believe that if an idea hasn't been articulated yet (put into words, whether in writing or speech or thought), it h
465.
by mwfunk 10y ago
If you're going to be contrarian about something like that, you have to provide some sort of rationale for it, otherwise you're just throwing red meat out there and inviting downvotes. This goes 1000x over for touchy issues where
466.
by mwfunk 10y ago
Insanely barbaric, when the "more room" part means taking it from other people. And when it's rationalized by racial and national mythology, then yes, it is absolutely insane.
467.
by mwfunk 10y ago
I don't think that's the consensus at all. I don't think there is a consensus, honestly. The only people who would say such a thing are the same overenthusiastic (bless them, but still) CS undergrads and/or aspiring soci
468.
by mwfunk 10y ago
Anecdotal and all, but FWIW everyone I know in the Bay Area does not live with a roommate, and these are well-paid software engineers. When people first move here and/or are just getting started with their career, some of them went thr
469.
by mwfunk 10y ago
One of the first programs I ever wrote was a Mandelbrot renderer in GW-BASIC, on an 8086 PC with a CGA card running DOS 3.3. This wasn't in the '80s when this would have made sense, rather this was circa 1994 because this was lite
470.
by mwfunk 10y ago
This one of the many reasons why self-driving cars are such a hard problem though. They don't just have to drive better than humans based on knowing the road and the conditions, they also have to deal with other drivers (who are perhap
471.
by mwfunk 10y ago
It's possible, but I think there's also something akin to the Anthropic Principle that affects what sort of articles get the most views and links- if the authors didn't think big change was inevitable, they wouldn't writ
472.
by mwfunk 10y ago
Who knows, but it'd be pretty irrational if it did. Whether it was fair or not, the "Common Markdown" name caused a kerfluffle because of the implication that it was claiming to be the One True Markdown. The name "GitHub
473.
by mwfunk 10y ago
None of that is obvious to me, nor does it seem like it has to be a binary choice between two extremes. That only makes sense if you are thinking of insurance purely as a business proposition between the insurer and an individual (well, mil
474.
by mwfunk 10y ago
I'm not Korean, but overall this whole series of events gave me new respect for the nation. It's unfortunate that everyone had to suffer through her leadership, but it also really says something that democratic rule of law is so w
475.
by mwfunk 10y ago
The difference is if a pass fails, you gain nothing, whereas even a mediocre run will probably give you at least a couple yards. So, if your goal is to avoid 3rd and 10, a run is more likely to accomplish this than a pass, even though a suc
476.
by mwfunk 10y ago
That was their strategy though- if they tried to introduce it as an alternative to iOS and Android, it was guaranteed DOA. They felt they could get it off the ground by introducing it as an alternative in poorer countries first. It might no
477.
by mwfunk 10y ago
Actually, WhatsApp runs on Symbian and Series 40. Many, possibly most, people who use WhatsApp run it on devices that arguably aren't even smartphones.
478.
by mwfunk 10y ago
In this context, I think "Mac resurgence" refers to the Mac coming back from the dead over the past 20 years, not recent sales figures.
479.
by mwfunk 10y ago
I guess I would expect just about anyone to know what a bubble sort is, but I wonder if that's bias from the classes I took. Every class on algorithms I ever took would start off with a bubble sort as an example of a sorting algorithm,
480.
by mwfunk 10y ago
None of the stories coming out of Uber sounds remotely like high achievers making lesser beings feel left behind. It sounds like a toxic culture with lousy management.

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