Blogs

Let’s go for my web review for the week 2023-09.


Godot 4.0 sets sail: All aboard for new horizons

Tags: tech, 3d, gaming, godot

This is a huge release. Lots of very strong and needed feature to be a competitive engine. Congrats!

https://godotengine.org/article/godot-4-0-sets-sail/


Nokia launches DIY repairable budget Android phone | Nokia | The Guardian

Tags: tech, mobile, nokia, ecology

Coming from Zombie Nokia, still I think we need more options like this. It is the number one solution to reduce ecological footprints of computing.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/feb/25/nokia-launches-diy-repairable-budget-android-phone


OpenAI Is Now Everything It Promised Not to Be: Corporate, Closed-Source, and For-Profit

Tags: tech, ai, gpt, ethics, business

When they changed their statutes it was the first sign… now it’s clear all ethics went through the window. It’s about fueling the hype to drive money home.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/5d3naz/openai-is-now-everything-it-promised-not-to-be-corporate-closed-source-and-for-profit


Keep your AI claims in check | Federal Trade Commission

Tags: tech, ai, criticism

That’s a good set of questions to ask ourselves when in contact with a product claiming the use of “AI”.

https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2023/02/keep-your-ai-claims-check


New C++23 features I’m excited about - twdev.blog

Tags: tech, c++

This newer standard brings up interesting features again. I’m especially interested in std:expected myself.

https://twdev.blog/2022/10/cpp23/


SymPy makes math fun again

Tags: tech, mathematics, python

This really looks like a nice library for symbolic maths. Keep in mind it’s python based but it goes all the way to generating solutions to the given problem in various languages.

https://wordsandbuttons.online/sympy_makes_math_fun_again.html


Game Asset Storage, Loading, Compression and Caching | PH3 Blog

Tags: tech, gaming, compression, tests

Interesting new compression format around the corner. Might turn out useful in some cases. I could definitely have used it last year for a test harness with very large reference data (so no, not gaming).

https://ph3at.github.io/posts/Asset-Compression/


The Great Gaslighting of the JavaScript Era | The Spicy Web

Tags: tech, web, frontend, react, complexity

A bit of a rant so brace yourselves. Still, it’s very much aligned with the current backslash against “everything must be an SPA” trend and makes very good points on how it happened. This indeed turned into a popularity contest based on false premises. Meanwhile… complexity increased dramatically on the web frontend side and the performances are bad for most users.

https://www.spicyweb.dev/the-great-gaslighting-of-the-js-age/


Visual design rules you can safely follow every time

Tags: tech, gui, design, ux

Very nice set of rules. They are very simple to apply individually. The art is in respecting it all of course.

https://anthonyhobday.com/sideprojects/saferules/


Clever Code Considered Harmful

Tags: tech, complexity, maintenance, craftsmanship

Good musing about simple code and complexity. We definitely should avoid unwarranted complexity in our code, or at least try to prevent it’s spreading.

https://www.joshwcomeau.com/career/clever-code-considered-harmful/


Stop saying “technical debt” - Stack Overflow Blog

Tags: tech, technical-debt, maintenance, craftsmanship

Definitely this. I think this could have turned into a good term until it was used for everything under the sun. It’s about maintainability first, not just about what you like or not.

https://stackoverflow.blog/2023/02/27/stop-saying-technical-debt/


The lone developer problem

Tags: tech, programming, craftsmanship, team

Development is and has to be a team sport indeed.

https://evanhahn.com/the-lone-developer-problem/


A thorough team guide to RFCs. A reference guide to implement RFCs as… | by Juan Pablo Buriticá | Feb, 2023 | Juan’s And Zeroes

Tags: tech, decision-making, product-management

They’re definitely a powerful tool. I see them used in a few places but definitely not enough.

https://buriti.ca/a-thorough-team-guide-to-rfcs-8aa14f8e757c


6 qualities that make a great engineer | Inside Intercom

Tags: tech, quality, culture

A bit too much written in superlatives for my taste. Still, this is an interesting set of qualities indeed. Definitely things to aim for.

https://www.intercom.com/blog/traits-of-exceptional-engineers/


The Missing Semester of Your CS Education

Tags: tech, university, craftsmanship, tools

Having taught quite a bit at the university, having interviewed quite a few junior developers… I have to agree what’s proposed here is missing from most curricula. I wish this would be taught more systematically. If not at least students everywhere should know this online course exists.

https://missing.csail.mit.edu/


Improving Students’ Learning With Effective Learning Techniques: Promising Directions From Cognitive and Educational Psychology - John Dunlosky, Katherine A. Rawson, Elizabeth J. Marsh, Mitchell J. Nathan, Daniel T. Willingham, 2013

Tags: teaching, learning

Very interesting but long state of the art and evaluation of learning techniques. This is definitely something students should look at to pick better techniques. The way I design my trainings and coaching session seem to be mostly aligned with the findings, they tend to foster the right learning techniques… Still that’s up to the students to pick up the opportunity instead of repeating usual inefficient patterns.

https://journals.sagepub.com/stoken/rbtfl/Z10jaVH/60XQM/full



Bye for now!