Fedora/RISC-V reaches initial goal
Ha ha only joking. However when we started out on building Fedora on the free RISC-V architecture, the goal we decided on was to get every package in the Fedora @Core group built. I’m happy t…
TDD Doesn't Work
Yeah, an in-depth study that repeated another study that was done a few years back. Both showed that TDD doesn’t work. The new one uses a multi-site, blind analysis, approach. It looks conclusive.
The NSA Is Hoarding Vulnerabilities
The National Security Agency is lying to us. We know that because data stolen from an NSA server was dumped on the Internet. The agency is hoarding information about security vulnerabilities in the products you use, because it wants to use it to hack others’ computers. Those vulnerabilities aren’t being reported, and…
How to implement a programming language in JavaScript
This is a tutorial on how to implement a programming language. If you ever wrote an interpreter or a compiler, then there is probably nothing new for you here. But, if you're using regexps to “parse” anything that looks like a programming language, then please read at least the section on parsing . Let's write less…
England and Wales House Price Analysis
The last time I looked at house prices it went pretty well, and I ended up winning a data science competition. There I was only dealing with a million or so records, and a relatively small 120 MB dataset. Then I found out it was possible to download 3.7GB of property sale records for all of England and Wales since…
Tool AIs want to be agent AIs
AIs limited to pure computation (Tool AIs) supporting humans, will be less intelligent, efficient, and economically valuable than more autonomous reinforcement-learning AIs (Agent AIs) who act on their own and meta-learn, because all problems are reinforcement-learning problems.
How old were the inventors of major inventions?
I came across this fun column the other day listing a number of Famous Inventions , like the airplane, the camera, electricity, the car, e...
Cartoon Laws of Physics
Cartoon Law I Any body suspended in space will remain in space until made aware of its situation. Daffy Duck steps off a cliff, expecting further pastureland. He loiters in midair, soliloquizing flippantly, until he chances to look down. At this point, the familiar principle of 32 feet per second per second takes over.
1995 Programming on the Sega Saturn
This is a document I wrote in 1995, while working on Neversoft’s first game: Skeleton Warriors. It was the first game I’d worked on where I did not use 68K Assembly.
Restoring YC's Xerox Alto, Day 6: Fixed a chip, data read from disk
In today's Xerox Alto restoration session we investigated why the disk drive isn't working and found a failed chip. With this chip repaire...
Don't Assume It's Difficult Until It Is
Algorithms, circle mazes, hex grids, masking, weaving, braiding, 3D and 4D grids, spheres, and more!
Tiny Lisp Computer
This article describes a self-contained computer with its own display and keyboard interface, based on an ATmega328, that you can program in Lisp. You can use it to run programs that interface to components such as LEDs and push-buttons via the I/O pins, read the analogue inputs, and operate external devices via the…
Can computers become conscious?: My reply to Roger Penrose
A few weeks ago, I attended the Seven Pines Symposium on Fundamental Problems in Physics outside Minneapolis, where I had the honor of participating in a panel discussion with Sir Roger Penrose. T…
How the United Arab Emirates Intelligence Tried to Hire Me to Spy on Its People
Recently, we’ve been overwhelmed with news of horrors, attacks, monsters who murder the innocent in the name of a faith they don’t truly know. I’m publishing t…
A better offer letter
At Carta we spend a lot of time thinking about how to better educate employees on startup equity. Even new hires at Carta often don’t…
The Untouchables – Apple’s new OS “activation” for Touch Bar MacBook Pros
Last week Joe Chilcote discovered an interesting message when imaging a Late 2016 MacBook Pro TouchBar (from here on out referred to as TBP): A critical software update is required for your Mac. To…
A Container Is a Function Call
There’s something missing from the Docker ecosystem: a type-checker.
I am a puts debuggerer
Update (2023-06-28): Added “I required a file, but I want to know what files were actually loaded” I love puts debugging I am a puts debuggerer. I don’t say this to disparage people that use a Real Debugger. I think Real Debuggers are great, I’ve just never taken the time to learn one well. Every time I try to lean…
Hacking industrial vehicles from the internet
It is possible to monitor and control float trucks, public bus or delivery vans from the internet , obtaining their speed, position, and a lot other parameters. You can even control some parameters of the vehicle or hack into the canbus of the vehicle remotely.
A Tale of Twenty-Two Million Citi Bikes: Analyzing the NYC Bike Share System
Analysis and visualization of the New York City bike share system