Zorind's recent activity
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
Zorind LinkFinally finished the original Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson, reading Hero of Ages this week. Enjoyed it overall, did think it was a good ending to the trilogy (which overall I did enjoy)....Finally finished the original Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson, reading Hero of Ages this week. Enjoyed it overall, did think it was a good ending to the trilogy (which overall I did enjoy).
Debating either following it with the Wax and Wayne series, or see if I want to try starting The Stormlight Archive series again (I read the first 3 I think, but it was a long time ago so I would probably want to re-read...even if I remember them a bit, I think I would maybe still enjoy re-reading them). My bigger issue is not knowing how much time I would want to set aside for them, I'm really, really bad at putting down a book once I have started reading it (which does not bode well for the 1000+ page books of the stormlight archive...)
I also have a bunch of sci fi books I should probably get around to (Old Mans War series by Scalzi, plus a bunch of others - I think I picked them up in a humble bundle?).
Basically trying to find something to tide myself over since the web serials I follow are both on hiatus for the rest of this month.
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Comment on Starting a video game creation club in ~creative
Zorind LinkI would recommend maybe treating the club as a more long-lived "game jam", and potentially look up structures for how those are typically run and how groups in those are organized. I would expect...I would recommend maybe treating the club as a more long-lived "game jam", and potentially look up structures for how those are typically run and how groups in those are organized.
I would expect any game created from the club to end up at "game jam" levels of quality (note: this is not a bad thing. Quite a few well-received and highly popular indie games such as Celeste, Superhot, and Baba Is You started from games developed for a game jam).
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Comment on Pretty Pretty Please I Don’t Want to be a Magical Girl - Pilot Animatic in ~anime
Zorind Link ParentOk that was incredible. I did not watch either of the animatics, but frankly I might have to watch the second one after watching this first fully animated episode. Too many quotable lines to quote.Ok that was incredible. I did not watch either of the animatics, but frankly I might have to watch the second one after watching this first fully animated episode. Too many quotable lines to quote.
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Comment on White House website debuts five retro arcade video games that promote US President Donald Trump’s agenda in ~games
Zorind Link ParentThe crazy thing is Hadestown (at least, the first iteration which included this song) predates the Trump presidential campaigns.The crazy thing is Hadestown (at least, the first iteration which included this song) predates the Trump presidential campaigns.
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Comment on That book you remember some details but can't recall the title in ~books
Zorind Link ParentI had this book growing up (actually the trilogy). I’d say you’re spot on.I had this book growing up (actually the trilogy).
I’d say you’re spot on.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
Zorind LinkFinally got copyparty set upon my Mac mini to use as a file server for my local network, and got a custom skin/theme working with it (Catppuccin). It apparently has OPDS support so I was hoping I...Finally got copyparty set upon my Mac mini to use as a file server for my local network, and got a custom skin/theme working with it (Catppuccin).
It apparently has OPDS support so I was hoping I could also use it to serve books to my kobo via KoReader (instead of also running the Calibre OPDS content server), but I was getting errors when trying to download to my kobo (of course, the error message didn’t render properly on the Kobo so I’m not exactly sure what the issue was). Might spend some time debugging, or just get Calibre also running on the Mac mini.
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Comment on Recommendations for noise cancelling, over ear headphones in ~tech
Zorind Link ParentI have the XM5s, and I love them for air travel except the stupid head bar digs into my head sometimes and can be a bit painful after a few hours. It looks like the XM6s have a wider/comfier bar....I have the XM5s, and I love them for air travel except the stupid head bar digs into my head sometimes and can be a bit painful after a few hours. It looks like the XM6s have a wider/comfier bar.
It also looks like the XM6s fold down smaller.
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Comment on Industry Standard Tools in ~life.home_improvement
Zorind LinkThis is definitely interesting, but it’s certainly very new based on the number of votes on things. I wish there were more details about who is running the site and when it was started though....This is definitely interesting, but it’s certainly very new based on the number of votes on things.
I wish there were more details about who is running the site and when it was started though.
Also, the bit about the images “drawn” is a weird design decision to me, but I guess it works?
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Comment on Software engineers / programmers: how’s it going? in ~comp
Zorind Link ParentI think I find myself in a pretty similar boat to you (though I have much less experience), and I find myself agreeing with you quite a bit. I've been in and out of looking at this thread, but...I think I find myself in a pretty similar boat to you (though I have much less experience), and I find myself agreeing with you quite a bit. I've been in and out of looking at this thread, but figured I'd finally write up something, and doing it in reference to yours was easier than "going in cold."
I've been working as a Software Engineering for approximately 5 years now, mostly on a fairly small team at a large company with a large, bureaucratic software tooling process. What that means is we didn't really get access to any significant AI tooling until this year, but now we have been given access to one of the IDEs with a built in agentic AI platform.
My small team is basically in two camps with this, where some of us use it pretty heavily, and others don't really interact with it at all.
I've always been a big proponent of code review & code quality (and making sure code is understood and understandable in MRs). I just recently have started using the agentic stuff for building out some new features, and for unit tests.
What I've found, is that it is pretty useful for building out a good "initial draft", and then I'll go in and clean it up as if I'm doing a code review, and I end up iterating pretty heavily "by hand" on what it has generated. For tests, it seems to generate a lot of unit tests that don't actually test anything, or tests that don't add any code coverage. Now, as I mentioned earlier, I'm in a company with a big tooling bureaucracy, so we still don't have access to anything at the "forefront" (mostly just models from 3+ months ago), so I'm not sure how different the "latest and greatest" are.
I really should start making commits after I have the LLM generate stuff but before I've gone in, so I can see how much of the generated code remains after I do my editing pass on what it has generated.
What I've seen from some of the more heavy AI users on the team, is MRs that I have to spend more time reviewing, but I also don't think this is specifically on the AI itself as much as a reflection on the users...but as the agents can be used to generate more code, it does put a larger burden on those who want to ensure code quality if everyone on the team isn't as thorough in their "personal" review before the put it out for a team review.
But it is also discouraging to review something that is heavily agent-coded, because I know that my comments will probably just get fed back into the agent to address, and therefore likely won't impact "learning" or improving, and that the next MR will have the exact same design decisions I just pushed back against in it.
I find your statements about:
A tool that can create things too easily means that there's no incentive to do it minimally or correctly. Now there's duplicated code because creating a new one is free whereas figuring out how the old one worked is effort.
to be extremely relatable.
I'm also the kind of person that loves diving into a "legacy" codebase to find out how everything hooks together and how everything works, and frankly the LLMs are pretty dang decent at that, but even so, I do find them getting stuff wrong or not implementing things according to the interfaces and specs they should be able to.
How has your work changed in the past year? How much of your daily work now involves LLM tools?
It hasn't really changed all that much. I'd say I use LLM tools for about 30% of my work, if that. I didn't want to spend money on LLM tools for personal development, and my company has been "slower" picking them up. Now that we have them, I've been using them more now that they are "better," but I've mostly been using them for the parts of work that I don't enjoy, and then going back through and making sure what they generated matches the styles and standards I hold my own code to (it rarely does).
Are you enjoying your work more, less, or the same? Has your relationship with work changed in general?
I'm enjoying my work less. Mostly because of my focus on code reviews and dealing with other peoples vibe coded stuff, and because I'm worried management is going to start pushing for more and more LLM usage.
Do you feel like you’re working more or less now? The same?
The same. I work at a big company that respects our non-working hours, but also wants us to put in our full hours each week. So the hours are the same.
Are you hopeful or fearful of the future (let’s say next 5 years) of SWE? Mixed?
Fearful. I was hoping the LLM bubble would burst before my companies bureaucracy got too involved with it, but that doesn't seem to be happening.
Have you found any useful tips or advice for thriving in the current landscape?
Find others who are of a similar mindset to you that you can gripe with.
Has your career trajectory changed? Do you plan on seeking out different types of roles?
No, and not really. I'm hoping I will continue to get by.
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Comment on What do you call a bun, bacon, some amount of cheese, and two burger patties? (Not a setup to a joke) in ~food
Zorind LinkIf I got a double bacon cheeseburger, I'd expect it to have two hamburger patties, at least one slice of cheese, and some bacon. If a double bacon cheeseburger only came with one hamburger patty,...If I got a double bacon cheeseburger, I'd expect it to have two hamburger patties, at least one slice of cheese, and some bacon. If a double bacon cheeseburger only came with one hamburger patty, I'd think I was getting ripped off. If you're just doubling the bacon, call it a double-bacon cheeseburger.
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Comment on Library resources megathread in ~books
Zorind LinkThis is very library specific, but the major library near me has free passes you can check out for various local museums, theatres, and botanical gardens.This is very library specific, but the major library near me has free passes you can check out for various local museums, theatres, and botanical gardens.
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Comment on AI text watermarking is free and good in ~comp
Zorind LinkInterestingly enough, I saw this after reading 404 Media's Anthropics text watermarking proves ai companies do not care at all about writing, which is a different take on the watermarking, from a...Interestingly enough, I saw this after reading 404 Media's Anthropics text watermarking proves ai companies do not care at all about writing, which is a different take on the watermarking, from a perspective I didn't really see echoed in this article.
But I think it's interesting because it seems like 404 media is generally against AI use for creative works, but then is also seemingly against this watermarking that would let it be more detectable?
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Comment on AI text watermarking is free and good in ~comp
Zorind LinkThis was the interesting quote to me, and I do think that makes it clearer what it is doing, rather than calling it a "watermark." I'm also fairly "AI-luddite" and don't use them hardly at all,...Jai: The concept we want is "steganographic signature" but most people won't understand it.
This was the interesting quote to me, and I do think that makes it clearer what it is doing, rather than calling it a "watermark."
I'm also fairly "AI-luddite" and don't use them hardly at all, aside from boilerplate code (since my work is pushing us to use AI for ~something~), so this change likely wouldn't affect me at all.
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Comment on Any significant changes to Tildes are extremely unlikely in ~tildes.official
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Comment on Waving goodbye, carrying my bundle on a stick in ~talk
Zorind Link ParentSure, maybe that is a topic that needs debated in a respectful manner… But I don’t think this forum is the place to do that, and I think many of the folks that regularly hang out in ~lgbt don’t...Sure, maybe that is a topic that needs debated in a respectful manner…
But I don’t think this forum is the place to do that, and I think many of the folks that regularly hang out in ~lgbt don’t want to debate it either. But when it gets brought up, they feel the need to step up for themselves or for others around them, and IMO that can get pretty tiring to do. And I think it is exactly that kind of topic that is driving people away, because they just want a place to hang out where they don’t have to debate about those sorts of things.
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Comment on Any significant changes to Tildes are extremely unlikely in ~tildes.official
Zorind Link ParentAlso NextDoor…which is 50% a cesspool of the worst sort of HOA folks, and maybe like 25% usefulAlso NextDoor…which is 50% a cesspool of the worst sort of HOA folks, and maybe like 25% useful
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Comment on I'm starting a small business: any advice? in ~finance
Zorind LinkThis is definitely a good plan, might be worth checking with a CPA to determine how taxes would work since I think rules surrounding LLCs are state-dependent.I plan to make my business an LLC to help with this.
This is definitely a good plan, might be worth checking with a CPA to determine how taxes would work since I think rules surrounding LLCs are state-dependent.
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Comment on Why normal people aren’t using AI agents in ~tech
Zorind Link ParentI could spend $20 a month to have a LLM Agent schedule my doctor appointment for me, which I do approximately once a year. Or I could spend $0 and schedule it myself? I guess I could use it to...I could spend $20 a month to have a LLM Agent schedule my doctor appointment for me, which I do approximately once a year.
Or I could spend $0 and schedule it myself?
I guess I could use it to manage my email inbox??? Except I get approximately 1 email a day I care about and spend exactly 5 minutes in the morning checking my email?
I don’t know what the “value-add” here is.
If the LLM agent could do the dishes or run to the grocery store for me, sure. (I guess it could handle creating a grocery list or ordering for delivery or pickup…except I already build my grocery list with 3 clicks in my recipe app, and I’d rather get my groceries myself so I don’t end up with weird substitutions or bad produce).
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Comment on Defective D&D magic items in ~games.tabletop
Zorind LinkOk these are all great. My favorites are definitely the potion of prior authorization, the helm of the backseat driver, and the scroll of summon bear (subjective).Ok these are all great.
My favorites are definitely the potion of prior authorization, the helm of the backseat driver, and the scroll of summon bear (subjective).
I liked it, but I really liked the world building and the magic system and learning how it works.
It’s not a super casual read, but it wasn’t like super dense and wordy.
If you’ve liked other Sanderson books, I think you’d probably like it. If you haven’t, but you like fantasy world building and magic systems, I’d recommend giving it a shot in general. Otherwise, I’d say it depends on what other books you’ve enjoyed.
I would probably give the first book a shot, and if you don’t like it, you probably wouldn’t like the second or third one either. But if you like first one, the next two continue to flesh out the world and magic system in interesting ways.
Edit: It also looks like the prologue and first 3 chapters are available on Sanderson’s blog, so that gives a pretty good example of the prose & also a pretty decent hook into the world to see if its of interest.
https://www.brandonsanderson.com/blogs/blog/mistborn-prologue