aeriforms's recent activity
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Comment on Readers rate poems worse when they believe they're written by AI, despite their ability to detect AI being no better than chance in ~humanities.languages
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Comment on Your AI is not a tool in ~tech
aeriforms (edited )LinkNice read. My thoughts on tools is that the learning curve of using any tool is changing the way you perceive the world itself, just like driving a car is an entirely man-made abstraction of...Nice read. My thoughts on tools is that the learning curve of using any tool is changing the way you perceive the world itself, just like driving a car is an entirely man-made abstraction of multiple perceptions (watch the road) and actions (steer, pedal, break). A big part of design is into designing that abstraction to be total and exhaustive, like the handle on a teapot is basically one. In a way, we trade off an old set of mental models for a new one in order to integrate our tools.
AI (I assume in this case, LLM), subtly shifts our perceptions, because it works in the domain of words, in other words, symbols detached from the symbolized. In writing, one has to choose the words carefully to mean what they mean, no more and no less; this is not the case with LLMs, where the corpus will happily fill in whatever unrelated words you don't specify yourself and hence contaminate your mental context.
Using AI has no deliberately designed mental model, because language is an always-shifting thing, and we cannot freeze the meaning of words to be an exact semantic set at any time. Hence the language of many different contexts (same word can mean different things) are blended together. Words don't mean what they mean anymore, and we grow to lose the plot.
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Comment on What AI does to the minds of novice coders in ~comp
aeriforms (edited )Link Parentit's personal preference mostly. G4G is indeed SEO driven, and I find it not useful if I try to go a bit deeper; I prefer Baeldung for explaining CS concepts. FCC has a lot of care put into it and...it's personal preference mostly. G4G is indeed SEO driven, and I find it not useful if I try to go a bit deeper; I prefer Baeldung for explaining CS concepts. FCC has a lot of care put into it and the most valuable thing is the community you can ask questions. I just find the tutorials of FCC tend to lead you into handholding tutorial hell, in which you get really lost when you try to do things extending from their tutorials; it does assume a lot of background knowledge. personally i prefer something that would be a bit wider - introduce libraries and their purpose/potential uses, but I've yet to find one (the awesome-repos are kind of hoarding for the sake of it rather than curation with reviews)
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Comment on What AI does to the minds of novice coders in ~comp
aeriforms LinkPersonally I kind of skipped the whole doing things the non-LLM way throughout my process, really makes me constantly feel like something is missing but at the same time everyone is encouraging...Personally I kind of skipped the whole doing things the non-LLM way throughout my process, really makes me constantly feel like something is missing but at the same time everyone is encouraging it. It does not help that for a novice coder the amount of borderline wrong information is actively hostile; I block geeks4geeks and freecodecamp from my search results.
Even something supposedly "beginner friendly" like python has docs that are really hard to navigate and extract something useful. (rust does this better, imo, followed by java). I do get that people cut their teeth on forums like stack overflow but really some few individuals just turn off newcomers (telling people to RTFM is fully justified but honestly it's a separate problem in async communication where one can spam)
At the same time, even my undegraduate computer science curriculum didn't guide me through making design judgement (like in the video, explaining why you use a binary tree over a linked list). I went through a whole independent research on whether there exists such a teaching on designing programs, and after a year I yield that it can only be done through trial and feedback from someone more senior. Kind of a depressing sink-or-swim thing imo, either you come out the other end and "get it" or you don't.
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Comment on I'm looking for an adage or "law" (like Conway's law), but for dealing with AI slop in ~tech
aeriforms LinkThe blunt version would be No slop grenade The more explanatory way, would be that AI does not summarize, it shortens. Basically the essence of any text is lost in favor of what appears the most...The blunt version would be No slop grenade
The more explanatory way, would be that AI does not summarize, it shortens. Basically the essence of any text is lost in favor of what appears the most in the input text. So a document can have 35 sentences and a conclusion in the 36th, and the conclusion would not appear in an AI summary because it would have been outnumbered. This gets worse the larger the source document is.
As I try to write some guides myself, the struggle is basically finding the words to explain all my ideas while keeping it readable. Basically, "if I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter" (attributed to Mark Twain but apparently wrongly) -
Comment on AI adoption and IntelliSense in ~tech
aeriforms LinkNote: I'm budget-bound so I'm using Deepseek v4 Flash, not any frontier model. First off, even for coding, I've been back on Leetcode recently and the chatbot can really just fail on an Easy...Note: I'm budget-bound so I'm using Deepseek v4 Flash, not any frontier model.
First off, even for coding, I've been back on Leetcode recently and the chatbot can really just fail on an Easy implementation of a linked list.
For macro text editing, AI agents can leverage python or grep/sed to do them but they won't use them unless you suggest it explicitly. If you know vim I think it's just better, but I am not used to them yet. On the other hand, agents are quite nice at automatically scanning stray deprecated references when I'm in the midst of renaming.I'm only a junior, but I do think at a certain level you have to be pretty comfortable with your means of input to a computer, no matter how much you have to customize one to fit. I use a very funky layout that nobody could use, which caps my ability on other people's computers.
AI agents was good for me with respect to doing workspace configs, as I can add or remove neovim plugins or change my terminal settings at will, because I couldn't sustain the attention to read plugin docs - A weakness on my part. With AI agents + web search I pretty much settled a neovim/wezterm setup in a day from zero. However I do think it takes some observation of which part of the tools are good, for example I see that I always like the Outline view to understand file structures in Zed for example, so I try to get one in Neovim.
With regards to coding, I pretty much have to have a system prompt written out that mimics my thinking flow, and have the agents ask me questions about intended behaviours first. I do think code generated from the corpus, rather than from my instructions, has a tendency to be overly defensive with checks, while not knowing how to encode invariants into types and all. Otherwise, it's pretty nice to create one-off tools (e.g python conversion of documents/slides) or quick demos (HTML page for me to compare design palettes)
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Comment on Tildes Game Giveaway: June 2026 in ~games
aeriforms Link ParentI would like to request Verne: The Shape of Fantasy please, thank you.I would like to request Verne: The Shape of Fantasy please, thank you.
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Comment on Tildes Game Giveaway: June 2026 in ~games
aeriforms Link ParentI would like to request Summerhouse and The Ramp. Thank you. Hope you are doing fine, sending you wishes.I would like to request Summerhouse and The Ramp. Thank you.
Hope you are doing fine, sending you wishes. -
Comment on Tildes Game Giveaway: June 2026 in ~games
aeriforms Link ParentI would like to request Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, Blackberry Honey and WORLD END ECONOMICA, thank you. Here's my Game Music: Atelier Lulua OST & this one track from Sen no Kiseki 3I would like to request Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, Blackberry Honey and WORLD END ECONOMICA, thank you.
Here's my Game Music: Atelier Lulua OST & this one track from Sen no Kiseki 3
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Comment on Tildes Game Giveaway: June 2026 in ~games
aeriforms Link ParentI would like to request Persona 5 Strikers, Long Live the Queen, Colt Canyon, and West of Dead. Thank you. I saw this last night and was wondering quite long whether to ask for P5S. I played P5R...I would like to request Persona 5 Strikers, Long Live the Queen, Colt Canyon, and West of Dead. Thank you.
I saw this last night and was wondering quite long whether to ask for P5S. I played P5R and kept delaying on it. Heard it was very Dynasty Warriors inspired.
Long Live the Queen is a funny CYOA like game, I saw it many years ago, would be pretty interesting to play it myself.About the events, I don't know if eSports count but for League of Legends the MSI (Mid-Season Invitational) is going on. I never followed such an event before but the teams in all regions internationally have been really competitive so I hope there is constant action from now until the 12th.
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Comment on Day 3: Lobby in ~comp.advent_of_code
aeriforms LinkTook a lot of time for this one. First part took me a long time to debug because I did not know strings extracted from a .txt file ends with a newline, and second part is the same problem, for...Took a lot of time for this one. First part took me a long time to debug because I did not know strings extracted from a .txt file ends with a newline, and second part is the same problem, for which I learned rstrip exists to use rather than assuming and use string[:-1].
Part 1
total = 0 with open("03-joltage.txt", "r") as file: for bank_line in file: tens_digit: str = "0" ones_digit: str = "0" for pos, digit in enumerate(bank_line): if digit > tens_digit and pos < len(bank_line) - 2: tens_digit = digit ones_digit = "0" elif digit > ones_digit: ones_digit = digit total += int(tens_digit + ones_digit) print(total)Part 2
I got the gist of the logic: basically the only valid N string in a N-input is the string itself. Appending a new digit to the string, we can compare suffixes until there exist a new suffix that can replace our current suffix, and we use the new suffix to propagate the change down. The intuitive way to think of this I guess would be "if I take this new digit, what is the leftmost digit I can remove?"def process_line(total: int, line: str, out_size: int = 12): line = line.rstrip("\n") cur_str: str = line[:out_size] for i in range(out_size, len(line)): temp_str: str = cur_str + line[i] for j in range(1, out_size + 1): # compare suffix cur_suf = cur_str[-j:] temp_suf = temp_str[-j:] if temp_suf > cur_suf: cur_str = cur_str[:-j] + temp_suf total += int(cur_str) print(cur_str) return total with open("03-joltage.txt", "r") as file: total = 0 for bank_line in file: total = process_line(total, bank_line) print(total) -
Comment on Day 2: Gift Shop in ~comp.advent_of_code
aeriforms LinkThis is good exercise for me to brush up on python again (as unemployed cs grad). It's surprisingly neat when it comes to data transformations using list comprehesions and method chaining. The...This is good exercise for me to brush up on python again (as unemployed cs grad). It's surprisingly neat when it comes to data transformations using list comprehesions and method chaining. The task of repeating strings lends well to regex too which I'm kinda trigger happy to use. Anyhow, this is my first time doing AoC and I'm having a good time so far, despite forgetting basic stuff that I have to ChatGPT my way through like reading a file. Combine with type declarations and pyright/basedpyright and troubleshooting is really fast.
Solution
import re Range = tuple[int, int] range_tuples: list[Range] pattern = re.compile(r"^(.+)\1+$") #substring, repeated at least once def main(): with open("day2-ids.txt", "r") as file: range_strings: list[str] = file.readline().split(",") range_tuples = [(int(start), int(end)) for s in range_strings for start, end in [s.split("-")]] sum_of_invalid_ids: int = 0 for start, end in range_tuples: for i in range(start, end+1): string_i = str(i) if bool(pattern.match(string_i)): sum_of_invalid_ids += i print(sum_of_invalid_ids) if __name__ == "__main__": main() -
Comment on Steam Summer Sale 2025: Hidden gems in ~games
aeriforms LinkRoadwarden - I have been playing this today, and it's very much worth it. Basically an exploration CYOA type game, but there is a DnD element to it where you pick up clues from conversation, able...Roadwarden - I have been playing this today, and it's very much worth it. Basically an exploration CYOA type game, but there is a DnD element to it where you pick up clues from conversation, able to choose the tone of responses to NPCs, and make better choices by remembering the warning of the shopkeeper 20 minutes earlier when you are on the road. Very fun.
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Comment on I deleted my second brain in ~tech
aeriforms LinkI think there is the pruning and deleting part that people forget when accumulating knowledge: One has to continue refining the content of the notes, and reference things only when needed. Of...I think there is the pruning and deleting part that people forget when accumulating knowledge: One has to continue refining the content of the notes, and reference things only when needed. Of course we have the tendency to keep everything we ever came across: It's why people take screenshots of things and take photos of events that they never come back to: It's a safety that "What I need is there" and thus one can process it later, except it never happens. I would like to think that since the human brains benefit by forgetting, we also would benefit by writing and discard it. Especially for processing adverse events.
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Comment on Post graduation job search in ~life
aeriforms LinkWow, I'm in a similar situation as you lol. Graduated in May, CS degree, still looking for a job. From what I can tell, the CS degree gives you some background information but really nothing for a...Wow, I'm in a similar situation as you lol. Graduated in May, CS degree, still looking for a job.
From what I can tell, the CS degree gives you some background information but really nothing for a development job whatsoever. A job in software engineering feels more like 80% social and organizational and 20% actual technical problems to me.
While I cannot offer advice on the family side of your problem, I would say that your priority now is to put your head down and focus on getting yourself out and independent as fast as you can. The mental burden of some family members are a lot when you pause and think about it.
Applying for jobs would include a few things: Update your resume, build something from start to finish (tutorial or whatever, just make it 1k+ lines of code, deployed and displayable), and maybe posting on local social media for one-off jobs if you need something that can pad your experience portion. I am making landing pages for local businesses, to earn a little money and also put "freelancer" into my resume while I'm on the hunt.
Finally, I would like to say that we have to accept that this is a hard time, but it is the only real scenario that is happening. We can't compare this to the easy employment of 2021 tech boom, because now is not 2021. The times are different, and nobody knows how to navigate it at all. Some people are lucky that they were taught how to showcase themselves early. Some people are fortunate to be mentored early and gained networks. You don't compare yourself to those people, but you do have to act towards what you need. May not be an ideal job, but the ideal is being able to live first :) -
Comment on Save Point: A game deal roundup for the week of June 22 in ~games
aeriforms LinkBeen liking the Atelier series' music a lot, so I'm pulling the trigger on Atelier Ryza 1 and Atelier Sophie 1, just to try them out.Been liking the Atelier series' music a lot, so I'm pulling the trigger on Atelier Ryza 1 and Atelier Sophie 1, just to try them out.
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Comment on Save Point: A game deal roundup for the week of June 8 in ~games
aeriforms Link ParentSlay the Spire + Potion Craft for $10 is a good deal. I got StS on Steam and mobile, even gifted one to a friend and it's still worth it for the casual few hours a week I put into itSlay the Spire + Potion Craft for $10 is a good deal. I got StS on Steam and mobile, even gifted one to a friend and it's still worth it for the casual few hours a week I put into it
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Comment on My experience running my phone in greyscale for the past several weeks in ~health.mental
aeriforms LinkAs a middle ground, in iOS I set the grayscale option to about 1/6 the slider, so that there would still be color, but they are much more muted. One thing I notice is how aggressive the colors of...As a middle ground, in iOS I set the grayscale option to about 1/6 the slider, so that there would still be color, but they are much more muted. One thing I notice is how aggressive the colors of app icons are in general.
It also reminds me that YouTube channels targeting children abuse those colors - I babysit for relatives sometimes and the colors on Cocomelon videos are so aggressive it's nearly nauseating, but it captures the baby's attention like a drug.
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Comment on Help me understand vim motions in ~tech
aeriforms LinkFirst, I'm using the open source branch of VSCode, VSCodium. Bypassing Microsoft marketplace restrictions is possible (I'm not sure about posting it here, but you can find it online - it's...First, I'm using the open source branch of VSCode, VSCodium. Bypassing Microsoft marketplace restrictions is possible (I'm not sure about posting it here, but you can find it online - it's essentially a plist file edit.)
Learning Vim in a week convinced me to start Vim. The main idea I like the most is that you can learn 1-2 new bindings a week and see what sticks with you, and what you use the most daily sticks through.
I still use Vim only partially, because I sometimes don't remember the cursor jump bindings, but it's that accuracy that No Boilerplate was talking about - rather than having to manually put the cursor to where you want, either by mouse or arrow keys, you know precisely where the cursor would end up using (w), (b), (e), (g), (a)/A and so forth.
I think over time people just keep what they find useful. For me it's (o)/Shift-o for newlines, d[num]d for deleting any number of lines, and ci[bracket] to (c)hange content (i)n a bracket pair.
Also, remap your Caps Lock to Esc. escaping Insert mode with the left pinky is much more natural. (My custom keyboard layout is also mapping i to the right pinky so entering/exiting is symmetric for me, but that's beside the point)
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Comment on I don’t care whether you use ChatGPT to write in ~tech
aeriforms Link ParentAgree on the effort point - Just like how it takes a magnitude more effort to dispel misinformation than to spread it, it takes much more effort to read something that's unnecessary long. Training...Agree on the effort point - Just like how it takes a magnitude more effort to dispel misinformation than to spread it, it takes much more effort to read something that's unnecessary long. Training to write as much as you need is imo important, hence the quote "If I had more time I would have written a shorter letter".
Long slop pretending to be something well thought out is a waste of time I would like to avoid. That said that also makes me question how many blog posts or full articles online can just exist as 1-3 paragraphs. The mind benefits from clarity in writing and slop is hurting it a lot, throwing thoughts into this fuzzy, buggy mess.
It's important to note the methodology in which the AI generated poems are made here: it takes an existing poem, cuts into half, then generate a new latter half from the existing former one.
This to me makes it a bit conflicting. The study says that this approach "does not get the most creative potential out of AI" and at the same time "could be much better with proper editing". I feel like without the base first half the GPT output would be drastically worse, much closer to the slop side.
On the other hand, if someone were to write half a poem, and decided they want to delegate the rest to ChatGPT, what could be lost? I'm not sure. Maybe some kind of intentional overarching structure will be lost.