Blogs

Alright… this is published a bit later than usual due to travels and lack of energy. Anyway, let’s go for my web review for the week 2024-37.


Fediverse Discovery Providers

Tags: tech, fediverse, search

Nice to see such a project be funded. Let’s see how far this will go.

https://www.fediscovery.org/


2024: 0.5% of the Global Top 200 Websites Use Valid HTML

Tags: tech, html, quality

This is clearly not a great outcome. The browser monoculture probably doesn’t help.

https://meiert.com/en/blog/html-conformance-2024/


Family poisoned after using AI-generated mushroom identification book

Tags: tech, ai, machine-learning, gpt, law

This is bad. There was no way to know the book was AI generated and clearly it contained errors and lies.

https://www.reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/comments/1etko9h/family_poisoned_after_using_aigenerated_mushroom/


Baiting the bot

Tags: tech, gpt, security

Looks like an interesting venue to attack systems which use LLMs.

https://conspirator0.substack.com/p/baiting-the-bot


Building a browser using Servo as a web engine!

Tags: tech, web, browser, servo

It’s good to see servo getting closer to being usable in a browser. Makes me dream of Falkon or Konqueror being resurrected with Servo as the engine.

https://servo.org/blog/2024/09/11/building-browser/


Windows NT vs. Unix: A design comparison

Tags: tech, windows, unix, design, system, architecture

Interesting exploration of the NT design compared to Unix. There was less legacy to carry around which explains some of the choices which could be made. In practice similarities abound.

https://blogsystem5.substack.com/p/windows-nt-vs-unix-design


The Insecurity of Debian

Tags: tech, debian, redhat, security

Interesting comparison of the difference in approaches between RedHat and Debian about default system hardening.

https://unix.foo/posts/insecurity-of-debian/


Linux’s Bedtime Routine

Tags: tech, linux, kernel, power

Ever wondered what happens when you suspend or hibernate on Linux? Here is a very deep exploration of the process from the kernel perspective.

https://tookmund.com/2024/09/hibernation-preparation


Operating system threads are always going to be (more) expensive

Tags: tech, multithreading, system, kernel

Good reminder of what OS threads entails and why they can’t be optimized much further. There’s so much you can do properly in userland.

https://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/tech/OSThreadsAlwaysExpensive


QUIC is not Quick Enough over Fast Internet

Tags: tech, networking, performance, quic

Looks like there is still some work required on QUIC. There is a path forward though.

https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.11453589334.3645323


JSON diff and patch

Tags: tech, json, tools

Looks like a very nice tool to deal with JSON files.

https://github.com/josephburnett/jd


proctrace - a high level profiler for process lifecycle events · Tinkering

Tags: tech, linux, profiling, tools, processes

Looks like an interesting little profiling tool. The article explains quite well how it’s been done. Can be a nice blueprint to make other such tools.

https://tinkering.xyz/proctrace/


Docker images using uv’s python

Tags: tech, python, packaging

It feels more and more that uv might turn out to be a game changer for the Python ecosystem.

https://mkennedy.codes/posts/python-docker-images-using-uv-s-new-python-features/


uv under discussion on Mastodon

Tags: tech, python, foss, community, business

There is a sane conversation going on around uv in the Python community. Here is a good summary.

https://simonwillison.net/2024/Sep/8/uv-under-discussion-on-mastodon/


What’s new in C++26 (part 1)

Tags: tech, c++

Clearly nice examples of better quality of life adjustments coming with C++26.

https://mariusbancila.ro/blog/2024/09/06/whats-new-in-c26-part-1/


Replace strings by views when you can

Tags: tech, c++, performance, memory

Good reminder that packing your data is generally the right move when squeezing for performances.

https://lemire.me/blog/2024/09/09/replace-stdstring-by-stdstring_view-when-you-can/


Why I Prefer Exceptions to Error Values

Tags: tech, failure, exceptions

A couple of flaws in this article I think. For instance, the benchmark part looks fishy to me. Also it’s a bit opinionated and goes too far in advocating exceptions at the expense of error values. Still, I think it shows quite well that we can’t do without exceptions at all, even in the case of error values being available. In my opinion, we’re still learning how both can be cleverly used in code base.

https://cedardb.com/blog/exceptions_vs_errors/


Why some of us like “interdiff” code review systems (not GitHub) · GitHub

Tags: tech, version-control, git

A bit too much of a rant for my taste (even though I agree with the GitHub flaws). That said it illustrates nicely a use of git range-diff which is often overlooked.

https://gist.github.com/thoughtpolice/9c45287550a56b2047c6311fbadebed2


Scope Management 101 - by Kent Beck

Tags: tech, quality, agile, project-management, product-management

He is spot on again. The scope is what will allow to create flexibility in a fixed price project. This is what leads to the necessity to work incrementally.

https://tidyfirst.substack.com/p/scope-management-101


The Impossibility of Making an Elite Engineer

Tags: tech, engineering, career, learning

Interesting musing about what it takes for engineers to grow. Clearly there are a few paradoxes in there… that gives ideas to manage your career though.

https://tidyfirst.substack.com/p/the-impossibility-of-making-an-elite



Bye for now!