pra's recent activity
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Comment on What are people's thoughts on "secureblue", "bazzite" and other ublue images? in ~comp
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Comment on How many of you wouldn't be alive if it weren't for modern medicine? in ~talk
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Comment on If buying isn't owning, piracy isn't stealing in ~tech
pra Link ParentIn the US, there's a legal concept called "first-sale doctrine" that means we do effectively own the right to use and dispose of physical media, and the IP incorporated in it, in a way that we do...In the US, there's a legal concept called "first-sale doctrine" that means we do effectively own the right to use and dispose of physical media, and the IP incorporated in it, in a way that we do not have with streaming.
We can sell those discs, legally. We can share them, rent them out, give them away, hand them down to our children.
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Comment on Short (< 1 hour) 2-player games to play during lunch in ~games.tabletop
pra Link ParentYes, though be aware that people can have wildly different natural capacities for recognizing the patterns in Set. For some people it's an easy game of intuitively perceiving patterns, for some...Yes, though be aware that people can have wildly different natural capacities for recognizing the patterns in Set. For some people it's an easy game of intuitively perceiving patterns, for some it's a mental grind akin to long division.
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Comment on What was your first programming language, what languages do you know now, and what tips do you have for those trying to learn any of those? in ~comp
pra LinkAtari BASIC was my first programming language. Today I mostly write bash, but I'm fluent in C and Python. I can get by in Java and PERL and Javascript, but I try to avoid all three of those. I...Atari BASIC was my first programming language.
Today I mostly write bash, but I'm fluent in C and Python. I can get by in Java and PERL and Javascript, but I try to avoid all three of those. I dallied with Clojure and Haskell for a while, but as personal projects in this stage of my life I didn't get far. I think every programmer goes through a romance with LISP at some point.
My advice is to keep your audience in mind.
Your audience is not the compiler or computer -- it's your teammate tomorrow, your future self, your replacement down the line. Consciously put yourself in those people's shoes once in a while. Try to write to reduce the cognitive load on your audience.
What separates professionals and craftsmen or hobbyists in programming is communication; creating code that can stand on its own without you.
Occasionally go back to what you've written in the past (starting with just yesterday, or before lunch) and notice how clear, or not, you were. Did that variable end up getting used in a way that does not match its name? Fix it. Let yourself re-read and enjoy the parts that seem elegant. Learn that feeling clever is a warning sign that you've left the clear path.
Read primary sources whenever you can -- look for solutions in the language or library documentation, don't stop (or start) at stackoverflow or discord. Learn the idioms and conventions of the language you're using.
I'll leave with a fun site after all that posturing: https://rosettacode.org/wiki/Rosetta_Code
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~life
pra LinkThere are way too many ways a relationship can go wrong, so there's no general advice on rekindling apart from the general advice on having a good relationship. In my experience, here are the most...There are way too many ways a relationship can go wrong, so there's no general advice on rekindling apart from the general advice on having a good relationship.
In my experience, here are the most important things to having a good relationship:
- like yourself for who you are right now
- like your partner for who they are right now
- clearly communicate your needs and desires
- trust your partner
- be trustworthy in return
- prioritize doing the work of maintaining the relationship
All relationships are work, some more than others. Whether it lasts depends on how much work the people involved are willing to put into it.
Not all relationships should last, especially when you're young. Most of us go through a period where we "find ourselves", which really means figuring out what you want out of life and your relationships with others. It's very hard to get there by sheer deduction, you've got to get experience. Sadly, some relationships end up being lessons in what we don't want, and nothing more.
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Comment on What is your earliest memory of the internet? in ~tech
pra LinkTrumpet Winsock. Archie. FTP bin/asc mode. Hash off for long downloads. Retrieving Chemistry 101 materials via Gopher. Eudora email. Slackware installs via floppy. Suddenly being able to talk...Trumpet Winsock.
Archie.
FTP bin/asc mode. Hash off for long downloads.
Retrieving Chemistry 101 materials via Gopher.
Eudora email.
Slackware installs via floppy.
Suddenly being able to talk (chat) instantly, freely, with a high-school friend living across the country when long-distance phone calls were still charged (a lot!) by the minute.
Someone down the hall briefly mirrored the Linux kernel from their dorm room. I think IT had a talk with them.
Campus-wide games of Descent
Downloading lewds over translatlantic cables from ftp.funet.fi, several minutes per 10-100kb file.
Usenet. Oh, usenet sigh.
UNC Sunsite! Reading the description of every single source package archived there, and trying to compile anything that looked interesting.
MUDs.
Failing to get my parents to invest in some short domain names when .com registrations opened up.
PPP/SLIP
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Comment on Hospital refusing heart transplant for man who won't get vaccinated in ~health
pra LinkAs a transplant recipient, this is a "water is wet" story. There is a chronic shortage of organs. There is a long list of things that can disqualify you from, or significantly downrank you on, the...- Exemplary
As a transplant recipient, this is a "water is wet" story.
There is a chronic shortage of organs. There is a long list of things that can disqualify you from, or significantly downrank you on, the waiting list. The people running the transplant programs want to ensure that the recipients are in the best position to thrive, to benefit the most from the scarce resource.
Prior to transplant, I underwent extensive bloodwork. Full medical history. Tweaked some long-term medications to get just a little more normal. Re-upped several routine vaccinations several years ahead of schedule, just in case. I was screened for financial fitness, my closest family was interviewed to ensure I had a good support network. I was drug tested. I was coached on maintaining insurance coverage.
It was definitely an invasion of privacy, but I understood why. Transplants are miracles, and there will always be someone left wanting. If you're not all-in on taking care of yourself, and the organ transplant -- as defined by the medical establishment, yes -- you're going to be at the end of the line for a very long time.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~comp
pra (edited )Link ParentAcryonym for Not Invented Here. A bit of CS / tech jargon, the name for an attitude / ego affliction / cognitive bias that causes people to create their own new ("invented here") thing rather than...Acryonym for Not Invented Here.
A bit of CS / tech jargon, the name for an attitude / ego affliction / cognitive bias that causes people to create their own new ("invented here") thing rather than adapt to use an existing ("not invented here") thing when they should not, as measured by effort expended, value returned, and opportunity costs.
Sometimes building your own thing is the right choice, but it's the wrong choice often enough to be a known problem within the software industry.
Based on the discussion here so far, I'm inclined to agree with Kremor and Eric. Mastodon gets you almost everything you need.
Not only that, but you probably don't even have to run your own instance. There are certainly already existing instances with similar goals to your own.
Apparenly the recommendation for development is to use a program like toolbox or distrobox to launch containers to work in. Then you can you can be as messy as you like, and possibly start from custom containers with dev environments pre-installed.