skybrian's recent activity
-
Comment on Who cleans up after the vibe-coding party? in ~tech
-
Comment on Control the ideas, not the code in ~comp
skybrian Link ParentI noticed that too. I assume it was hastily written. These days, though, the bad grammar is a good sign that he wrote it himself :)I noticed that too. I assume it was hastily written.
These days, though, the bad grammar is a good sign that he wrote it himself :)
-
Comment on Who cleans up after the vibe-coding party? in ~tech
skybrian LinkI imagine there will be more open source projects that rarely accept pull requests and ask for donations instead, because they’d rather use a coding agent themselves.I imagine there will be more open source projects that rarely accept pull requests and ask for donations instead, because they’d rather use a coding agent themselves.
-
Comment on Control the ideas, not the code in ~comp
skybrian Link ParentLooks interesting but it doesn’t mention support for Deno. (Generic TypeScript support won’t do because import resolution is custom.)Looks interesting but it doesn’t mention support for Deno. (Generic TypeScript support won’t do because import resolution is custom.)
-
Comment on Control the ideas, not the code in ~comp
skybrian Link ParentI haven’t really seen this in TypeScript, perhaps because types are non-null by default and you have to write “| null” to make them nullable.I haven’t really seen this in TypeScript, perhaps because types are non-null by default and you have to write “| null” to make them nullable.
-
Comment on Are we burning it down by proxy? in ~talk
skybrian Link ParentYes, inflation-adjusted. I added a second chart below the first one that has percentages, much like the original chart I saw.Yes, inflation-adjusted. I added a second chart below the first one that has percentages, much like the original chart I saw.
-
Comment on Control the ideas, not the code in ~comp
skybrian Link ParentWell, I'm a hobbyist programmer so I have no deadlines and I'm not competing with anyone. So that's a different situation.Well, I'm a hobbyist programmer so I have no deadlines and I'm not competing with anyone. So that's a different situation.
-
Comment on Are we burning it down by proxy? in ~talk
skybrian Link ParentI don't think the right way to think about it is maximizing disposable income. People will give up some income (including taking a different job) in order to pay for other advantages that result...I don't think the right way to think about it is maximizing disposable income. People will give up some income (including taking a different job) in order to pay for other advantages that result from living in a nice location. For all sorts of reasons, but one example would be living closer to work to minimize commute or not have to drive.
-
Comment on Control the ideas, not the code in ~comp
skybrian (edited )Link ParentMy tip is to add this to AGENTS.md: And in the first prompt I always ask a question. If it's about a bug it's "why did this happen?" If it's a feature request, I describe the change and say...My tip is to add this to AGENTS.md:
If a prompt contains questions, stop after answering the questions, so the user has a chance to reply before you edit any more code.
And in the first prompt I always ask a question. If it's about a bug it's "why did this happen?" If it's a feature request, I describe the change and say "what's involved in making this change?" If there's an API change then I ask "How should we change the API?" I don't tell it to go ahead until I'm pretty sure I understand what it will do.
Also, if it's a new project, I write a plan.md first and we go over it, making multiple passes. Then I ask "are there any important questions to answer before starting work?" And I edit the plan myself until it's good enough to start Phase 1, because coding agents tend to put in excessive detail.
I guess Claude Code has a /plan mode, but my coding agent doesn't and I find I don't need it. I just make sure to ask a question if I don't want it to start right away.
Then again I'm just writing web apps, not anything complicated.
-
Comment on New US-Canada bridge to open after delay in ~transport
skybrian LinkFrom the article: [...]From the article:
The Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Detroit to Windsor, Ontario, will open before the end of the month following a delay stemming from President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada.
Canada’s Housing and Infrastructure Department and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Friday that the bridge will open July 27. A statement from the Canadian government said the agreement was made “with the support of the United States Government.”
[...]
The announcement appears to mark the conclusion of the 1.5-mile long bridge’s role in a broader trade disagreement between the two countries. In February, Trump threatened to block the opening of the bridge — named after the famed Canadian-born hockey player — over what he viewed as unfair trade practices.
-
New US-Canada bridge to open after delay
20 votes -
Comment on Volodymyr Zelenskyy taps European allies to build Freya, a cheaper counter to Russia’s ballistic missiles in ~society
skybrian LinkFrom the article: [...] [...]From the article:
Ballistic missiles remain the one threat Ukraine still can’t intercept with a system it built itself. Freya could change that, potentially shifting Kyiv’s position on the battlefield and at the negotiating table.
Freya centers on the FP-7.X interceptor, produced by the Ukrainian company Fire Point, and is designed to hit a ballistic target at roughly 15 miles altitude.
Like Patriot interceptors, Freya is an entire system and will rely on allies for production support.
[...]
Fire Point has signed a memorandum with Germany’s Hensoldt for radar technology and is in talks with France’s Thales, Italy’s Leonardo and Norway’s Kongsberg to supply tracking and command-and-control systems.
Zelenskyy said the Freya coalition, which he described as comprising roughly eight partner nations, will speed up the production process and make a faster timeline possible.
[...]
Fire Point is targeting a per-shot cost near $700,000, versus roughly $3.8 million for a Patriot PAC-3.
The missile was flight-tested in early June, the company said, and is aiming to mass-produce three a day starting in August and intercept its first ballistic missile by the end of 2027.
-
Volodymyr Zelenskyy taps European allies to build Freya, a cheaper counter to Russia’s ballistic missiles
16 votes -
Comment on Control the ideas, not the code in ~comp
skybrian LinkFrom the article:From the article:
So mine is a trick. People feel more and more programming is completely modified by AI and don’t know what they should do, if they can really start coding in a completely different way, without looking much at the code as their main output. They feel like they are betraying their own field. So my intention is to arrive and say “look at me, In can write code, you know, I’m not hiding behind AI: yet, things changed, it’s not your weakness, it’s not that you are AI-pilled. It is just that our field is evolving in an incredible *and* painful (but also joyful) direction”.
This is why yesterday, on X, I said that I believe many programmers at this point have less impact they could have because they look at the code. I truly believe into that. And note that this does not mean to vibe code something just asking for the final product. The point is: if you control the ideas of your software, looking at the code itself is suboptimal and often pointless. For the following reasons:
-
Control the ideas, not the code
16 votes -
Comment on US Federal Communications Commission approves test of space mirror to light night sky despite outcry in ~space
skybrian Link ParentLaunch approval just means they can do a test. The FCC doesn't require any proof that it will be effective. It would be odd to require that for an experiment.Launch approval just means they can do a test. The FCC doesn't require any proof that it will be effective. It would be odd to require that for an experiment.
-
Comment on Are we burning it down by proxy? in ~talk
skybrian Link ParentIt is inflation adjusted. Since a single person making $100k is quite different from a large family earning $100k total, I’d like to make a better graph that uses income per capita in a household,...It is inflation adjusted. Since a single person making $100k is quite different from a large family earning $100k total, I’d like to make a better graph that uses income per capita in a household, or just lets you filter by household size. But that would require more digging rather than plotting data in a table that the Census Bureau already made.
The overall trend is that household size decreased and therefore, counting households exaggerates population growth in the early years.
It’s a bit tricky to decide how to account for cost of living when it can also be an amenity you choose. For example, let’s say a new college grad moves to a high cost-of-living city and gets a high-paying job. Moving to the city is a choice they made to live in a more desirable place, and the job is how they pay for it. Just like you could have expensive tastes in food or clothing, you can have expensive tastes in choosing a place to live.
Other people are closer to being trapped where they live than choosing it, though, so they’re essentially forced to buy higher-priced housing.
Anyway, there’s only so much you can get out of one graph. National statistics will only tell you so much and it might be better to look at whichever city you’re interested in.
-
Comment on Are we burning it down by proxy? in ~talk
skybrian Link ParentIt so happens I made a chart that shows that there are a lot more high-income households in the US. But also, the population grew in general so there are more poor and middle income households...It so happens I made a chart that shows that there are a lot more high-income households in the US. But also, the population grew in general so there are more poor and middle income households too.
(Made by asking an AI to write code to redo a chart I saw online, by downloading the spreadsheets from the Census Bureau.)
-
Comment on Sen. Lindsey Graham dies at 71 after ‘brief and sudden illness’ in ~society
skybrian Link ParentIn case anyone is wondering, it’s covered in Wikipedia. Search on “Reaction to 2020 presidential election results.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindsey_GrahamIn case anyone is wondering, it’s covered in Wikipedia. Search on “Reaction to 2020 presidential election results.”
-
Comment on Mesh LLM: distributed AI computing on iroh in ~comp
skybrian Link ParentThe public mesh might be ok as a demo, but it sounds like it’s more likely to be used by an organization that has a bunch of computers in a computer lab that they want to use. If you’re concerned...The public mesh might be ok as a demo, but it sounds like it’s more likely to be used by an organization that has a bunch of computers in a computer lab that they want to use.
If you’re concerned about the resource consumption of LLM’s, it seems like this is going to be worse than anything they’re running in a data center?
Open source licensing isn’t going away, and it’s independent of the community and fund-raising aspects of it. There are multiple ways to maintain open source code that people can mix and match.
One is to “throw it over the wall” and not maintain it, as researchers sometimes do when they wrote the code in support of writing a paper. After the paper is done, they publish the paper and the code and move on to something else. Or they might reuse the code by modifying it in support of another paper.
Another approach is corporate sponsorship. There are open source projects that are well-supported by tech companies for various reasons. The Go and TypeScript languages come to mind. They don’t monetize it directly but it’s software that they use to build other products. Both Redis and Valkey get financial support from companies, with somewhat different approaches.
Another approach that might work better now that coding agents are a thing is crowdfunding. Writers and artists often do that. They’re making what they want to make. Musicians aren’t asking strangers to edit their work, but you can donate to their Patreon and they might pay attention to what fans like. Zig seems to be supported by crowdfunding. It works if you can get people’s attention.
The decentralized model with contributors coming from all over and core contributors deciding what to merge is common, but it’s only one way to do it and there are others.
So, my guess is that there will be an adjustment period as people figure out new approaches that work for them. Or not. Less popular open source software usually ends up being abandoned.