6421
The RWKV language model: An RNN with the advantages of a transformer
I explain what is so unique about the RWKV language model.
Topics /
Software Engineering
The most popular blog posts about software engineering on Hacker News. 14,540 posts.
6422
Yesterday's Pixels, Today
In August I finished work on a game called Restricted Airspace for the Wonderbundle, a bundle of new games by NYC game designers available as a reward to backers of the Wonderville Kickstarter . It is a 3rd person aerial shooter in the style of the original Star Fox set in a city modeled on Beirut in the 1890s. It was…
6423
6424
6425
The Case of a Curious SQL Query
Languages that suffer success often have to do so by selling out and adding features that go against some of the original purposes of their design. SQL is a...
6426
Const and Optimization in C
Today there was a question on /r/C_Programming about the effect of C’s const on optimization. Variations of this question have been asked many times over the past two decades. Personally, I blame naming of const .
6427
A Journey into the Linux Scheduler
Two years ago more or less I started my journey in Linux. I was scared at first and I didn’t know where to start from. But then I decided to buy a book - and what a book! - in order to follow a path. Along the way, I integrated the material with up-to-date documentation from kernel.org and source code. In the…
6428
Vim & Python: Making yourself at home
You might look at Python code every day, but what is the lens through which you view code? It's your text editor. This article was written for Python Magazine and was first in a series on Python development environments. Here, we look at how Vim users can boost their productivity by having Vim tell you as much as…
6429
6430
How Clang Compiles a Function
Minor nit: printing the predecessors of a basic block is a feature of the IL printer, not Clang. It is just visualizing information that is implicit in the IR anyway.
6431
Shipping a compiler every six weeks
This blog post is a slightly edited version of the live transcript of the talk I gave at RustFest 2019 in Barcelona on November 10th, 2019. As it's a transcript some parts of it are a bit repetitive or badly worded, but I hope the message behind the talk will be conveyed by this post anyway.
6432
Elliptical Python Programming
One thing I love about Python is how it comes with its very own built-in zen. In moments of tribulations, when I am wrestling with crooked code and tangled thoughts, I often find solace in its timeless wisdom. Here's a glimpse of the clarity it provides:
6433
6434
Deep code search
Deep code search Gu et al., ICSE’18 The problem with searching for code is that the query, e.g. “read an object from xml,” doesn’t look very much like the source code snippets tha…
6435
6436
Intuitively Understanding Harris Corner Detector
If you ever tried to learn how the Harris corner detection algorithm works, you might have noticed that the process is not intuitive at all. First, you start with an energy function, approximate it using Taylor approximation, get a matrix from that, then find the eigenvalues of that matrix, etc. But when you come to…
6437
Phrases in computing that might need retiring
The upcoming issue of the SICPers newsletter is all about phrases that were introduced to computing to mean one thing, but seem to get used in practice to mean another. This annoys purists, pedants, and historians: it also annoys the kind of software engineer who dives into the literature to see how ideas were…
6438
Why not tell people to “simply” use pyenv, poetry or anaconda
You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.
6439
Two Vexing Problems in Functional Programming
Matthew Butterick
6440
My review of the C standard library in practice
In general, when working in C I avoid the standard library, libc, as much as possible. If possible I won’t even link it. For people not used to working and thinking this way, the typical response is confusion. Isn’t that like re-inventing the wheel? For me, libc is a wheel barely worth using — too many deficiencies in…
6441
Philosophy of science books every computer scientist should read
When I tell my fellow computer scientists or software developers that I'm interested in philosophy of science, they first look a bit confused, then we have a really interesting discussion about it and then they ask me for some interesting books they could read about it. So, I thought I should turn my answer into a…
6442
Tips on adding JSON output to your CLI app
Best practices when adding a JSON output option to your command-line application.
6443
A “Better C” Benchmark
An unusual benchmark for programming languages, designed to replace C. Unlike many other benchmarks, this one measures developer productivity and performance.
6444
"Useless Ruby sugar": Argument forwarding
Or, how the feature that allows to write less names might make the code more explicit.
6445
The bane of my existence: Supporting both async and sync code in Rust
Sit beside me and hear this crazy old man's tale of when I asked Rust for too much
6446
My Reaction to React
EDIT: Some people were rightly complaining about the code snippets being screen captures rather than <code> blocks. I’ve updated accordingly. Also, many have rightfully commented that t…
6447
Comparisons in C++20
Now that the Cologne meeting is over and we’ve more or less finalized (at least before the NB comments come in) C++20, I wanted to take the time to describe in detail one of the new language features we can look forward to. The feature is typically referred to as operator<=> (defined in the language as “three-way…
6448
Why your first Rust FizzBuzz implementation may not work
An exploration into some initially surprising but great parts of Rust (though you still may not like them).
6449
Sadly, I must say goodbye to Leaf, my programming language
This is hard to write, or rather, it’s a hard decision to make. After investing many years on Leaf — a programming language, a major life project — I need to take a break from it. It’s no longer fulfilling my goals, and it’s not as fun as it once was. It’s interfering with my […]
6450