Blogs

Let’s go for my web review for the week 2024-31.


Third-party cookies have got to go | W3C

Tags: tech, browser, privacy, google

Apparently this needs to be spelled out for browser providers to understand this needs to go.

https://www.w3.org/blog/2024/third-party-cookies-have-got-to-go/


CWE Top 25 Most Dangerous Software Weaknesses

Tags: tech, security

Looks like we really get back to the same type of vulnerabilities… it’s only a couple of dozens usual suspects.

https://cwe.mitre.org/top25/archive/2023/2023_stubborn_weaknesses.html


“A Story About Jessica” by SwiftOnSecurity

Tags: tech, security, empathy

A very good piece, it’s nice it’s been resurrected. This is a good reminder that the blame and shame of the user for general computing security is plain wrong. It’s we the developers and the UX designers who should be kept on our toes.

https://harihareswara.net/posts/2024/a-story-about-jessica-by-swiftonsecurity/


Using the term ‘artificial intelligence’ in product descriptions reduces purchase intentions

Tags: tech, ai, trust, marketing

Interesting finding. Looks like the trust is not very high in the general public towards products with AI.

https://news.wsu.edu/press-release/2024/07/30/using-the-term-artificial-intelligence-in-product-descriptions-reduces-purchase-intentions/


Known tags and settings suggested to opt out of having your content used for AI training.

Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, gpt

This ought to be easier, this should help a bit.

https://github.com/healsdata/ai-training-opt-out


Zen 5’s 2-Ahead Branch Predictor Unit: How a 30 Year Old Idea Allows for New Tricks – Chips and Cheese

Tags: tech, cpu, amd, performance

Interesting article about what’s coming for the branch predictor in the Zen 5 architecture from AMD.

https://chipsandcheese.com/2024/07/26/zen-5s-2-ahead-branch-predictor-unit-how-30-year-old-idea-allows-for-new-tricks/


Pulling Linux up by its bootstraps

Tags: tech, linux, kernel, trust, sustainability

Having a bootstrappable build is definitely not an easy feat! It is something necessary to do though for trust and for longevity reasons.

https://lwn.net/SubscriberLink/983340/25f5b1f6b1247079/


The Linux Kernel Module Programming Guide

Tags: tech, linux, kernel

Looks like a good online reference resource if you need to make your own modules.

https://sysprog21.github.io/lkmpg/


Safer code in C++ with lifetime bounds – Daniel Lemire’s blog

Tags: tech, c++, safety

It’s nice to see progress coming to lifetime checks in C++ compilers.

https://lemire.me/blog/2024/07/26/safer-code-in-c-with-lifetime-bounds/


35% Faster Than The Filesystem

Tags: tech, databases, storage, filesystem, sqlite, performance

Interesting experiment showing that BLOBs in a database can be a good alternative to individual files on a filesystem in some contexts.

https://sqlite.org/fasterthanfs.html


10 Examples Why cURL is an Awesome CLI Tool

Tags: tech, tools, internet, networking

This is not said enough but this is indeed a very useful tool. There is a few tricks I didn’t know in this list.

https://martinheinz.dev/blog/113


WAT

Tags: tech, python, debugging

Nice little utility for Python programming. Helps to introspect on the spot.

https://igrek51.github.io/wat/


Tracing the evolution of a Python function with git log

Tags: tech, version-control, git

Oh fancy! I didn’t know this git log parameter. Definitely useful.

https://nerderati.com/tracing-the-evolution-of-a-python-function-with-git-log/


My Favorite Tools + Techniques for Procedural Gamedev

Tags: tech, 3d, shader, graphics

Good collection of techniques to procedurally generating scene assets.

https://cprimozic.net/blog/tools-and-techniques-for-procedural-gamedev/


Simulating worlds on the GPU: Four billion years in four minutes

Tags: tech, graphics, shader, 3d, simulation

Very neat shader for a procedural earth simulation. The breakdown is interesting covering the tricks being used in this shader.

https://davidar.io/post/sim-glsl


Unfashionably secure: why we use isolated VMs – Thinkst Thoughts

Tags: tech, infrastructure, virtualization, security, safety, complexity, cloud

Definitely not as fashionable as the kubernetes craze. This gives very interesting properties that multi-tenant applications can’t really provide. The article is nice as it lays out properly the pros and cons, helps make the choice depending on the context.

https://blog.thinkst.com/2024/07/unfashionably-secure-why-we-use-isolated-vms.html


Scope? How about we talk about thoroughness instead? - The Engineering Manager

Tags: tech, engineering, management, product-management

This is an interesting framing of the question. We often talk about the scope, but how thorough are we when handling it? Should we even be that thorough? Might make some of the trade offs more explicit.

https://www.theengineeringmanager.com/growth/scope-how-about-thoroughness/


Wonder why some team members need more guidance than others? Spoiler: it’s not about skill.

Tags: tech, management

Interesting concept of task relevant maturity. I should probably take it more into account myself.

https://substack.com/@refactoring/note/c-63277431



Bye for now!