Academia, Questions
So, this is a shot in the dark, but i'm finishing up my undergraduate work this year and want to immediately start a masters and then (hopefully) work towards getting a doctorate in some subfield of Computer Science.
I have some questions I'd like to bounce off people who have done something similar. If You are seeing this and have completed/are currently completing a graduate program and would be willing to answer a hopeful's questions, let me know!
There are a lot of "programming is like..." metaphors that focus on industry. Programming is like a construction project. Programming is like a manufacturing floor.
Those work, as far as they go, when you're trying to have a mental model for how programming produces products in organizations. But it doesn't really capture, in my mind, what programming is like for the individual. And it also kind of excludes a huge number of hobbyist and amateur1 programmers.
Programming is an art and a craft. It's honestly a lot like sewing. Yes, it's often cheaper in the modern world to buy pre-made things -- but it's a valuable skill for everyone to have at some level, even if that level is "I can replace a button". People learn to sew because they want to repair something they love, or made modifications (bam now my skirt has pockets!), or because they find joy in making things, or because they want to make things that don't exist "off the shelf", or...
1: Keep in mind that "amateur" means "one who loves"; it isn't and should never be a criticism
Test, BQN, Mastodon, Fonts
Hmm, somewhat, then. The ↕ glyph is apparently replaced by an emoji, but otherwise they are all readable symbols.
If You are reading this, could You let me know whether the above renders properly for You?
History of Computing, abbreviated:
1958: LISP!
1980: We can program anything in BASIC, and it runs with minor changes on every computer!
1985: We rewrite everything in ASM or C for every computer, so now IBM wins because we're so fucking tired after shipping once.
1995: We could write once, run anywhere in JAVA!
Microsoft: OH FUCK NO.
2010: We can write once, run anywhere in Javascript!
2020: Global warming reaches unsurvivable levels, NOT coincidentally.
2030: Post-apoc savages discover BASIC.
BQN, Syntax Highlighting, FLOSS
Just got my first PR merged into PrismJS, and wrote a blog post about the language I contributed, BQN! https://yewscion.com/big-question-notation.html
Source Code, Hosting, Decentralization
This is why decentralization is important. https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/04/gitlab_data_retention_policy/
Though this company has decided to backtrack for now by moving 'inactive' repositories to object storage, any for-profit company that owns a git forge could fold (or change policies, or decide not to care about gratis FLOSS projects) and nuke Your data.
Store things locally. Store things in multiple places. Make backups. Share Source Code. Archive Websites.
Or maybe we'll lose everything.
Heads up! #Microsoft is on track to ban all commercial activity by #FOSS projects on Microsoft Store in about a week! This is even worse than their (eventually repealed) 2011 ban on #copyleft for their app store! 😡️ We demand rollback of this new policy: https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2022/jul/07/microsoft-bans-commerical-open-source-in-app-store/
CV19, ph--, Update
Well, today I feel pretty sick still… but at least it is a normal sick? Like, I feel like xeroxed compost, but moving isn't painful and I can breathe normally again.
So, progress!
Web Browsers, Chromification
#TAM when Your techie-focused video chat software 'recommends' Google Chrome, but /requires/ a chromium-based/masquerading browser to function at all...
Tom Lord passed away. He started Guile and GNU arch (tla), probably the first free distributed version control system.
https://lwn.net/Articles/901807/
Books, Reading List, Update (3/2)
I'm always looking for:
(LGBTQAI2+)-related,
DRM-free, and
preferably-indie-but-not-a-dealbreaker-if-they-found-success
speculative fiction/fantasy/science fiction, if You have any recommendations!
Also looking to get a mutable reading list set up somewhere; I think I made a bookwyrm account a while back, but I'll have to dig it up out of the annals to really set it up.
Is that a thing worth doing, or should I roll my own?
Books, Reading List, Update (2/2)
Well, I /meant/ to sort that list alphabetically, but I guess I'm still rona-addled enough to have forgotten before hitting send
Anyway, here's the ones I've added:
Survival Rout, by Ana Mardoll. http://www.anamardoll.com/2021/10/survival-rout.html
Binti, by Nnedi Okorator. https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/binti
Healing Rites, by Mattea. https://ackthrice.itch.io/healing-rites
Late night sighs from a 30ish, nerdacious, obsessive alien plant.
All original posts are CW'd with their general themes. Boosts are not.
My pronouns are, in descending order of preference: She/They/He.