1. Box64 and RISC-V in 2024: What It Takes to Run the Witcher 3 on RISC-V
Total comment counts : 23
Summary
The article discusses the progress made in running The Witcher 3 game on a RISC-V PC, which is believed to be the first AAA game to run on this type of machine. The initial challenges were related to implementing x86_64 instructions correctly and the lack of RISC-V devices that could be connected to AMD graphics cards. However, with the help of the Milk-V Pioneer and finding a way to connect an AMD graphics card to a VisionFive 2 device, the developers were able to fix bugs and add new instructions, leading to successful gameplay of The Witcher 3. The article also mentions the differences in the number and performance of instructions between RISC-V and other architectures, as well as the potential of the RVV vector extension to improve performance. However, the author highlights two critical missing instructions in RISC-V that affect translation efficiency in x86 emulation.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the differences in targeting software for RISC5 architecture compared to other architectures. The author wonders if executable size increases for RISC5 and if it requires aggressive optimization for cache locality. They also suggest that certain types of software, such as games and webservers, may be better suited for either CISC or RISC architectures.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses how a famous Russian individual successfully ran the game “Atomic Heart” on the Elbrus 8S platform. Despite the lower performance, the game was still playable at around 15-25 frames per second.
2. Microsoft donates the Mono Project to the Wine team
Total comment counts : 29
Summary
The WineHQ organization will be taking over as the stewards of the Mono Project, which has been an important part of the .NET ecosystem since 2001. Microsoft acquired Xamarin, the previous steward of the Mono Project, in 2016. The last major release of the Mono Project was in July 2019, with minor patch releases since then. The WineHQ organization will maintain the source code in existing repositories, although some repos may be archived. Binaries will remain available for up to four years. Microsoft maintains a modern fork of the Mono runtime in the dotnet/runtime repository and recommends active Mono users and maintainers migrate to .NET. The Mono Project was the first .NET implementation on Android, iOS, Linux, and other operating systems, and it enabled cross-platform .NET development. Sponsored by Microsoft, Mono is an open-source implementation of the .NET Framework based on ECMA standards. The latest Mono release is available for download and the community is encouraged to contribute to the project.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the reasons behind the decision to move Mono, a portable Common Language Runtime (CLR) for platforms that Microsoft did not prioritize, to Wine, an open-source compatibility layer that allows Windows applications to run on Unix-like operating systems. The author explains that Mono was initially developed for environments where full .NET could not be utilized, such as on the iPhone or for obsolete architectures like Alpha, Itanium, PPC, and MIPs. However, with the introduction of DotNET Core, which aimed to make .NET more portable, and the acquisition of Xamarin by Microsoft, a single, more focused project became more practical. Mono was still used for specific cases like Wine, GNOME Desktop, second life, and Unity but could no longer sustain itself as a separate project due to overlaps with DotNET Core. Moving Mono to Wine was seen as a logical and suitable choice, as it can serve as a compatible runtime.
Top 2 Comment Summary
In an article, the author expresses surprise at Microsoft’s stance on Wine and other re-implementations of their APIs. They assumed that Microsoft did not endorse these projects but did not take legal action against them due to DMCA reverse engineering provisions and their perceived insignificance. However, it was discovered that in 2005, Microsoft started checking the Windows Registry for the Wine configuration key and would block Windows Update for any component, implying that Microsoft acknowledged Wine’s existence. Additionally, in 2020, Microsoft cited Wine as a positive consequence of being able to reimplement APIs in its amicus curiae brief for Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc.
3. Predicting the Future of Distributed Systems
Total comment counts : 13
Summary
The article discusses the significant changes happening in distributed systems, particularly in the areas of object storage, transactional and analytical processing, and programming models. It emphasizes the challenges of embracing new technologies and the importance of making well-informed decisions. The author mentions Jeff Bezos’ approach to risk management, distinguishing between one-way-door decisions (final and difficult to reverse) and two-way-door decisions (reversible). The article highlights the need for organizations to correctly identify the nature of their decisions to avoid costly mistakes. It also discusses the benefits of using object storage as a core part of various systems, including transactional workloads, and mentions the expanded features of object storage that can address different needs such as regulation, compliance, and encryption.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses programming models and criticizes the author for not being well-informed about the topic. The author mentions working on a language/tool called mgmt config but expresses frustration with marketing it. They also highlight the need for recognition, venture capitalists, and short-term goals in order to succeed. The author provides a link to their project on GitHub and encourages others to contribute and test it.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author of the article argues that one-way doors can slow down the adoption of distributed systems. They suggest that the best way to overcome this is by promoting the adoption of a specific API within the industry. The author mentions several examples of APIs, such as Apache Beam for data pipelines, Akka for stateful distributed systems, OpenTelemetry for logging/telemetry, and Kubernetes for orchestration. The author also expresses a strong preference for local development.
4. Ruby in Jupyter Notebook
Total comment counts : 12
Summary
The article discusses the development of IRuby, a kernel in Ruby that follows the Jupyter/IPython messaging protocol. It explains that IRuby integrates well with different Rubygems and provides a web notebook interface for Ruby. It can be used for programming presentations and acts as an in-browser REPL loop. The article provides instructions for installing and starting IRuby, as well as highlighting some of its key features, such as displaying objects, creating LaTeX and HTML representations, and automatically displaying Gnuplot and Rubyvis objects inline. It also mentions that Matrix and GSL::Matrix objects are automatically displayed as LaTeX. Additionally, the article states that this website does not host notebooks but only renders notebooks available on other websites.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the concept of Livebook, which is similar to the work done by the Elixir community. Livebook is a tool that offers a user-friendly interface and the advantages of distributed erlang/elixir. It allows users to interact with live systems and applications remotely.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses a tool called jupyter_on_rails, which integrates both Jupyter notebooks and Rails apps. The author expresses their enjoyment of using the tool, as it allows their app to become a playground or sandbox environment. The article provides a link to the jupyter_on_rails GitHub repository for more information.
5. Clojure Desktop UI Framework
Total comment counts : 14
Summary
The article discusses a desktop user interface (UI) framework called Humble UI for Clojure. It is emphasized that the framework does not require Electron or JavaScript, but instead relies on the JVM and native code. However, it is still a work in progress with no documentation available and frequent changes. The article provides links to Slack, posts, videos, sample apps, and a REPL (Read-Eval-Print Loop) server for further exploration of the framework.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the author’s preference for using Clojure and Flatlaf for UI development. They mention that Swing, the UI framework used, is well-documented and reliable. They also mention Seesaw as an option for declarative-ish UI. The author expresses hope that HumbleUI could be an exception to the trend of cumbersome and short-lived UI frameworks. Links to Flatlaf and Seesaw are provided.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author expresses that they find it difficult to read and understand the examples of Clojure code, specifically the Wordle example. They question whether this difficulty is due to their familiarity with imperative programming rather than functional programming. They wonder how the same Wordle example would look in a different language like pure Flutter, and also how the code would appear with external dependencies and navigation.
6. The Triple Failure of 2U, EdX, and Axim
Total comment counts : 24
Summary
This article discusses a website that is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. It explains that certain actions, such as submitting a specific word or phrase, a SQL command, or malformed data, can trigger this security block. The reader is advised to email the site owner to inform them about being blocked and to include details about the action performed and the Cloudflare Ray ID. The article also mentions that the website’s performance and security are provided by Cloudflare.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author used to take many courses on platforms like Coursera and EdX, but has since reduced the number of courses they take. They found some of the courses to be excellent and rewarding, such as Daphne Koller’s Probabilistic Graphical Models and Robert Sedgewick’s Analytical Combinatorics. However, they also found that these courses had diminishing returns for a few reasons. Firstly, the assignments in MOOCs are often multiple-choice questions or programming tasks that lack the depth and challenge found in university courses. Secondly, there is a lack of feedback and support compared to traditional university courses. Finally, some courses are less rigorous and watered down compared to their counterparts at respected universities. While the author is grateful for the learning opportunities, they question the effectiveness of these courses in building solid foundations.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article criticizes MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) for not being run like universities, but rather like job training centers. The author mentions that most MOOCs offer the same courses and degrees, except for a few exceptions like Georgia Tech’s OMSCS, which aims to provide online degrees at a lower cost. The author argues that a successful MOOC should allow students to take courses on a variety of subjects like Ulysses, Semantics, Mathematics, or Plato, similar to what is offered in traditional undergraduate programs, but without the financial and time constraints. The author suggests that MOOCs should provide the flexibility of exploring different areas of interest or focusing on a specific degree.
7. Anthropic publishes the ‘system prompts’ that make Claude tick
Total comment counts : 21
Summary
The article discusses the use of system prompts in generative AI models. These prompts are instructions given to the models that shape their behavior and responses. While most vendors keep their system prompts undisclosed, Anthropic has chosen to publish them for its latest models. The prompts outline what the models can and cannot do, as well as certain personality traits they should exemplify. Anthropic aims to be a more ethical and transparent AI vendor by disclosing these prompts. The article suggests that this move puts pressure on competitors to do the same. However, it also emphasizes that without human guidance, these models are essentially blank slates.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article states that a prompt is now acknowledging the phenomenon of “hallucinations.” The virtual assistant named Claude warns users that when asked about obscure topics or information not commonly found on the internet, it may provide inaccurate information or make up citations. This is why Claude uses the term “hallucinate” to explain this phenomenon. The article suggests that it is important for users to be aware of this possibility and double-check the information provided by the virtual assistant.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author created an “auto-script-writer” that sends a python script, prompt, and test results to either GPT4 or Claude. After testing with both, they found that Claude is far better at generating scripts and producing good output consistently. GPT4 would often go off track and produce bad outputs. The author concludes that Claude’s superiority is worth the higher cost.
8. Deliberate Practice and Acquisition of Expert Performance: A General Overview
Total comment counts : 8
Summary
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Top 1 Comment Summary
The article is about the superiority of deliberate practice in talent development. It states that deliberate practice, which involves mindful repetition just beyond one’s capabilities and making performance-improving adjustments, is considered the most effective form of training. Deliberate practice results in small improvements in performance that accumulate over time, leading to significant gains. The article also mentions that accumulated deliberate practice is the biggest factor responsible for individual differences in performance among elite performers, preceded only by genetics. Overall, the article highlights the importance and effectiveness of deliberate practice in improving performance across various talent domains.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the book titled “Peak” and describes it as having had the biggest influence on the author’s life. The main takeaway from the book is the importance of practicing to become good at things. The author emphasizes that individuals who are better than you in a given area likely practiced more or practiced in a more effective manner. The article highlights that the book delves further into the meaning of “more” and “better” practice. The author recognizes that this idea may seem obvious, but it was a significant revelation for them and many others they have spoken to.
9. FreeBSD-rustdate, a reimplementation of FreeBSD-update
Total comment counts : 6
Summary
The article discusses a reimplementation called freebsd-rustdate, which is written in Rust and designed to be a faster alternative to freebsd-update. While it is currently an early experimental version, it seems to work well and has not caused any issues on the systems it has been used on. However, it is emphasized that upgrading an operating system is a serious task and using freebsd-rustdate should be done with caution. The article also provides information on how to download and use freebsd-rustdate, as well as the differences from freebsd-update. It concludes by stating that freebsd-rustdate is not as extensively tested or widely used as freebsd-update, and using it comes with some level of risk. The author expresses gratitude to Colin for his work on the original freebsd-update and acknowledges that freebsd-rustdate builds upon his contributions.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author of the article expresses frustration with the slow speed of updating FreeBSD from version 13.0 to 14.0. They mention that the process is especially slow because they run their FreeBSD systems off spinning drives and have the src files. The author suggests that the freebsd-update script is complex and could be improved by using data structures instead of forking. They also note that the update process involves multiple writes of each file, which could be streamlined if the install option had the ability to decompress. The author is also dissatisfied with the large number of files in the update directory and suggests dividing them into smaller directories. They mention the potential for parallelism in the update process but acknowledge its difficulty in a shell script. The author expresses interest in exploring the use of ZFS boot environments for updates and the ability to run pkg upgrade in the boot environment before rebooting. They propose that if the process allows for the live environment to continue working, they would be more patient with the update. Finally, they mention the possibility of using the Rustdate environment for these improvements.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses freebsd-rustdate, which is a reimplementation of freebsd-update. While it is expected to be similar in usage, it is not identical. This raises the question of whether reimplementation is defeating the purpose if it cannot be used as a drop-in replacement.
10. Zuckerberg claims regret on caving to White House pressure on content
Total comment counts : 60
Summary
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Top 1 Comment Summary
The author expresses their dissatisfaction with Facebook’s news feed and Twitter due to an abundance of AI-generated posts, clickbait, and unwanted content. They speculate that this may be a result of changes in moderation policy or an overwhelming use of artificial intelligence. The author states a preference for the older version of the news feeds.
Top 2 Comment Summary
In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Pavel mentioned that he had met with Zuckerberg and informed him about new features they were planning. However, Pavel expressed his distrust in Zuckerberg, stating that he believes Zuckerberg stole all of the ideas. Pavel also mentioned that Zuckerberg is currently engaged in a significant public relations campaign.