Notices by Adrian Cochrane (alcinnz@floss.social), page 49

...
* Push & pop various globals.
* Wraps `size` to report the filesize of different executable-file sections.
* Run the C compiler.
* Test standard error messages.
* Link newlib.
* Reimplement `which`.
* Execute commands remotely.
* Yet more global accessors.
* Pop certain globals to a file.
* Link LibIO.
* Reimplementation of `grep`.
* Configure/normalize the test command to run.
* Link G++.
* Prune a list.
* Configure expected error messages.
* Open an XML file to log results to.
...

2/3!

DejaGNU is an extended standard library for the barebones TCL-based Expect test-runner. As such it'll inevitably be a toolbox, best summarized in list form:

DejaGNU provides TCL functions for:
* Linking against LibGloss
* Connecting to other computers' filesystems, most of DejaGNU are backends for this.
* Dispatch to "load"ers & "compile"rs.
* Directory walks, apart from certain dev or version-control dirs.
* Retrieve "DMUCS" hostnames.
* Globals accessors.
* Relative filepaths.
...

1/2?

Vibe Driven Development - Robin Rendle: https://robinrendle.com/notes/vibe-driven-development/

Maybe I should link to this in the text where I'm skeptical about the value of analytics? I can't say I'm 100% opposed to analytics, more like 90%...

Certainly it's worth keeping in mind that your familiarity with some software can cloud your judgement!

They became more focused on the tech than the human beings that the tech is supposed to serve. The very thing they used to differentiate themselves got turned on the head, somehow.

Specifically the tech "invented here" is now more important than what makes Linux better for regular people.

Personally I was annoyed that they spent resources on Unity instead of making Gnome better, but ok. Many liked Unity. Then there was Mir instead of Wayland, Upstart instead of systemd, and now Snap.

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In defense of prompt engineering - Simon Willison: http://simonwillison.net/2023/Feb/21/in-defense-of-prompt-engineering/#atom-everything

React is still absolutely terrible for web performance - Go Make Things: https://gomakethings.com/react-is-still-absolutely-terrible-for-web-performance/

FlexGen; Running large language models like OPT-175B/GPT-3 on a single GPU. Focusing on high-throughput large-batch generation - Foundation Model Inference: https://github.com/FMInference/FlexGen (GitHub)
Simon Willison's summary: https://simonwillison.net/2023/Feb/21/flexgen/
Hackernews: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34869960

I think nanoGPT excites me *more*, but still...

@Graycot I doubt you'd want to follow my crazy path, but I'm building my own...

So I guess I will focus on the bare bones, and the value in it will be that I will be able to explain how to create something like this.

Reading about the dot-com era - Jay Hoffman "The History of the Web": https://thehistoryoftheweb.com/postscript/reading-about-the-dot-com-era/

The (extremely) loud minority - Andy Bell: https://andy-bell.co.uk/the-extremely-loud-minority/

I serve the silent majority of webdevs. Worth being reminded of when I'm feeling down!

We need to talk about your Github addiction - Ploum: https://ploum.net/2023-02-22-leaving-github.html

I'm mostly off GitHub, for a while now I've been largely working from CGit & now I have my own SourceHut server. But while GitHub has never been quite as dominant as it appears it is inevitable to want to contribute to projects there.

When I'm adopting projects like Typograffiti I haven't been moving them, but any new projects don't live there.

Agreeing with Ploum, I hate the gamification!

@alcinnz The "refuse anything with a build step" message seems to be gaining momentum, at least for small teams and solo devs.

@Sandra I think I'd agree!

@Sandra I was thinking of https://git.argonaut-constellation.org/~alcinnz/CatTrap#contributing when I was referring to carefully documentation, trying to put potential collaborators regarding contributing.

But you might be more interested in: https://argonaut-constellation.org/2023/02/11/services.html

Hmmm, need to retitle this blog... I'll do so tonight!

@Sandra Yeah, SourceHut doesn't *have* to span multiple servers. I'm running all the daemons on a single server.

Hey y'all, did you know CUPS, the Linux printing system, supports Braille embossers? Yep. Did you know you can even send your embosser images, and it'll emboss that? Yep. No expensive image to Braille program needed. We just need a good GUI lol, and Linux would have a lot of what we need, built into just about any distro. BRLTTY supports Braille displays, even the Canute 360 and HID displays. Such a good base to work on!

#accessibility #foss #linux #braille #blind

What framework should I use? - Go Make Things: https://gomakethings.com/what-framework-should-i-use/

The vanilla-JS guy recommends vanilla JS, who knew!

I've seen Preact used to great progressive-enhancement effect...

@Sandra Huge reason for me to adopt (a self-hosted) SourceHut!

Even if it means I get pushback who've got a bad experience using email-based git... Hopefully my carefully written docs addresses this?

I'm still pretty upset by the colleague who, honestly, is a well-meaning dude who came up to me and said, "Why are you still wearing a mask?"

Me: "I'm high risk, and it's not over."

Him: "Yeah, but I think it's mostly over, isn't it?"

Me: *shrug* "Not really. Wastewater sampling shows... you know what? Never mind. I'm managing my own risk and can't do anything about anyone else. Don't worry about it."

That's where we are, folks. I am pathologised if I say anything, so from now on, my standard answers are going to be, "Because I'm hideously ugly," "I'm an internationally-wanted cybercriminal," and "it's a fetish".

And if I'm very angry, "Because I'm not stupid."

Though I've tried that one before. The people who hear it are honestly bewildered. I won't be changing anyone's mind.

At this point, I'm not even out to.

I'm tired.