1. The rule says, “No vehicles in the park”
Total comment counts : 150
Summary
The article describes a game consisting of 27 questions about a hypothetical park where the rule is “No vehicles in the park.” The objective is to determine if this rule has been violated. The questions test the players’ understanding and interpretation of the rule, and disregards any jurisdiction or religion-specific rules. The game concludes with a comparison of the player’s results to those of others, and a discussion of the game’s purpose.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author of the article is discussing a sign reading “No vehicles in the park” and the confusion over its interpretation. While the author believes the intent of the sign is clear and applies specifically to cars, trucks, and motorcycles, the article suggests that this example doesn’t demonstrate the difficulty of understanding rules governing content moderation. The assistant concludes that the text suggests that the rule about vehicles in the park is actually much clearer than many content moderation rules.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses an unclear chart that shows the percentage of people agreeing with different types of vehicles, and the author’s confusion about their results. Despite initially being unsure about their agreement percentage, it seems that their choices were actually in line with the majority and the chart accurately represents yes answers.
2. An open source web-based flashcard studying system
Total comment counts : 24
Summary
Scholarsome is an open-source flashcard studying system that allows users to practice memorization of terms and definitions, while keeping their data secure locally. It is designed as a drop-in replacement for any study workflow and intends to offer an alternative to other similar services that have begun to paywall core functionalities. It is accessible for free at scholarsome.com and can also be self-hosted on any system. Scholarsome is an open-source project with a transparent development process and welcomes contributions from users.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article advises readers not to use a particular software and instead suggests using Anki, which has a free web version and desktop apps. The software being discussed is missing important features such as spaced-repetition that makes large decks usable.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author currently uses Anki and is open to switching to a new software if there is a good reason to do so. They are also curious about whether they can pay for the software, as Anki does not accept payment, and have concerns about the future usability of the software.
3. Common Bugs in Writing (2021)
Total comment counts : 25
Summary
The article provides guidelines for technical writing such as the correct use of abbreviations, hyphens, and dashes. It also advises against overusing bullet points and scare quotes, and recommends expanding acronyms on first use. The use of units and symbols is also discussed, along with ways to improve the readability of the text.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article suggests that if someone needs to clarify what they said by using the phrase “in other words” then they should revise their original statement to make it clearer. In certain situations, it may be useful to explain things in multiple ways for better understanding for various people.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author of this article is confused about why many academic staff have websites that are hard to read. While increasing the font size may be a solution, it can be inconvenient on mobile devices. The author points out that intentionally making text hard to read, such as using small fonts and multiple parenthesized remarks, is counterproductive and goes against recommendations for creating effective text.
4. Make your programs run faster by better using the data cache (2020)
Total comment counts : 9
Summary
Johnny’s Software Lab LLC is proficient in performance optimization and specializes in ways to speed up software programs. Their first post in a series on low-level optimizations focuses on leveraging memory cache subsystems for better execution. By using arrays as opposed to linked lists, a program can considerably reduce cache misses, enabling the CPU to have faster access to data. Class structuring can also be optimized to allow cache prefetchers to get more adjacent elements to the one currently being accessed. Finally, to reduce cache misses, software developers should take the size of the cache line into consideration when organizing their data.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article suggests the development of a language feature called “managed memory” to optimize the safety and performance of data organization. This feature would allow users to declare the data they need and how it should be accessed, leaving it up to the language/compiler to determine the most efficient way to organize it. The author proposes that this feature could potentially work by giving hints to the compiler, but acknowledges that further research is needed in this area.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author describes their experience working on a simulation analysis and shares several lessons learned. They emphasize the importance of efficient libraries like Numpy and the benefits of vectorization and parallelization to improve speed and performance. The author also discusses the use of quantization techniques to reduce memory usage and the challenges they faced when attempting to use Pytorch tensors on an M1 Mac. Overall, the author found the project to be an educational journey and believes that working on practical projects is an effective way to learn new techniques.
5. Maker’s schedule, Manager’s schedule (2009)
Total comment counts : 10
Summary
The article argues that there are two types of schedules – the “manager’s schedule”, which is divided into hour-long intervals and preferred by powerful people, and the “maker’s schedule”, which is preferred by people who need long chunks of time to work in, such as programmers and writers. The article argues that meetings are a disaster for those on the maker’s schedule, as they are disruptive and cause a “cascading effect” that can derail ambitious projects. The article suggests that start-ups may increasingly resist turning into managers, just as founders started to resist switching from jeans to suits a few decades ago. To simulate the manager’s schedule, the article suggests setting aside office hours, during which time there are no interruptions. Finally, the article argues that those on the maker’s schedule are willing to compromise, as they understand that some meetings are necessary, but they ask that those on the manager’s schedule understand the cost.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article argues that the problem with “Tech Lead” positions in many startups is that the person holding the role is expected to handle both managerial and technical responsibilities. This can lead to difficulties in performing both roles effectively and can potentially result in burnout. The author suggests that companies should avoid hiring for this position altogether.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author discusses using the Pomodoro Technique and taking notes before taking a break in order to mitigate context switching issues. They find that dumping their thoughts into written form is helpful in staying organized and reducing interruptions. The author also suggests that meetings often feel like a waste of time because people are not taking the time to write down and organize their thoughts beforehand.
6. Do, or do not. There is no try
Total comment counts : 40
Summary
The article is about a tool called “try” which allows the user to run commands and inspect their effects before changing their live system. The tool uses Linux’s namespaces and the overlayfs union filesystem. However, it’s still in prototype and should not be used to execute commands that are not trusted on the system. By default, try will ask the user to commit the changes made at the end of its execution. The tool has been tested on several distributions and is available for download by cloning a repository. Try is a higher-order command and can be invoked with various flags for different purposes. Ultimately, the goal of “try” is to allow users to try out commands without the risk of harming their live system.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses a new technology that allows users to test applications in real-time without having to set up a separate container for the task. The author notes that this is particularly appealing to NixOS users who have become accustomed to eliminating the filesystem as a source of mutable state.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article criticizes the technology industry for being slow to implement proper undo features in computer interfaces, despite the fact that it has been known for over 40 years that everything in a user interface should be undoable. The author points out that even the undo implementation on the iPhone is inadequate, and calls for improvement in this area.
7. Finally getting two’s complement
Total comment counts : 30
Summary
The article explains two’s complement, a way computers represent negative numbers to make math work. It shows how unsigned integers work and how they are represented on a circle, and then how the same circle works for two’s complement signed integers, with the same rotation rule working across the negative/positive boundary. It adds that one nice property of this representation is that positive numbers still look the same as they do in unsigned, and finally explains how to compute the bit pattern for a negative signed integer.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article explains how complements can be used for subtracting numbers, not just in binary systems but also in decimal systems. Complements allow you to subtract by adding numbers. The ten’s complement of a number in the decimal system is the remainder to the next power of ten, and this complement can be used to rewrite a subtraction problem as an addition problem. The article also mentions that this same concept works for binary systems using the two’s complement. The two’s complement is even easier to calculate because it just involves inverting all digits and adding 1.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article explains the difference between the highest bit in an unsigned 8-bit integer and a signed 8-bit integer. While the highest bit in an unsigned integer is worth 128, in a signed integer, it’s worth -128.
8. 64-Bit RISC-V with Apache NuttX Real-Time Operating System
Total comment counts : 6
Summary
The article discusses how to boot the Apache NuttX Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) on a 64-bit RISC-V device using the QEMU emulator. The article explores the RISC-V boot code used by NuttX, including its RISC-V assembly code, and explains how the NuttX Boot Code and RISC-V Start Code work. The article is intended to be educational for those interested in learning about RISC-V assembly code and NuttX RTOS on 64-bit RISC-V devices, as the author notes that they plan to port NuttX to the StarFive JH7110 RISC-V SoC and Pine64 Star64 Single-Board Computer.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article explains that a ‘hartid’ is a CPU register unique to each core that identifies it, but they are not guaranteed to be contiguous. This means that if a board has multiple CPU chips, each chip may have a different number of CPUs and the hartids may be set up differently. For example, a chip designer who wants to create 256 core chips will reserve 8 bits for the lower bits and route the external chip pins to bits above that. Therefore, it is important not to depend on hartids being contiguous.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author is asking for a comparison of NuttX with other real-time operating systems (RTOSes) in terms of their usage context and hierarchy. They are seeking guidance on learning an embeddable RTOS and whether NuttX is a viable option to consider. The author is intrigued by NuttX’s design, but they lack the knowledge to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses compared to other RTOSes.
9. Millions of GitHub repos likely vulnerable to RepoJacking, researchers say
Total comment counts : 12
Summary
The website www.bleepingcomputer.com has banned the autonomous system number 4134 from accessing the website, which includes the IP address 14.22.11.164. Cloudflare is providing performance and security for the website.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article argues that the term “RepoJacking” assigned to the practice of changing the name of a repository does not represent a new vulnerability and does not require additional attention because GitHub already notifies users of changes to aliases that are not permanent. The author believes that vulnerability lies within automated scripts that rely on aliases, but warns that it is possible to conduct code searches to identify instances where alias reliance could be exploited.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article suggests that the redirect behavior in GitHub can create confusion for users as it gives the impression that the old organization name is still tied to them permanently. The author suggests that GitHub can limit the number of changes a user can make or limit the redirect behavior to the last two organization names.
10. Why thousands of board games are buried beneath Mankato
Total comment counts : 7
Summary
error
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article argues that the world depicted in the game of Monopoly is not a fun one, as one lucky player gets to charge rent to all other players for just existing, which perpetuates and increases inequality. The concept of “monopoly” is similarly problematic.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author expresses excitement about seeing Mankato on HN and highlights the town’s lively punk scene in the past, including visits from Billie Joe to see his girlfriend. The author also recommends Pagalias pizza.