1. Memory Allocation
Total comment counts : 51
Summary:
The article discusses the basics of memory allocation for computer programs. Programs load from the hard drive into memory and then perform computations on values stored in memory. malloc and free functions are used by almost all programs to manage memory. The article provides visual representations of simple memory allocators and discusses problems such as memory leaks and fragmentation. To combat fragmentation, the article recommends overallocation. The article concludes by stating that designing an allocator that performs well for all programs is challenging.
Top 1 Comment Summary:
The article talks about the importance of coalescing memory blocks when returning them to a free list. It also discusses a problem faced by the default Delphi 7 memory allocator, which merged blocks obtained from different OS allocation calls but caused issues when used for Bitmaps for UI due to Windows attempting to lock the entire allocation’s VAD entry and failing if the Bitmap belonged to two different OS-level allocations. This led to random, cryptic errors and in the end, the allocator had to be replaced.
Top 2 Comment Summary:
The article clarifies that an allocator that splits memory based on allocation size is not always called a “buddy allocator”. The correct term for this method is a “slab allocator”, while a “buddy allocator” is one that recursively subdivides a memory area with a power of two size into two half-sized areas, called “buddies”, to satisfy allocations, and merges them again when they are free. The Linux kernel uses both buddy and slab allocators for managing memory allocation. The article also mentions that most production allocators use thread-local storage to reduce lock contention and improve cache performance.
2. Meta fined $1.3B over data transfers to U.S.
Total comment counts : 38
Summary:
Sorry, I am not able to summarize this article as it only contains the title and some navigation information. It does not provide any meaningful content to summarize.
Top 1 Comment Summary:
I’m sorry, but I cannot summarize an article that I cannot access. The link provided leads to a page that has been archived and may no longer be available. Please provide another link for me to summarize.
Top 2 Comment Summary:
The article discusses the pros and cons of the EU’s recent enforcement action against Facebook for violating EU privacy laws. While it is good to see progress in tech regulation, the author wishes the violation was more significant. There is also concern about global capabilities being limited by geographical boundaries, specifically in regards to processing personal data and the challenges it may present in areas such as epidemiology and medical inferences across borders. The author suggests that data processing should not be limited by location and proposes a possible solution for a verifiable processing package that can ensure data can be processed anywhere while still meeting regulations.
3. Same Stop: Life after 26 years as a programmer for Apple
Total comment counts : 61
Summary:
The author, a retired programmer who worked at Apple for twenty-six years, initially felt relieved and didn’t think he would continue programming after retirement. However, after a few months, he started a small project to learn Python and play with e-ink displays. He also dabbled in other hobbies such as woodworking, learning Blender, and 3D printing. But this year, he has found himself suddenly fully immersed in programming again, specifically in the programming language C, and has a desire to revisit and rewrite some shareware games he wrote over three decades ago. The author muses on whether he has a programming addiction and notes the magical feeling of returning to an old passion, but with modern technology.
Top 1 Comment Summary:
The author is marking their 27th year as a professional programmer and over 40 years since they started programming. They have worked in small and big companies in various roles like programmer, manager, team lead, and CTO. They realized that they don’t enjoy managing people, meetings, and paperwork, but they prefer long periods of focus. Therefore, they have gone back to being a software developer and architect in interesting spaces and plan to continue until they retire and switch to working on open source projects full-time.
Top 2 Comment Summary:
The author notes that many individuals without an apparent aptitude for programming have joined the software industry in recent years. They believe that the best developers are those who have self-taught and have a passion for writing code, as opposed to those who are solely motivated by high compensation and can be more likely to transition to management positions. The author acknowledges that both types of individuals have a role in a team but suggests that those who habitually code tend to remain as developers over time.
4. Beej’s Guide to Network Programming
Total comment counts : 25
Summary:
The article is an online guide to network programming using Internet sockets in C or C++. It provides information on how to get started with sockets programming and contains various resources for readers such as a downloadable book, examples, mirrors, and translations. The article also highlights the breadth of systems on which the sockets API can be used, including Unix, Linux, and Windows.
Top 1 Comment Summary:
The article recommends Beej’s guide to network concepts as a useful resource for those interested in network programming. Beej’s guides have been well-received in the hacker community and are highly recommended.
Top 2 Comment Summary:
The article is discussing a C guide that has an interesting email policy. The author is available to help with email questions but can’t guarantee a response due to a busy life. Any emails that can’t be answered in detail will be deleted.
5. PrivateGPT
Total comment counts : 30
Summary:
The article discusses a software tool that allows users to interact with their documents privately using the power of GPT and LLMs. The tool can be installed using GitHub and allows users to ingest and ask questions about their documents without an internet connection, with no data leaving their local environment. The software is not yet optimized for production use but is intended as a privacy-focused proof-of-concept. The tool requires Python 3.10 or later and includes optional command-line arguments to modify its behavior.
Top 1 Comment Summary:
The author of the article has tried many Python projects, but very few of them install easily. They often end with incompatibilities and scattered files. The author suggests using Docker to make the process easier, although there are supposedly better Python package managers available.
Top 2 Comment Summary:
The article suggests that for enterprises, the future of language model systems (LLMs) lies in self-hosted and self-trained ones, rather than relying on big tech companies like Microsoft and Google, which may compromise data privacy. While these companies assure data protection, their products need user interactions to function effectively, creating an inherent tension between product competitiveness and data privacy. The article proposes business ideas that can help enterprises set up, train, and maintain their own LLMs, as well as tools for security, compliance, and monitoring, and services for AI startups to become compliant with enterprise security.
6. Modding Age of Empires II with a Sprite-Diffuser
Total comment counts : 27
Summary:
The article discusses the creation of a versatile prompt-based image generator using Stable Diffusion generative “AI” for custom civilization sprites in Age of Empires II lobbies. The author uses techniques such as image transfer, Control Net, and loopback to achieve consistent and imaginative results. The article suggests that the same techniques could potentially be used in concept art or level design workflows to quickly block-out environment art or to create new assets. The author also acknowledges the contribution of the AoEII modding communities OpenAge, SLX Studio, and Age of Kings Heaven to the project.
Top 1 Comment Summary:
The author appreciates the idea and execution of AoE (Age of Empire), but wishes the screenshots were not in gif format because they are too fast to look at. The author also suggests applying the same technique to units and effects, but wonders if there is a technical limitation.
Top 2 Comment Summary:
The article discusses the staying power of classic video games such as the 1999 game that has remained popular despite being more than 20 years old and has seen two remakes, a large community, and a thriving pro scene. It also notes that some enthusiasts are using modern AI techniques to modify the game’s sprites.
7. The many faces of DISTINCT in Postgres (2017)
Total comment counts : 11
Summary:
The article describes the author’s experience with PostgreSQL while transitioning from Oracle. The author explains the use of the DISTINCT clause, which eliminates duplicate rows from the result, and the nonstandard clause DISTINCT ON, used to find the first row in a group. The article also discusses the use of ARRAY_AGG, which aggregates values into an array, and its implementation of the DISTINCT option in PostgreSQL. The author suggests going back to basics and avoiding common pitfalls with common table expressions in PostgreSQL.
Top 1 Comment Summary:
The article provides a tip for finding the employee with the highest salary in each department during a job interview using subselects in database queries. The main select obtains the departments, while a subselect fetches the top employee for each department. Though it may not be the most optimized way, it is a natural and straightforward solution for the problem.
Top 2 Comment Summary:
The article mentions that while the lack of upsert was an issue when transitioning from Oracle to Postgres, this issue has since been resolved with the introduction of “INSERT … ON CONFLICT UPDATE …” in Postgres.
8. Meta AI announces Massive Multilingual Speech code, models for 1000+ languages
Total comment counts : 32
Summary:
The Massively Multilingual Speech (MMS) project aims to expand speech technology from about 100 languages to over 1,000. This is being achieved by building a single multilingual speech recognition model, language identification models, pretrained models, and text-to-speech models for over 1,100 languages. The goal is to make it easier for people to access information and use devices in their preferred language. The project has also made available various tools and algorithms, including forced alignment and multilingual alignment models, and released the MMS code and model weights under the CC-BY-NC 4.0 license.
Top 1 Comment Summary:
The author is interested in using a Nvidia Geforce GPU as a side-project to experiment with AI models. They are unsure if a single RTX 4000 SFF with 20GB VRAM and 70W of max power usage is enough for their desired tasks and renting a GPU in the cloud is not a solution. The author wants to play around with the GPU in their 24/7 server and see what can be done.
Top 2 Comment Summary:
Facebook researchers have created a new speech recognition AI model that can transcribe 1,000 languages with high accuracy. The model, called Multilingual LibriSpeech ASR (MUSA), uses a training process that adapts to any language. MUSA is part of Facebook’s efforts to develop AI tools that help people attach more easily across language barriers. It is available as an open-source tool for other researchers and businesses to use.
9. Io uring
Total comment counts : 13
Summary:
The io_uring system is a method for providing the kernel with a schedule of system calls and receiving the results as they are created. It allows individuals to specify and execute system calls using asynchronous I/O, system call polybatching, and flexible buffer management. The system calls and liburing have fairly comprehensive man page coverage, including the io_uring.7 top-level page. While FreeBSD is sticking with kqueue, uring should displace epoll in new Linux code.
Top 1 Comment Summary:
The io_uring tool has the capability to operate in different modes, including a mode that enables kernel-side polling so that I/O can be performed without system calls. Despite its potential, most mainstream programmers may not pay attention to it, meaning it will take time to permeate through various ecosystems. The tool is discussed in more detail on the podcast, “The Technium.”
Top 2 Comment Summary:
The uWebSockets server, which is already one of the fastest http/websocket servers, has seen a 40% improvement in initial tests with io_uring.
10. Severance payments at Wikimedia Foundation
Total comment counts : 46
Summary:
The Wikimedia Foundation’s 2021 tax return shows that former CEO Katherine Maher received a severance package of $623,286, while former COO Janeen Uzzell was given $324,748. These payouts set a new record for the foundation, which has since implemented a new severance policy that limits payouts to one month’s salary for each year worked, up to a maximum of nine months. However, exceptions to the policy can be made with the joint approval of the head of talent and culture and the general counsel. Trustees discussed executive compensation and the new policy during a recent meeting, but some questions regarding the policy were left unanswered.
Top 1 Comment Summary:
The Wikimedia Foundation’s salaries have been increasing while hosting expenses have been decreasing as a proportion of all expenses. Net assets have also increased to about $240 million, 10 times what they were a decade ago. However, the foundation still asks for donations on every page of its site, leading some to feel uneasy about their motives.
Top 2 Comment Summary:
The author believes that volunteers, who receive no payment, bring the value to Wikipedia rather than the organization itself. They suggest that Wikipedia has received enough money to sustain itself indefinitely and questions why the organization is still asking for donations. The author sees no good reason for the continued requests for money since Wikipedia’s code and data are open source and could be easily set up again even if hosting costs became an issue. The author believes that the contributors to Wikipedia should receive donations directly rather than the “non-profit” organization that is taking the credit.