A long dismissive text about how kids, and people in general, don't know how to “use computers”. Overall, the author is right, they really don't know, but instead of approaching the topic on how to make computing more accessible, he takes pride in his knowledge (that most people lack), and tells the folks what to do (along the lines of forcing your children to learn programming).

He also mentions how Microsoft lobbied the idea of Microsoft Office being computing itself to British schools. Well, it's the same in Russia, and not just in school. For many, using MS Office is the most important skill. I never understood that. It's a very niche tool, no?! And it's very hard to use, I still only know the very basics of office suites.

Mysteries to revel in.

Clean Code doesn't work—not because the principles are wrong, but because the real world is dirty, chaotic, unpredictable, and asynchronous. The best code I’ve ever seen violated a good half of Clean Code’s commandments.

Это напоминает мне историю одной клиентки, которая как и многие другие пыталась контролировать терапевта. Она попросила ее не фрустрировать до тех пор, пока она не будет готова. Я и не фрустрировал (и не собирался). Спустя, скажем, год она сказала«ну всё, я теперь готова, давайте пожестче». А я продолжал не фрустрировать. Спустя какое-то время она возмутилась: как же так, я же просила меня фрустрировать, а вы этого не делаете.

И я такой:«фрустрирует, правда?».

PostgreSQL Query Plan Visualizer add new plan

If you set out to build a local-first application that users have complete control and ownership over, you need something to solve data sync.

Dropbox and other file-sync services, while very basic, offer enough to implement it in a simple but working way.

Sure, it won’t be as real-time as a custom solution, but it’s still better for casual syncs. Think Apple Photos: only your own photos, not real-time, but you know they will be everywhere by the end of the day. And that’s good enough!

Imagine if Obsidian Sync was just “put your files in the folder” and it would give you conflict-free sync? For free? Forever? Just bring your own cloud?

I’d say it sounds pretty good.

Гайд, как правильно писать сообщения для коммитов. О важности упоминания не просто того, что делает изменение, а зачем оно это делает. Очень мудро.

Chats, emails, phone calls, mailing lists, issue tracking systems, face-to-face meetings, and other communication instruments for a software project.

The easiest way to configure a performant, secure, and stable NGINX server.

from bouncepaw:

Alex tells us that, for him, baking and cooking are easier than programming and soldering, because the errors there average out. As for me, this is completely inverse.

In programming, an error never fixes itself. You can observe it and fix it, you can write tests. You can run the program multiple times. It's you who fixes it, and you can understand how it's done. It's measurable!

Meanwhile, cooking is a nightmare. Burning something is routine for me. Is that too much or too little oil? For how long do I fry? What do I do with these spices? Do they really affect the taste? And to observe something, I can't rely on symbolic things like text. No, I have to look (is this color good? No idea!), smell (as if I know the difference) and taste (nothing more inaccurate).

I'm happy when something can be cooked with a timer. 15 min for buckwheat? I'm in. I'm more happy when the time is short. 4 min for this thin kind of spaghetti? Already boiling water!

I mean, even boiling water is not simple. My parents told me to wait until the correct bubbles appear. I'm waiting for the scary ones. Also, salt is supposed to make it boil faster. How much salt do I add?

And I didn't even talk about plants, which Alex also considers easy. They're not 😭

Totally agree!

I therefore officially announce 2024 to be the year when the square checkbox has finally died.

Minimizing your keyboard layout is a slippery slope.
34-keys has been reasonably comfortable to use, for both prose and program. My palms do not move across the desk at all, as I reach for keys. I mostly write Rust and Bash, and my layout has evolved to accomodate special characters from their grammars (angled brackets and hyphens, specifically). If you are on a similar journey, I would suggest focusing on accuracy and comfort over speed. Speed comes with time.

The fast-loading recipe site with cooking only and no ads.

If you want a single piece of advice to reduce your bug count, it’s this:
Re-read your code frequently. After writing a few lines of code (3 to 6 lines, a short block within a function), re-read them. That habit will save you more time than any other simple change you can make.