1. GPT in 500 Lines of SQL
Total comment counts : 23
Summary
The article discusses implementing a large language model in SQL. The author explains that a generative language model takes a text string as input and returns an array of strings and numbers. The model predicts the probability of the next word based on the input. The article also provides an overview of large language models and how they are used in various text applications. It mentions the development of the Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) algorithm. The author then proceeds to explain the implementation process of generating text using GPT2.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the author’s exploration of using a neural net in conjunction with SQLite. They were inspired by the makemore lecture series and had only gotten as far as using a neural net instead of counting. The author emphasizes that breaking down the problem into a relational model is a valuable exercise.
Top 2 Comment Summary
This article contains some confusion in its explanation of causal masking. Causal masking serves two purposes: preventing the model from looking at future tokens during training, and ensuring the autoregressive aspect during inference. During inference, only the last token is used and attends to the entire input sequence, so it is not determined solely from the last token’s embedding.
2. Institutions try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution
Total comment counts : 103
Summary
The Shirky principle states that institutions tend to preserve the problem they are meant to solve. This can manifest in various ways, such as government agencies hindering alternative solutions to maintain their relevance or failing to adopt better solutions. Examples include tax-filing companies lobbying against free and easy tax filing options and private prison companies lobbying for policies that increase incarceration rates. The principle can also apply to individuals who resist automation or change in their workplace to ensure their own necessity. The cobra effect and a similar incident involving rats in colonial times illustrate how attempts to solve a problem can unintentionally exacerbate it.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article describes a personal experience at a large company where a simple project was approached in a very inefficient manner. The author was asked for help, but instead of solving the problem quickly, the person in charge went to a VP and assembled a large team to work on it for nine months. The author realizes that in such organizations, the focus is often on creating events that generate recognition and credit, rather than efficiently solving problems.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author of the article, with experience in non-profits and NGOs, comments on the accuracy of a statement about the tendency for these organizations to become permanent fixtures of the problems they aim to solve. They acknowledge that while there are exceptions, such as de-mining NGOs actually removing land mines, many organizations succumb to the temptation of perpetuating the issues. As an example, the author mentions how San Francisco spends a significant amount of money to address homelessness, but it is ultimately consumed by a large NGO-industrial complex without effectively resolving the problem.
3. Generative Models: What do they know? Do they know things? Let’s find out
Total comment counts : 19
Summary
The article discusses a new approach called I-LoRA that transforms generative models into predictors of intrinsic scene maps in a highly detailed and realistic manner. The method extracts intrinsic scene maps directly from the original generator network without the need for additional decoders or extensive fine-tuning. The approach is adaptable to different generative architectures and produces scene maps that are comparable, and sometimes better, than those generated by existing supervised techniques.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the hype surrounding a technology called Sora, which is believed to have an internal physical simulation of the world. It is suggested that the videos created using this technology appear to capture a physical and 3D scene simulation, rather than simply piecing together different video clips. This evidence is also observed in still image generators, where the models learn how to render a 3D scene and capture a picture of it. The article highlights the impressive nature of this technology, as it was not initially intended to create a 3D engine but instead involved feeding images into a linear algebra process, resulting in the creation of a world simulator.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article is about a fictional gameshow called “Hollywoo Stars and Celebrities: What Do They Know? Do They Know Things?? Let’s Find Out!” from the TV show Bojack Horseman. You can find more information on the show’s fandom website.
4. Google helped destroy adoption of RSS feeds (2023)
Total comment counts : 58
Summary
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Top 1 Comment Summary
The author of the article expresses gratitude for websites that still support RSS feeds, but worries about the future when support for RSS may decline. They mention that Google shut down Google Reader without providing alternatives or educating users on how to continue using RSS feeds. However, the author recalls that Feedly quickly stepped in and offered an easy migration process, which they personally used and found to be seamless. While the shutdown of Google Reader led the author to distance themselves from Google services, they believe that there was a viable alternative in Feedly.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article argues that blaming Google for the decline of RSS is nonsensical. The author believes that Google actually introduced many people to RSS through Google Reader. They also mention that they personally did not notice the impact of Google Reader’s closure, as they were already using alternative RSS readers. The author dismisses the idea of monetizing RSS, comparing it to monetizing email, and suggests that the decline of RSS may be more related to the rise of platforms like Twitter. The rest of the article discusses various Google services dropping support for RSS, comparing it to the hypothetical scenario of Google killing Gmail and saying it killed email.
5. Please make your table headings sticky
Total comment counts : 17
Summary
The article discusses the problem of scrolling through large tables and losing track of the column headers. It introduces a solution using CSS by adding two properties to the table headers (thead). This allows the headers to stay visible even when scrolling down, improving the user experience. The technique is easy to implement and has widespread browser support. The article provides a live demo and suggests checking out another post on making tables responsive with minimal CSS.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the current limitations of CSS in supporting sticky headers on both horizontal and vertical axes. The author mentions that while CSS can currently support sticky headers on one axis, they are still waiting for the day when CSS will support them on both axes. The article provides a link to a specific issue on GitHub where this topic is being discussed.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article describes the author’s struggle to make the header of a webpage sticky. They initially tried using Bootstrap table classes but were unable to achieve the desired result. After searching for solutions online, they came across a codepen from an article that helped them achieve the sticky header in just two minutes. The author thanks the article for the solution and plans to implement it on their website.
6. Power Metal: is it really about dragons? (2018)
Total comment counts : 24
Summary
The article discusses the vocabulary used in power metal songs, specifically focusing on the presence of words related to dragons. The dataset includes lyrics from 58 power metal bands and a total of 4808 songs in English. The author calculates the vocabulary length using stemmed versions of words and plots the growth of the vocabulary over the years. The importance of words in the songs is measured using metrics such as term frequency (tf) and inverse document frequency (idf). The author also examines the metalness of words and finds that power metal songs often contain words related to deliverance, honor, defender, and realms. Additionally, the article explores the uniqueness of bands based on the words they use and provides examples of iconic power metal bands and their associated keywords.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author recently discovered the band Blind Guardian and is impressed by their excellence. They appreciate the brilliant vocals, great choruses, and distinctive melodies on both guitar and vocals. Unlike many bands, Blind Guardian stands out because each instrument has a prominent and distinct part. The author initially thought that one element, such as vocals or guitar solos, would overshadow the others, but they were proven wrong by Blind Guardian’s impressive combination of vocals, guitar, and drumming. Overall, discovering Blind Guardian has made the author’s life 2% better.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the author’s discovery of power metal as a more positive sub-genre of metal compared to the themes of death, violence, and satanism found in their previous music preferences.
7. Ten years of remembering every day that passes (2022)
Total comment counts : 19
Summary
The article discusses the author’s practice of remembering every day and the impact it has on memory and aging. The author records a memory tag each day and regularly reviews past days. They find that remembering every day helps them appreciate how much happens in a year, but also feel the passage of time. The author has adapted their review process as the number of memories has increased. They have also learned the importance of regularly refreshing the memory tags. The author mentions using a diary to reinforce the memory tags and the challenges of dividing their attention between remembering and other activities, such as learning the piano. The author reflects on the value of memories, especially in the context of loved ones with Alzheimer’s disease who have lost their memory. They also contemplate the idea of letting go of some memories.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article criticizes a form of introspection where one constantly remembers past memories, suggesting that it is an endless cycle leading nowhere. The author questions why someone would engage in this rather than pursuing more productive activities like learning a language.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author of the article is struggling to review thousands of images and remember tags efficiently. They suggest that spaced repetition can help with this problem. Spaced repetition is a method that promises to improve memory and reduce review time. It claims that the amount of time spent reviewing is determined by the learning rate, not the number of things to remember. The average time spent on memorizing new items is only 5% of the total time spent on repetitions, regardless of the size of the learning material.
8. Shoes makes building little graphical programs for Mac, Windows, Linux simple
Total comment counts : 25
Summary
The article discusses Shoes, a tool that simplifies the process of building graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for Mac, Windows, and Linux platforms. It highlights the compatibility of Shoes with major operating systems and provides resources for beginners to get started. The article also encourages readers to stay updated with the latest developments, explore what others have built, and contribute to the ongoing improvement of Shoes.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the use of Shoes, a software development tool, which had a version 3.3 that was officially abandoned by its developer. The version was known to crash frequently, so it is not recommended for serious use. The article provides links to access the documentation for the software, both through a website and the executable file.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article expresses a joyful response to anything related to _why, who is known for their work in Ruby programming. The author recommends reading “Why’s Poignant Guide to Ruby” as a fun and artistic read, even if one is not interested in learning Ruby. The author also mentions “Nobody Knows Shoes” as another enjoyable work by _why.
9. Show HN: Consol3 – A 3D engine for the terminal that executes on the CPU
Total comment counts : 12
Summary
Consol3 is a 3D graphics engine that runs entirely on the CPU and uses the console as the display. It doesn’t use the graphics card to render frames, but instead performs all calculations on the CPU. The engine is built with the goal of using only what the operating system provides, without any external dependencies. The project has gone through multiple iterations and is now in its latest version.
To build the engine, the user needs to create a build folder, navigate to it, and run CMake and make commands. The build will generate two executables: Consol3_raster, which showcases rasterized meshes and lights, and Consol3_voxel, which displays ray marched voxels and particle-like simulations for sand, water, lava, steam, and ice using the voxels.
The engine can be built for either Windows or Linux, but mouse input is not yet supported in Linux. Various keys can be used to control lights, enable different floor showcases, play animations, spawn elements, control cursor distance and size, move, toggle mouse camera, change frame drawers, change camera direction, and slow down movement.
The engine has a flexible rasterization pipeline, which can be controlled using different “Shaders.” These shaders modify the data passed to the next stage. The pipeline to render a mesh involves calling the vertex shader, clipping offscreen vertices, transforming vertices to screen space, and calling the fragment shader to determine the color for each coordinate.
In addition to rasterization, the engine also supports a rendering technique based on ray marching. A 3D grid is defined, where each cell represents a voxel filled with different particle types or empty space. When rendering a frame, rays are marched from the camera origin towards the look direction and are stopped when they hit non-air voxels. The engine also includes a simple physics simulation for various elements like sand, ice, water, steam, stone, lava, and steel.
After rendering a frame, the engine uses a flexible system of “frame drawers” to draw to the console output. These components control how specific RGB color pixels are represented in the console, using different techniques for different effects and quality.
Overall, Consol3 is a CPU-based graphics engine that provides the flexibility to render 3D graphics and simulate various elements using either rasterization or ray marching techniques.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author finds a project that makes them happy and provides a welcome break from discussions about AI and Fintech on HN.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article encourages reducing the use of std::shared_ptr in code, particularly when moving from it. Using std::shared_ptr in this way may lead to bugs and undefined behavior. It suggests replacing std::shared_ptr with std::unique_ptr instead for better memory control, similar to managed languages like Java or C#. The advantage of std::unique_ptr is that it can easily be converted to std::shared_ptr if reference counting is necessary.
10. A former Gizmodo writer changed name to ‘Slackbot’, stayed undetected for months
Total comment counts : 19
Summary
The article discusses how a former Gizmodo writer, Tom McKay, was able to hide on Slack by pretending to be a bot. McKay changed his profile picture to resemble Slackbot’s icon and changed his name to “Slackbot” using a special character. This allowed his account to go undetected for months, and he was able to send messages to his colleagues as if he were Slackbot. The article suggests that not all companies would fall for this trick, but Gizmodo’s management may have thought his account had already been deleted or were not observant enough to notice the duplicate Slackbot.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article shares a story about an ex-employee who secretly created a dial-up/ISDN provisioning profile called “Ringing” in the modem rack controller module. This allowed them to have 128Kbit ISDN service undetected for over a year. However, the article does not recommend engaging in such activities, as it may be illegal under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article describes a playful incident at a consulting company in 2016, when employees discovered they could change each other’s names on Slack. As a result, everyone temporarily changed their names to “dad” in a lighthearted and fun moment.